Switching “style”of lifting, minimum absolute volume to maintain

[Jankauskas]

So I have essentially 2 questions that I decided to sum up on one thread.

First one, if one were to switch from a bodybuilding style of lifting to Olympic weightlifting, for example, would one be able to maintain the muscle mass attained, or would muscle groups like arms, which are not worked directly in Olympic weightlifting, start to decay?

Second question, what would be the minimal amount of volume one would have to do to maintain muscle mass for an extended period of time?

I’m familiar with Mike Israetel’s guidelines for volume, but I do find it a bit hard to believe that you can maintain at such low volume. Does anyone have personal experience with maintaining at minimal volume?


Thanks for your time

 

[Iron Frenchie]

You workout mainly to increase protein synthesis. Which is the process to repair muscle/build new muscle. When you use gear protein synthesis is always sky high. Higher then what you could achieve naturally. So for me the styles of workout don’t really matter. You can build/maintain with pretty low volume. If your natural it’s way different.

 

[weighted chinup]

First question: I don't know, but what I can say is that if you remain disciplined in your new style of lifting and apply yourself and use it as a mental break from bodybuilding training while still improving untrained attributes, it will only benefit you in the long term. How it will benefit you and how much it will benefit you will vary depending on your new training style, but the mental component of "time off" and focusing on new challenges is only going to benefit an athlete, not harm them, especially if you consider how many years it takes to build a truly impressive physique anyway. Taking breaks is huge, but taking productive breaks is even better.

Second question: honestly if you maintain strength, you can get by with a really small amount, but your endurance and ability to do work efficiently will go to shit if you go on too long in that state. I wouldn't spend longer than 2-3 weeks in a state like that and that is pushing it (let's say in that state you are only doing 30-50% of your normal volume).

I also believe longer than a week in that state will harm glycogen super-compensation as your muscles will be retaining far less in such a low volume environment, that itself will hurt your physique albeit very temporarily.

If this is purely hypothetical, I would just switch training styles for the next 6-12 months, push hard and overcome the new obstacles of the new sport, enjoy the excellent progress being new to something will provide and go back to BB mentally fresh, ideally a better version of your previous self physically and mentally.

I'd love to do strongman training, I believe I will give myself a 6 month break off gear and BB around September of next year (2020) since I've been pushing hard for a long time with not much time off training (pretty much no time off training, but lots of time off blasting though). Now is not the time for that though since I'm in an off-season phase and want to compete around Spring 2020.

 

[Eman]

If you switch to powerlifting you'll keep all your mass, plus add some, and get stronger... you'll also have to beat girls away with a stick because there will be an abundance of primal pheromones emanating from your body.

Unfortunately, you chose Oly weightlifting... as such, best of luck with your gender transition, Jan.



In all seriousness, I think you'll be surprised how much muscle you'll maintain if you switched to Olympic lifting. Biceps might not be worked directly in the Oly lifts but you still have to do assistance exercises and some bicep work would be advised, but typically it's just a lot more pulling movements as assistance which can maintain mass in and of themselves. I know a few powerlifters that never train biceps but maintain their arms with just pulling movements.

If you eat enough protein and have optimal test levels or cruise, forget about it.

I'm not sure if Oly lifting was just an example but if you're interested I have an ebook you might like. Let me know I'll send it to you.

 

[weighted chinup]

Unfortunately, you chose Oly weightlifting... as such, best of luck with your gender transition, Jan.

There was a period in human history where this joke would not have worked because the online fitness community didn't completely ruin the appeal of oly lifting with their complete spergness.

God, I miss 2012.

 

[jaymaximus]

If you switch to powerlifting you'll keep all your mass, plus add some, and get stronger... you'll also have to beat girls away with a stick because there will be an abundance of primal pheromones emanating from your body.

Unfortunately, you chose Oly weightlifting... as such, best of luck with your gender transition, Jan.



In all seriousness, I think you'll be surprised how much muscle you'll maintain if you switched to Olympic lifting. Biceps might not be worked directly in the Oly lifts but you still have to do assistance exercises and some bicep work would be advised, but typically it's just a lot more pulling movements as assistance which can maintain mass in and of themselves. I know a few powerlifters that never train biceps but maintain their arms with just pulling movements.

If you eat enough protein and have optimal test levels or cruise, forget about it.

I'm not sure if Oly lifting was just an example but if you're interested I have an ebook you might like. Let me know I'll send it to you.

Some of the best fitness chicks are olympic weightlifters, I would do it, but it's a bad look to lift too much, get a compound fracture, and shit yourself while trying to show off

 

[Eman]

Some of the best fitness chicks are olympic weightlifters, I would do it, but it's a bad look to lift too much, get a compound fracture, and shit yourself while trying to show off

If we can't show off, what's the point?!

I wish it was something I felt I could get into but I am self aware enough to know that I wouldn't have my heart in it enough to give it enough discipline. I follow quite a few Oly lifters on IG and keep up with their meets and stuff.

 

[Jankauskas]

If you switch to powerlifting you'll keep all your mass, plus add some, and get stronger... you'll also have to beat girls away with a stick because there will be an abundance of primal pheromones emanating from your body.

Unfortunately, you chose Oly weightlifting... as such, best of luck with your gender transition, Jan.



In all seriousness, I think you'll be surprised how much muscle you'll maintain if you switched to Olympic lifting. Biceps might not be worked directly in the Oly lifts but you still have to do assistance exercises and some bicep work would be advised, but typically it's just a lot more pulling movements as assistance which can maintain mass in and of themselves. I know a few powerlifters that never train biceps but maintain their arms with just pulling movements.

If you eat enough protein and have optimal test levels or cruise, forget about it.

I'm not sure if Oly lifting was just an example but if you're interested I have an ebook you might like. Let me know I'll send it to you.

First and foremost, thanks for the encouragement pertaining my transition.

I feel that this is the consequence of all those years of being pressured into being a beacon of masculinity, but finally I realized that a tiger cannot change its stripes (no gender pronoun )....

So since you accepted me, I feel like now I can really come out of the closet:

Olympic lifting was just an example, what I really want to do......

Is CrossFit...


All right, now jokes aside.

I have been pondering for some time on doing mma/ some kind of martial arts, which is something that I always wanted to do.

My plan was to still lift like I normally do, bodybuilding style of training, and do like one hour of the said combat sport of my liking, but after using the power of common sense and google, I quickly realized that lifting weights 5/6 times a week and doing combat sports on the same frequency wouldn’t exactly be an easy task....

So I had been reading about the type of lifting fighters do, and it’s usually either Olympic lifting or powerlifting.

I asked about Olympic lifting because it’s a more distinct discipline compared to bodybuilding, since powerlifting is very similar, and I was wondering if I could maintain my mass doing 3 or 4 day split in either of these disciplines.

This is just a thought, nothing is planned yet, but as @weighted chinup mentioned, sometimes it’s good to take a break and do something different for a while.

I have been bummed out with bodybuilding for a long time, unmotivated, exhausted and not getting the results I feel I should be getting.

I tried changing things up several times in the recent months and to be honest, even though I did improve in some areas, it’s not being easy, and while there is still much to improve I’m feeling extremely burnt out....