Maintenance Routine?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I’ve been thinking that I need to spend a few weeks keeping things really simple with my workouts. I am pretty happy with my body comp right now and want to simply focus on being consistent with my nutrition and workouts (my goal for 2007 is to follow Berardi’s 90% rule for the year, nothing extreme, nothing dramatic, just doing the right things most of the time).

I get up at 6am and would like to do 45 minutes of something Monday thru Friday. I was thinking 15 min of dynamic flexibility drills, 15 min of lifting and 15 min of cardio each day. Probably doing push, quads, abs & arms & calves, pull, hips. Does this sound like a good idea? Would some sort of circuit be a better solution? Any articles I should check out? Thanks a bunch!

2

I’m not sure that limiting lifitng to 15 minutes a day just because you are maintaining would be a good idea. I don’t think that’s enough time to get a solid workout in, even if you’re doing a bodypart split. I would devote more time to lifting, and if necessary, do the cardio and calisthenics on different days.

3

45 minutes isn’t much time to get a lot accomplished. Especially if you are doing cardio at the end.

If you plan on doing a circuit type workout try 6 exercises in a row (push, pull, quad dominant, ham dominant, abs, and something that you may think is lagging)

Alternating horizontal push and pull with vertical push and pull every other training session and I think you’ll do well at keeping your current muscle mass and you will really increase your work capacity too. Just progress a bit each week, keep the weights the same but add a set, a rep, lower rest times.

4

How does your body respond to circuits?

5

[quote]tweaker wrote:
How does your body respond to circuits? [/quote]

I don’t know, I’ve never really done much of them :confused:

I’ve really focused mostly on compound lifts in the lower rep schemes, with good success. Now I’m thinking it’s time to change things up a bit and work on my conditioning, too. I would like to lean out a little, but know I can do that by tightening up my diet.

I’ve been reading a lot in the archives, but still haven’t found something that seems like the right fit yet.

6

[quote]Jillybop wrote:
I’ve been reading a lot in the archives, but still haven’t found something that seems like the right fit yet.[/quote]

One word: complexes. 15 minutes a day would be more than enough time to maintain if you used complexes.

7

I didn’t do a search, but are complexes when you use a loaded barbell and move from one exercise to another with no rest?

8

[quote]gmantheman wrote:
I didn’t do a search, but are complexes when you use a loaded barbell and move from one exercise to another with no rest?[/quote]

Yep.

For example, 6 reps of each no rest

Back squat →
Military press →
Front Squat →
BB Row →
Calf Raise →
RDL →
Shrug →
Clean

That is pretty much overkill but those are good exercises to use.

Jilly Bop you could also do crossfit style workouts. I might get flamed for this but those guys get a lot of work done in a very minimal amount of time.

9

Jillypop, I don’t know why you haven’t yet been asked this question, but WHAT exactly are you trying to maintain?

Your flexibility? Your body composition and/or body weight? Your maximum strength? Your endurance?

There are many facets of athleticism that can either improve, worsen, or be maintained. You haven’t made it clear what exactly you’re trying to maintain.

If you simply want to look the same as you do now, you’re most likely going to have to continue what you’ve been doing up until this point. Maybe you can lower your total training volume a little and eat a little less if you plan on expending fewer calories…

More details, please.

10

[quote]CaliforniaLaw wrote:
Jillybop wrote:
I’ve been reading a lot in the archives, but still haven’t found something that seems like the right fit yet.

One word: complexes. 15 minutes a day would be more than enough time to maintain if you used complexes.[/quote]

I think you’re gonna need to elaborate on that. I don’t know what a complex is (I’m sure I’m not the only one!), but I’m guessing it’s something like circuit training or the blending of various exercises into one (i.e. a front squat and then push press, without a pause).

11

[quote]disciplined wrote:
I think you’re gonna need to elaborate on that. [/quote]

Do some searches - here and via Google.

