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The Question: There can come a time when you?ve worked so hard and accomplished so much that you are ready to lay back for a while. However, you still do not want to lose everything that you've worked so hard for. How can one maintain their physique? What is a good workout routine for maintenance? What should one's diet look like for maintenance? Which supplements are good for maintenance? Bonus Question: Have you ever decided to maintain your physique or do you just keep setting newer goals? Do you think that you will someday just try to maintain what you've accomplished? Show off your knowledge to the world! The Winners:
2. TheBasher View Profile 3. EAGLES56 View Profile 3. Rigit23 View Profile 3. Maxima95 View Profile
2nd place - 50 in store credit. To use your credit, e-mail Will @ will@bodybuilding.com for more info.
After parking your car at the grocery store like you do every Sunday to stock up on food for the upcoming week, you open your car door and struggle to get out in any sort of a fashionable manner. You think to yourself, "Has the driver side door always been this small?" You brush it off to the hard leg workout you had the day before which would surely impede ones ability and agility to move in and out of closed, confined spaces. After grabbing a shopping cart, entering the grocery store, and going down the first isle, your shoulder brushes up against a stack of ketchup bottles that had been neatly stacked at the beginning of the isle causing them to fall down and tumble to the ground. "Oops!" you think to yourself. Being a Good Samaritan, you begin to pick up the bottles you had inadvertently knocked over but quickly a young employee, maybe seventeen years old and a mere one hundred and fifty pounds, rushes over and offers to clean up the mess for you. You thank him and walk away slightly embarrassed at the scene that had just unfolded.
  Click To Enlarge. Oops! As you continue walking down the isle, you begin to recall times past where your sheer size has begun to pose a problem. You begin to realize how people no longer want to sit next to you at a restaurant booth, as there is just not enough room for two with you sitting there, or more recently how those movie theater seats seem to be getting smaller and smaller, and you can't downplay the annoyance of having to constantly turn sideways to avoid bumping into people on a busy street. There may come a time in some people's lives where the inconvenience of being big outweighs the benefits of becoming even more muscular. Perhaps the constant stares that you receive, even when dressed in the most conservative clothing is starting to get to you. But there is a problem- you love to train. You live for each new day where you can tackle the iron and take it on with all your might. You love the feeling you get after you leave the gym; the sense of accomplishment and gratification is irreplaceable. You can't just give up this sport you love because it is starting to interfere with real world experiences and events. Lifting has become a part of you, an outlet that you use to vent your frustrations, and channel your thoughts and abilities. Thankfully, with this seemingly impossible problem comes a solution: physique maintenance.
Sure, when maintaining your physique, you may not be lifting with all the bloodthirsty and ravaging intensity that you are used to, you may not get the feeling of accomplishment and self-worth as you progress in weights over the years, but it is important to realize that you have paid your dues. You have developed and sculpted a physique that few have and many envy. You have accomplished what many set out do to but never succeed in when it comes to bodybuilding- being satisfied and realizing that you indeed, are big enough. I'm sure when people think about the word maintenance, they think about not progressing, standing still, wasting their time. But this is not true, especially in bodybuilding! Just because you no longer want to build size, doesn't mean you can't focus on other aspects to further refine your physique. For instance, if you want to really show off that hard-earned muscle that you have busted your @ss for over the years, now is your chance to really drop some body fat and have your physique resemble that of a Greek statue. Fat Loss: Another great thing about being satisfied and coming to the decision to maintain your current muscle mass is essentially you have won the iron game. You get to cruise around in god mode now. No longer does the vast majority of your time have to be dedicated to eating tons of meals, popping supplements, or training to the point of exhaustion. You can really appreciate what you have accomplished and begin to train solely for the sense of well-being and overall health. Maintaining your physique isn't necessarily difficult, as you would go about it in the same way that you would if you wanted to gain muscle- eating good food, resting, and providing yourself proper nutrition. The only difference with maintenance is altering the way you train, and the way you eat.
Since you are no longer looking to build your muscles, calorie excess is no longer needed. The days of 5-6 meals with perfectly balanced portions of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are over. Don't get me wrong, you still should want to eat healthy, good foods as you need to support your existing muscle, but you no longer need to eat over your maintenance calories. Without these added calories that you have been so used to giving your body, you really do not provide it with the opportunity to get any bigger or stronger. There is even more leeway with the amount of times or the types of foods that you can eat. Setting your watch or constantly keeping your eye on the clock for every second hour when you should eat is no longer needed, go ahead and eat the standard three meals a day every so often if you want. You aren't trying to build your body anymore, merely maintain it, so being as strict and as disciplined as you used to be are no longer needed. However, don't take what I said the wrong way! You should still be eating healthy most of the time, you just want to avoid calorie surplus! The nutrition aspect of physique maintenance is the most important, because even with an infrequent or less intense workout regimen, if you are still flooding your body with calories, it will respond by utilizing them to build muscle. Just make sure not to eat too few calories, the one thing you don't want to do is lose muscle!
