Title: How Much Training is Necessary to Maintain Strength and Muscle? - Bret Contreras
Headings: How Much Training is Necessary to Maintain Strength and Muscle?
How Much Training is Necessary to Maintain Strength and Muscle?
How Low Can You Go
Exercise dosing to retain resistance training adaptations in young and older adults
Phase I
Phase II
Conclusion and Practical Applications

Content: Exercise dosing to retain resistance training adaptations in young and older adults
Let me first commend the researchers on a badass study design. Having conducted studies myself, I can appreciate the amount of work that went into this study – they trained 70 subjects for 48 total weeks (almost an entire year!) and recorded numerous variables of interest throughout the entire study period. There are other studies too that examine detraining, but in this article I’m going to focus on this study simply because it’s the most comprehensive to date. Phase I
The researchers first took the 70 adult males (31 adults were age 60-75 and 39 adults were age 20-35) through a rigorous 16-week training regimen that had them performing the following workout 3 times per week: 3 sets of 8-12 reps of leg extensions with 90 sec rest in between sets
3 sets of 8-12 reps of leg presses with 90 sec rest in between sets
3 sets of 8-12 reps of squats with 90 sec rest in between sets
This equated to 27 sets per week. Sets were taken to or close to failure. Loads were increased consistently throughout the 4 months (progressive overload was utilized). During these 4 months,
Younger adults increased type II vastus lateralis cross-sectional area by 37%, type I vastus lateralis cross-sectional area by 22%, increased thigh lean mass by 5.6%, and increased knee extension 1RM strength by 38%
Older adults increased type II vastus lateralis cross-sectional area by 28%, type I vastus lateralis cross-sectional area by 14%, increased thigh lean mass by 4.2%, and increased knee extension 1RM strength by 36%. Phase II
Now, onto the cool part.