strength maintenance question

[kellefson]

Hi all,

I am completing a power lifting program for mountain bike racing this year and have reached my target weight goals much earlier than I thought I would.

I was wondering what your thoughts on the minimum I need to do to maintain the strength I have gained throughout the spring? Any suggestions would be welcome such as sets, weights, number of times per week. I completed an adaptation phase, hypertrophy phase, and strength phase. For my current strength phase, I have been lifting twice a week, 5 sets of 4 reps alternating between lunges, squats, and leg presses each time I visit the gym.

I really don’t want to do more than I have to or get any bigger than I already have. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Ben Moore]

Tough question to approach without knowing exactly what you were doing.

Good luck with your mountainbiking though - wish I still had my bike!!!

[kellefson]

Thanks Ben,

I guess my question should be, can I lift once per week and maintain the strength that I have gained, or do I need to continue lifting twice a week? Probably depends on the individual I guess. I am pretty new to this weight lifting stuff. I don't want to sacrifice my strength gains, yet at the same time I don't want to spend more time at the gym than needed.

Kyle

[KingJustin]

What were your initial numbers, and what are they now?

You're probably fine with training once/week. Maybe you could pick it up to 3x/w for a couple weeks prior to whenever you want your strength to peak.


Also, if you are getting bigger, it is diet related, not lifting related.

[kellefson]

thanks Justin. I started adaption phase back in September doing 4 sets of 12 of lunges and bulgarian squats (the king of cycling excercises?) with 50 lbs, and single leg presses of 100 lbs 3 times per week.

As I cruised through my hypertrophy phase, I dropped down to twice per week because I felt I was progessing very fast.

I have been in my strength phase for a month now and for the past 2 weeks I have doing 5 sets of 4 of 190 lbs bulgarian squats once per week, and (on a separate day) 5 sets of 5 of 190 lbs lunges once per week. To break it up a little, occasionally (once every 2 or 3 weeks) I do single leg presses with 400 lbs.

Anyways, my goal at the beginning of this was to do bodyweight bulgarian squats (I weigh 190 lbs), so mission accomplished. But I didn't think I would be able to do this until late spring, if at all. It was kind of a lofty goal that I wasn't sure if I could accomplish or not. So, needless to say I am surprised to be doing this in January.

I don't really feel I need to keep increasing the weights I am lifting but I don't know the best way to maintain this throughout the spring. My first race is over 3 months away!

[Ben Moore]

You could back off to a more full body routine 2-3 days per week depending on how many days per week you ride.

[kellefson]

Thanks for the replies. Do you think I should continue doing 4 reps or should I increase them for a while and then back down to 4 reps a few weeks before the race season? I guess I am not sure if it is productive to continue to do 4 rep sets week in and week out. Sorry for the dumb questions. I am a complete noob to strength training.