As far as training goes, much like your eating, it doesn't have to be as regimented or rigorous. The biggest concept that I want to push and for people to understand is that you won't lose muscle overnight, especially if you keep training. Training, however, doesn't have to be as intense as it used to be. If you were used to going to the gym five times a week, hitting every body part with twelve to fifteen sets, try going only three times a week and doing a full body routine with about half as many sets and less intensity as you used to. You should also incorporate higher rep training in the twelve to twenty range. Training with higher repetitions will leave you with a sick pump, and will really demonstrate just how big you really are when your muscles are engorged with blood. You don't want to use heavy weights closer to your one rep max for as many sets as you used to, no longer is your goal to break down muscles to build them bigger. The basic approach and philosophy of training for maintenance would be to:
By still lifting weights, but either not as often, or as intense, or as heavy as you used to, you will effectively keep the muscle you currently have, but won't have to worry about losing any or gaining any. So go ahead and give your joints a rest before you become a crippled old man, train for fun and the pump!
Cardio: Since you are at the point where you are satisfied with the amount of muscle you have, you can use this time to train a different system of your body- your cardiovascular system. Excess cardio will impede on muscle gains, but now is a great time to really focus on it since you don't want to add muscle. You can drop some body fat, which will help you look better with your shirt off, and reap the benefits of improved cardiovascular conditioning! Don't be afraid to jog on the treadmill a couple days out of the week, granted you are still eating properly, albeit less, you should be able to improve your conditioning and look much better! Hey, if you no longer want to train to add mass, compensate elsewhere and improve a different aspect of your health!
Concerning supplementation, you get to keep it real basic. This is another advantage of having the privilege to only want to maintain your current physique- much more money in your wallet! I'd recommend a multivitamin, and fish oils, that's it! These supplements are all pretty much standard for your overall health and will not directly lead to gaining muscle mass. Usually, I'd recommend a protein powder as well, but since excess protein is no longer needed, and struggling to get your protein intake for the day is no longer a problem, save that extra money and put it towards something else!
As for me personally, I'm always striving to set new goals and reach new heights. Right at the moment, although I recognize my accomplishments and am proud with the muscular gains I have made, I'm nowhere near satisfied. There is always something that can be improved upon! It takes years upon years to sculpt your body to how you desire it to look, and more often than not, people don't achieve their full potential due to lack of commitment or outside obligations. I know that one day, bearing I maintain the same focus, drive, and determination that I have now, I will one day be content with what I have created, but until that day comes, it'll be more days in the gym, pounding away at the weights in the eternal struggle for mass... LaxPro
Maintaining your physique is a common choice a lot of people make for different reasons. Some might be going through a stressful or tough time in their life, others may have exams or work related problems and some might just feel that the shape and size of their body is what they wanted and their not interested in getting and bigger or leaner. It's important to mention that maintaining a physique does require gym time and dieting. But how can one maintain their physique? Maintaining a physique is much easier than making a physique, you don't have to concern yourself with stimulating muscle growth, trying method after method and watching agonizingly as your body begins to shape -you've already done that! Instead all you have to do is:
Depending on what you have already accomplished on your body your workout should be shorter and not as intense but still target all the areas that you've created. What I mean by this is if you have hit your chest at every angle and have created a chest that displays good upper and lower chest development you're going to have to target your upper and lower chest equally. Likewise if your biceps have great inner thickness and you've developed a good outside and inside head they'll need a good, hard workout to maintain. Basically what I'm saying is the more developed-definition, size, shape etc-your body is the more time you're going to have to spend on your workouts.
Sure the intensity and raw pain won't quite be there but their will be time and as usual dedication.
The diet in maintaining a physique will change dramatically compared to the diet in making a physique. Instead of high levels of protein you'll now need high amounts of vitamins and minerals. Both vitamins and minerals will help in keeping your muscles looking healthy and being healthy, they'll give your skin that beautiful silky feel and your muscles will blossom with a flourish look. You'll still need the protein as part of a healthy diet but not in the same "all I can eat" way; a little meat will help your body produce new cells and repair old ones. You'll also need some after your maintaining workouts to help with cramps or a slight fatigue feeling. You can also use the benefits of unstrict dieting to try new things not that I mean junk foods but different types of salads or fish dishes you could also try having different high carb dishes that mightn't have been allowed in your previous workouts such as pasta etc.
The workout you would use would vary depending on how advanced your body is in terms of your training. Obviously the person who has excellent development in all muscles (upper and lower chest, upper lower lats, etc) good shape and symmetry is going to have to do more sets and different exercises than the person who has an "amateur" physique in terms of bodybuilding. The workout I will give will be simple and easily adaptable for those who need to add on more. The aim of this program is to give each muscle group two workouts a week. On day one it will the primary muscle being worked and on another it'll be the secondary e.g. Day 2 Chest is primary, Triceps secondary.
