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: Some of the readers may be old enough to remember the preachings of the late Ayn Rand-obsessed Mike Mentzer and his Heavy Duty Training (HDT) philosophy, or perhaps HIT Training espoused by Stuart McRobert who wrote the book Brawn. Mike Mentzer espoused doing just 1 hard set to failure of 1-2 exercises per bodypart every 10 days or so. At first, I cut down to three thirty minute sessions per week. When I found that my strength levels didn’t suffer, I cut down to two twenty-five minute sessions per week and again found that my strength did not suffer. I then cut down to one thirty-minute session per week. It turned out that this was too low and caused me to lose strength. Finally, I switched to one thirty-minute session per five days and found that I could indeed hold onto my strength and size. I stuck with this methodology for around 4 months and saw no strength or hypertrophy decrements. Gaining strength is very tough and requires hard work and determination. However, if you ever find yourself overwhelmed and are considering giving up on strength training for a period of time, before you quit please consider switching to a low-volume, low frequency, high-intensity routine.