12

[quote]Florida Titan wrote:

For example, 6 reps of each no rest

Back squat →
Military press →
Front Squat →
BB Row →
Calf Raise →
RDL →
Shrug →
Clean

That is pretty much overkill but those are good exercises to use.

Jilly Bop you could also do crossfit style workouts. I might get flamed for this but those guys get a lot of work done in a very minimal amount of time.
[/quote]

That’s a rough workout if you haven’t been doing circuits. You might find it easier to pick three exericses and do a circuit. And as you build up your endurance, you can add more. It’s too easy to mess up form when doing a circuit, so drop the weight until you have built up some endurance. Start with high reps and as you progress either drop the reps or increase the number of circuits. And experiment. If you are doing a lot of volume, watch your joint health.

If you pick three, think about: one pushing exercise, one pulling exercise, and one lower body exercise if you’re doing full body. Or if you are doing split body, pick one of the three and do that and rotate. One day for pulling, one day for pushing, and one day for lower body.

Also, if you do circuits, you will not maintain unless you find the right diet. It’s very easy to lean out doing circuits. It’s pretty intense cardio. A heart rate monitor might help you out here.

Again, it goes back to what works best for your body. Only you can tell us that.

13

Thanks for the input. To clarify, I would like to maintain my muscle mass for now (I have a pretty good amount of muscle on my frame). My biggest goal is to become very consistent with my training and nutrition and I think slightly shorter almost daily workouts will help with that. I know I could definitely improve my overall conditioning and endurance. I don’t usually do much cardio, so I thought maybe doing a little each day would be a good change.

I’ve read a little about complexes, but am not sure how incorporate them into an overall plan (frequency? progression? burnout?) Maybe I should finally try doing some jumprope work between sets? Thanks again for your input!

14

[quote]CaliforniaLaw wrote:
disciplined wrote:
I think you’re gonna need to elaborate on that.

Do some searches - here and via Google.[/quote]

You know, I’m sure you could’ve just spent a few minutes and explained it. Or at least linked this thread to what you’re talking about…

15

Here’s a link on complexes from T-Nation:

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=460338

Here’s a link from T-Nation which might give you some ideas on time-saving training:

http://www.T-Nation.com/findArticle.do?article=06-058-training

16

[quote]Jillybop wrote:
Thanks for the input. To clarify, I would like to maintain my muscle mass for now (I have a pretty good amount of muscle on my frame). My biggest goal is to become very consistent with my training and nutrition and I think slightly shorter almost daily workouts will help with that. I know I could definitely improve my overall conditioning and endurance. I don’t usually do much cardio, so I thought maybe doing a little each day would be a good change.
[/quote]

Not sure what to tell you, but maybe you can just select a couple of exercises every day to train? Do a 5-10 minutes ‘cardio’ warm up (jump rope, ellitical machine, etc), then train a couple of exercises for the morning, like squats followed by military presses, or something. You can get a good workout done in 45 minutes if you monitor your rest-times.

And if you want to incorporate cardio, why not just do one day of lifting followed by one day or cardio? You can do more than just maintain with that type of training program, given your technique is good and you put dedication and discipline behind your training.

Lastly, regarding jump rope, there is also proper technique regarding jumping rope. Generally speaking, for long-term jumping, you really want to keep your body relaxed, and your arms close to your body, and try to rotate the rope primarily with your wrists, being careful not to overuse your arms/shoulders to avoid burn out and go long-term.

Of course if you want to do explosive/power rope jumping you’re going to need to involve your shoulders to a much larger degree, trying to strike the ground with the rope.

Hope that helps and hope that makes sense.

17

[quote]Jillybop wrote:
I’ve been thinking that I need to spend a few weeks keeping things really simple with my workouts. I am pretty happy with my body comp right now and want to simply focus on being consistent with my nutrition and workouts (my goal for 2007 is to follow Berardi’s 90% rule for the year, nothing extreme, nothing dramatic, just doing the right things most of the time).

