Lighter Weights & Maintaining Muscle

[AnthonyIOSOS]

I would like to lower the exercise weight for a couple of weeks. Take an easy for the joints and mental focus. Will lowering the weight for my exercises affect my current muscle growth? I would just like to maintain at the moment.

 

[Deadlift3]

I would like to lower the exercise weight for a couple of weeks. Take an easy for the joints and mental focus. Will lowering the weight for my exercises affect my current muscle growth? I would just like to maintain at the moment.

In order to keep you current weight and muscle mass you should lift decent weight and dont go light (IMO you wont do jack lifting light weights). Also keep your calories up. A good way to figure this out is to multiply your body weight times 15. Eg Mines is 180x15=2700

 

[youngandfree]

unless you drop your calories too much, you should be fine. If you have been going hard and heavy for a while, your body needs a break anyway. I've been doing a maintenance workout for the last 7 weeks because my hand was in a cast. The only real thing I couldn't do hardly was any back exercises since I couldn't really pull. I used hammer strength machines for chest and shoulders, preacher curl machines, and some light tri stuff. It was definitely lower weight and intensity than normal. Really the only thing that suffered was my back since that was the only thing I couldn't do.

 

[rantorcha]

There is a difference between "light" and "lighter" IMO. You can go lighter and concentrate more on your mind-muscle connection which is something I like to do every once in a while. This doesn't mean it is easy, it just allows you to really hit the muscle properly.

 

[EasyEJL]

Intensity + time under tension matter more

 

[power675]

You're 5'7" , 171 pounds. What kind of heavy weights have you been throwing around to make your joints hurt bad enough to switch to lighter weights? Maybe you need to work on form, or maybe you are trying to use weights that are just too much for you right now.

That being said, taking a couple of weeks to lifter light(er) isn't going to kill you. How much lighter are you thinking about?

 

[Future]

Try some GVT training meaning doing 60% of your max for 10 sets of 10. This can help stimulate some hypertrophy.

 

[AnthonyIOSOS]

You're 5'7" , 171 pounds. What kind of heavy weights have you been throwing around to make your joints hurt bad enough to switch to lighter weights? Maybe you need to work on form, or maybe you are trying to use weights that are just too much for you right now.

That being said, taking a couple of weeks to lifter light(er) isn't going to kill you. How much lighter are you thinking about?

What kind of weights have I been throwing around? The joint pain is mainly in my elbows and hurts the most when I flex. I am thinking about Animal Flex for this problem.

I workout with good form and at 90 to 100 percent of max weight for the given amount of reps I may be doing in a workout. Sometimes I squat twice a week, dead lift twice a week and bench press twice a week.

I noticed most of this pain after doing drag curls. Its been 3 weeks since the drag curls.

 

[Chubbinmuffin]

Try some light weights for time under tension or high reps. A good endurance cycle couldn't hurt.

 

[Future]

I can't imagine doing compound exercises under that intensity and frequency. I would overtrain.

 

[AnthonyIOSOS]

I can't imagine doing compound exercises under that intensity and frequency. I would overtrain.

I recover pretty fast. Muscle soreness is never a problem just the joints.

 

[AnthonyIOSOS]

You're 5'7" , 171 pounds. What kind of heavy weights have you been throwing around to make your joints hurt bad enough to switch to lighter weights? Maybe you need to work on form, or maybe you are trying to use weights that are just too much for you right now.

That being said, taking a couple of weeks to lifter light(er) isn't going to kill you. How much lighter are you thinking about?

Just because you are over 250 pounds it does not mean your workout is anymore intense than a 171 pd (now 175) person. What is heavy for one may not be heavy for another. Obviously we will have different weight being used for two totally different body types and weights.

 

[dropshot001]

you will probably start to lose some muscle mass if you go "light" because your muscles are primed to move a certain amount of weight. if you move lighter than that then the muscles won't feel the need to keep the same amount of mass because it isn't needed. if you go slightly lighter, up the rep range and see how that works for you