Back: Biceps: Thighs: Abs:
Chest: Triceps: Shoulders: Calves:
Biceps: Back: Abs:
Triceps: Chest:
Thighs: Calves: Shoulders & Traps:
Your rest in-between sets can be anywhere from 1 minute to 1:30 minutes
This isn't a high protein diet nor should it be. A diet for maintaining a physique should contain a lot of fruits, vegetables and of course water. In your diet you should go by these points:
The following are just guidelines for a maintenance diet you can alter it so that it suits you, if you wish to take 5 small meals a day please do so just alter it so that you are getting a high level of vitamins and minerals.
I would have to go with a multi-vitamin to make sure you're giving your body what it needs but a whey protein powder can help if you take it now and again not following it strictly with workouts. You may find it hard to get away from strict dieting and the may tend to stick to a lot of meats and high protein foods so the multi-vitamin will help when starting on the new diet. The whey protein can also help if its taken maybe once a week on a rest day it's not recommended that it's taken too often.
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There can come a time when you've worked so hard and accomplished so much that you are ready to lay back for a while. However, you still do not want to lose everything that you've worked so hard for.
Maintaining one's physique isn't complicated. Simply following a few easy strategies can preserve one's hard earned build and current fitness level.
Avoid the common sedentary lifestyle but don't overtrain. Through regular resistance and cardiovascular training, the progress made in the past will not be lost. Repeated muscle recruitment will stall muscle atrophy.
Whether trying to build mass, cut down, or maintain, a proper diet is key. Avoid the temptations of sugars, fried foods, and alcohol. Once and a while a treat or a cold beer is a great way to ward of insanity but the idea to take a small slice and not the entire cake. Consume enough calories to meet one's caloric expenditure, no less, no more. Take daily activity into consideration. Failing to meet caloric requirements will result in weight (and muscle) loss.
Now that mass isn't of great concern any more, workouts lean more towards muscular endurance with higher repetition schemes. Workout frequency and intensity can be toned down and replaced by two full body workouts consisting of compound movements.
This workout should be adjusted to one's personal preferences (example: substitute Close Grip bench with Dips). The idea is to pick one exercise per muscle group. If sticking to the same exercises, be sure to switch barbells for dumbbells for variety.
Continue eating (5-8) multiple meals spaced 2.5-3 hours apart. Emphasize natural, unmodified, foods as well as fruits and vegetables. I recommend roughly 0.75-1g of protein per pound of bodyweight daily. Complex, or "good" carbohydrates will remain one's primary and sustained energy source. Also be sure not to forget about healthy fats such as monounsaturates and polyunsaturates.
While maintaining, the supplement budget is very minimal. products such as creatine are no longer a necessity. Be sure to include a reliable protein powder, a multivitamin/mineral, an omega 3-6-9 and/or fish oil product perhaps in conjunction with a joint care supplement to top off a complete maintenance stack. These supplements will assist in reaching daily biological requirement levels and assist in any cellular function or repair.
During periods of time where working 10hrs under the sun becomes my typical daily life, maintenance phases are enforced. I look at this as a temporary set back and continue to set goals for the future when uninterrupted training can be resumed. In the very distant future I believe that I will sit back and maintain what I've accomplished but for the time being, I will continue my quest for mass. EAGLES56
Every once in a while, there is a person who doesn't want to gain or lose weight. They are satisfied with what they have accomplished with their body and perhaps for social or practical reasons; don't want to be any larger or smaller. As shocking as this may be to us here at Bodybuilding.com, it's reality. Luckily for these people, maintaining a well built physique is not as hard as one may think.
The maintenance of a physique is based on neither gaining weight, be it muscle or fat, nor losing weight. In order to do so, there are several issues one must consider:
Diet is the most important issue when it comes to maintaining your physique. Making sure you have a proper diet is imperative to maintaining your weight and muscle mass. Here are several important issues that should be addressed regarding diet:
Although your goal is not to gain or lose weight, it is essential that you continue to put stress on the muscles you worked so hard to build or else they may atrophy. When working out to maintain, there are a few things to keep in mind:
By following both of these rules, maintaining your physique shouldn't be hard at all.
Since muscle gain isn't your prerogative, it isn't necessary to have a day to focus on one certain body part. Full body workouts are key to maintaining muscle mass, while not gaining any further body fat. Full body workouts are needed 4 to 5 days a week to prevent atrophy of the muscle tissue. Use a weight that is physically stressful, yet not overbearing. An example of a 4 day split would be:
To maximize muscle retention, allow 2-3 exercises per body part, 3 sets per exercise. Do 10-12 repetitions and give yourself 30-90 seconds rest between sets. If you won't be near a gym and you want to maintain muscle mass and strength, do core bodyweight exercises. Do pull-ups, pushups, sit-ups or something with a handle, dips, anything that involves using your muscles. As for cardio, it's good to do but make sure you don't overdo it. If you go running or jogging, but sure to take account of the calories you may have burned doing so and resupply accordingly.