I get up at 6am and would like to do 45 minutes of something Monday thru Friday. I was thinking 15 min of dynamic flexibility drills, 15 min of lifting and 15 min of cardio each day. Probably doing push, quads, abs & arms & calves, pull, hips. Does this sound like a good idea? Would some sort of circuit be a better solution? Any articles I should check out? Thanks a bunch!
[/quote]

Jilly Bop,

Jen Heath here…sorry I have been gone so long! I have been out of town pretty much all the time for the holidays. I read your entire thread and think I have some really great ideas for you that re awesome, effective, can easily be accomplished in 45 minutes and that might be exactly what you are looking for.

You can maintain a lot of things like someone else said in the thread. You said you want to maintain your muscle mass. You need to do two things, IMO, in order to do that effectively.

2 weight training sessions per week. If you do one session with low volume and one with moderate volume, you will keep everything you have earned.

You can pretty much do these workouts whenever during the week as long as they are at least a couple days apart, like M and TH or T and Sat.

As far as filling in the other days…You mentioned that you would like to improve your condidtioning etc…I have had the great chance to include some crosstraining and core work into my training (even some speed, agility, dynamic flexibility, and plyometrtic work) - not common for a bb to incorportate all of this into thier training - but it has made the most AWESOME difference in my physique. You just want to make sure that the reps are high and you are NEVER failing on anything inbetween lifting sessions

So, what should you do? This is what comes to mind for you, which will make it so you don’t get bored!

Monday: Lower Body dominant circuit high reps and then follow up with a little HIT, or whatever cardio you like up again with cardio of your choice

Tuesday: Full Body Weight Training. All Muscle Groups (make sure your pushing and pulling is in check) 8-12 reps, 3 sets each muscle

Wednesday: Intense Abdominal Work (include soem TVA), balance, agility, speed, dynamic flexibility training (ask me about exercises for this day - I have a lot!) followed by cardio of your choice if you have time

Thursday: Upper Body dominant circuit high reps followed up again with cardio of your choice

Friday: Low Volume Weights, Full Body - One week use Squats, the other week use dead lifts as your compound movements. (No need to to do both especially while these muscles are being trained at other intensities other times during the week)

Sat & Sunday REST!

I think with a scheme like this, you will be able to not just maintain your physique, but also improve it.

As you know, in order to maintain, just figure out how many calories you are going to burn during these workouts, and add them to your daily PA and BMR. If you do this and keep your protien up, you should see no muscle come off! And if you wanted to tighten up a day or two, you could even shed some fat while maintaining all that muscle.

I have LOVED incorporating core strength and sports conditioning into my schemes in place of most traditional cardio, because it has similiar calorie burning effects, and improves not only the bodies appearance but its functionality to a much greater degree than joggin for 30 minutes every single day :-)Let me know if this seems like somthing that might work for you and I’d be happy to go into more detail! Good to be back Jilly - Talk soon

P.S. My off season just ended, I am training now for my competitions in April!

Jen

18

Disciplined, thanks so much for the links, I hadn’t read the Davies article about complexes. It seems like most of the articles geared towards minimal time workouts do fewer days, not daily shorter sessions, so I have been trying to find a good program.

Jen, I was wondering what happened to you and am glad to see you posting again! I am interested in what you suggest for those other days, I’ve never trained that way and it might be a nice change of pace. I did a plyo dvd workout with my sister the other day at her house and was sore for 2 days. I hate to ask you to write it all out for me, but whatever you can offer I’d love to read. Thanks so much!

19

Jilly,

Plenty of good ideas here with complexes. You could also just consider a 30 min lifting routine followed by 15 mins of yoga/flexibility or conditioning, and rotate the 15 minute sessions so that you are doing one every other day.

Fifteen minutes of cardio can do wonders, especially if you do energy systems work (as in CT’s Running Man). One of CT’s pet regimens for energy systems in the Running Man article times out at exactly 15 mins and really is an exceptional workout.

20

Thanks again, everyone. I have a bunch of different ideas now, definitely can keep me busy for quite a while. :slight_smile: