Do you ever just "maintain"?

[Butcher22]

I see everyone talking about going from a bulk to a cut and a cut to a bulk but I'm wondering if you ever say "ok I'm satisfied with how I look" then just work on maintaining that? If so, how? I know you would obviously eat at maintenance but what do you do workout wise?

[Malmby]

[...] but what do you do workout wise?

Same routine that you have been doing ...

[BillabongVolcom]

Same routine that you have been doing ...

This. Keep doing what you are doing and eat at maintenance level and you should be fine. The workout it self doesn't really matter, it's all about food intake, calories in vs. calories out. Whether you're cutting, bulking, or just maintaining.

[PuffinMyLye]

Maintaining what you have is a lot easier than trying to obtain it. The workouts should basically stay the same in a sense but you can cut back on your volume and frequency and still maintain your strength and size.

In fact, there are a lot of people who SHOULD be doing maintenance style routines because they aren't eating enough to make mass gains. If you are training to gain mass but not eating in a manner that is conducive to such, that's the very definition of spinning your wheels. Not only are you not getting bigger, but you are making your muscles more resistant to muscular damage. Therefore when you do decide to start eating like you should, it will be that much harder to make gains.

[Engineer_Guy]

If you are training to gain mass but not eating in a manner that is conducive to such, that's the very definition of spinning your wheels. Not only are you not getting bigger, but you are making your muscles more resistant to muscular damage. Therefore when you do decide to start eating like you should, it will be that much harder to make gains.

What?

[ktj4l]

What?

I don't even...

[PuffinMyLye]

What?

Excerpt from Kelly Baggett's article titled "We Must Protect This House":

"Even without that nutrition, your body will still stimulate non-size related muscular adaptations that enable it to tolerate the same workouts in the future with less muscle damage. It will increase the amount of connective tissue in your muscles, which toughens them up like leather. From a bodybuilding standpoint, this is a prime example of spinning your wheels. You're not getting any bigger but you are increasing your muscular resistance to damage. That's why if you're interested in muscle mass and you're not eating in a manner conducive to gaining mass it could be argued that it's better to do very easy maintenance workouts instead of going in the gym and busting your butt. We've all probably seen very thin people who might have jobs as movers and such who move heavy stuff all day long and are strong as ox. They do get a lot stronger yet don't get bigger because they don't eat enough."

[Engineer_Guy]

Excerpt from Kelly Baggett's article titled "We Must Protect This House":

"Even without that nutrition, your body will still stimulate non-size related muscular adaptations that enable it to tolerate the same workouts in the future with less muscle damage. It will increase the amount of connective tissue in your muscles, which toughens them up like leather. From a bodybuilding standpoint, this is a prime example of spinning your wheels. You're not getting any bigger but you are increasing your muscular resistance to damage. That's why if you're interested in muscle mass and you're not eating in a manner conducive to gaining mass it could be argued that it's better to do very easy maintenance workouts instead of going in the gym and busting your butt. We've all probably seen very thin people who might have jobs as movers and such who move heavy stuff all day long and are strong as ox. They do get a lot stronger yet don't get bigger because they don't eat enough."

That doesn't say it will make gaining mass in the future more difficult. Guys who don't eat enough will get stronger through CNS adaptations and, to an extent, myofibrillar hypertrophy. It doesn't mean they make hypertrophy in the future more difficult.

[PuffinMyLye]

That doesn't say it will make gaining mass in the future more difficult. Guys who don't eat enough will get stronger through CNS adaptations and, to an extent, myofibrillar hypertrophy. It doesn't mean they make hypertrophy in the future more difficult.

You are making the muscle more resistant to muscular damage. Muscular damage is the main stimulus for hypertrophy. It's not preventing it from happening, it's just way less optimal.

Think of it this way. You can bench 225lbs right now. Through 8 weeks of training you raise your bench press to 240lbs while eating only at maintenance calories. You got stronger but you didn't get any bigger and your muscles are now used to dealing with 240lbs of tension. However, had you eaten at a surplus you would have gotten bigger (in the muscle groups associated with bench press in this example) and stronger. Instead you are now 15lbs stronger with no hypertrophy gains. Now to make size gains, your muscles will need even larger increases in tension (beyond 240lbs) to get bigger assuming you starting eating enough and are natty.

[Engineer_Guy]

You are making the muscle more resistant to muscular damage. Muscular damage is the main stimulus for hypertrophy.

This is starting to lean towards bro science...

CNS adaptation and myofibrillar hypertrophy does not make sarcoplasmic hypertrophy more difficult in the future. If anything you can create more sarcoplasmic hypertrophy from being able to handle heavier weights.

[PuffinMyLye]

This is starting to lean towards bro science...

CNS adaptation and myofibrillar hypertrophy does not make sarcoplasmic hypertrophy more difficult in the future. If anything you can create more sarcoplasmic hypertrophy from being able to handle heavier weights.

I'm not sitting here saying you won't be able to make gains. But it's also fairly conclusive that you can only see so much sarcoplasmic growth. Increased tension is by far the main stimulus for continued growth in natural trainees because it promotes the most myofibrillar growth. Therefore yes you will make sarcoplasmic gains, but myofibrillar gains will be slower since you're body has already adapted to the higher amounts of tension.