As stated above, a diet rich in protein, complex carbohydrates, and essential fats is absolutely needed to maintain a well developed physique. Overall, the diet for maintenance isn't too different from a diet for adding muscle mass. The only difference is that you are consuming fewer calories and smaller portions per meal. It is also crucial that you drink around a gallon to 2 gallons of water a day for overall health benefits. Good foods to eat are the following from each category:
Including these foods in your diet is vital to maintaining a healthy bodyweight and ensuring your getting appropriate nutrition.
When it comes to maintaining your physique, there are 2 important supplements to take.
Whey protein is necessary post-workout to prevent catabolism of muscle tissue. Whey is needed to ensure that you have enough protein in your diet and to keep cortisol and other catabolic hormones away from your precious muscle tissue!
A multivitamin is critical in guaranteeing that you are consuming sufficient vitamins and minerals, good for overall health. Athletes require greater amounts of vitamins and minerals so a potent multivitamin would be a great buy!
Up to this point in my bodybuilding career, I have only set newer goals rather than maintain what I already have. However, I do maintain if I am going on vacation or going to someplace where I will not be able to work out. I am a natural bodybuilder and will never resort to illegal performance enhancement drugs. Therefore eventually I am going to reach my body's peak and I will be unable to gain anymore muscle mass. Will I admit defeat and stop working out? Of course not!
I will maintain what I have, work on perfecting my physique, and continue competing! When that day comes, I won't be scared and hide from it. I will allow myself to go to a whole new level of bodybuilding, the level where so much mass has been obtained, maintenance is the only option! Thanks for reading, Rigit23
When you are completely exhausted from your regular demanding routine and just want to take a break, there are a few things you might need to know so that all your hard work doesn't go to waste. If you stick to the plans that are going to be laid out for you, I guarantee you the next time you go back to your regular schedule, you will be right where you left off.
One of the major factors in maintaining your physique, not to mention one of the biggest factors in bodybuilding is your diet! Without a proper diet in place, you can say goodbye to your progress. Here are a few things to remember for the maintenance if muscle:
And a few things to remember to keep that weight off:
A routine for maintenance is very simple. Since you are simply maintaining and taking a break, there is no reason to push yourself. One or two quick full-body routines a week and a touch of cardio will ensure that you don't get any negative results from your break. A simple full-body workout could be:
* = idea taken from www.bodybuilding.com/fun/exercises.htm But hey, if you are really serious about taking a vacation and don't want to hit the gym at all, there is really no problem with that. Just follow the tips I mentioned above and you will be golden. You can also do a few exercises, such as squats, lunges, curls, and pushups at home with free weights. Be sure to stretch! Also, jogging for ten minutes or so can give you the cardio you need.
During maintenance, your diet really doesn't have to change all that much. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but eat right and monitor your caloric intake! You are on a break, but you can't let yourself go. A few healthy things to eat include:
The list can go on, but those are some basics things you can eat to stay healthy. Taking a daily multi-vitamin is recommended also. Again, the point is to control your caloric intake and to provide yourself with all the protein, vitamins, and minerals your body needs.
There is certainly a vast selection of supplements out there. In my mind, there are a few that stand out. 
In my eyes, this protein supplement simply can't be beat. It has many awards to back me up, including Supplement of the Year and Protein Powder of the Year for two years running from Bodybulding.com! There is no doubt this is one of the best protein supplements out there 
This is another top of the line supplement. The fat-burning results of this product are astounding and this product is definitely something anyone with losing weight and keeping it off should try out. On top of that, it also gives you tons of energy! 
This is my personal favorite multi-vitamin. It is very potent stuff made for athletes that will give you everything your body needs. It is also one of the cheaper multi-vitamins out there, and there aren't very many pills to take. These are a few of my favorite supplements and would be excellent for maintenance.
Every once in a while, yes, I decide to start maintaining once I reach a goal I set or if I think it's time I need a break. While I am on leave, I always follow the steps that I outlined in this article and I come back to the gym feeling rejuvenated and ready to set after my newest goal. I don't think I am the kind of person that will really just stop making bodybuilding gains. Bodybuilding is a huge part of my life now, and setting goals and accomplishing them keeps me going. I am 5'10 and under 10% body fat, so when I reach around 220 lbs, I will probably consider stopping for a while. I don't want to be too huge, but I certainly don't want to be just above average. I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I did writing it!
Sincerely,
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