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Maintain your Gains

I have heard a lot of members express concern about losing all of the hard work they have put into building muscle and gaining strength as they do not have access to heavy weights at home!

There is no need to worry or put your goals on hold, it is still possible to build muscle and get stronger with limited weights and equipment! There are three areas that we can focus on to make this happen: exercise, nutrition and sleep.

Exercise:

Here are some of the strategies that Caleb is implementing in his programming and we as coaches are keeping in mind when individualizing your specific workouts:

  1. Choosing exercises that can be made difficult by changing up the variation. (ex. Traditional BB Deadlift – SL RDL, suitcase DL, sumo deadlifts)
  2. Slowing things down – tempo, pause, negatives
  3. Increasing the number of reps
  4. Increasing the number of sets
  5. Decreasing rest time between sets
  6. Progressive overloading through reps rather than weight (do more reps versus heavier weight compared to last time)

Nutrition:

Here are some ways that you can utilize your nutritional intake to optimize muscle mass maintenance and growth:

  1. Protein intake – Aim to keep your protein intake steady throughout your day. This means dividing your protein target evenly across all of your meals and snacks. Protein helps support muscle growth and promotes recovery.
  2. Pre/post workout meals – these meals are important in providing the energy you need to perform while also preserving muscle mass and speeding up recovery. These meals should consist of protein and carbohydrates. Exercise damages muscle tissue, but protein can reduce markers of damage which means you recover faster! It can also help you maintain or increase muscle size. Carbohydrates can increase performance and promote muscle retention and growth.
  3. Ensure you are eating enough! You can not maintain or build muscle if you are in a caloric deficit.

Sleep:

Your muscle rebuilds while you sleep! Your body releases hormones essential to muscle growth and repair while you sleep. Aim to get at least 7-9 hours of sleep each night. If this is difficult for you try developing a nighttime routine to help you wind down. 

Keep on that gain train and if you have more specific questions let us know!

Caileigh