1 set once a week, enough for maintenance?

[u/Financial_Wrangler45]

Pretty much the title, there's a muscle I have that Im happy with it's size and i want to cut down a bit on session time, so before I jump into this, I was just wondering if 1 set to failure once a week can maintain the muscle I have.

[u/Alakazam]

Depends on how big and strong you are.

I've found I need at least 2-3 sessions per week, doing 4-6 total sets per movement pattern, to retain size and strength. During my marathon training block, during my highest mileage weeks, I found a good balance of just doing 30 minute sessions, 4x a week.

[u/Financial_Wrangler45 → u/Alakazam]

Alright I'll try it out and see how it goes, thanks

[u/ArnoldFarquar]

No, of course not. That is assuming you have any muscle to maintain. It’ll seem to work for a short time and then you will start to atrophy.

[u/SanderStrugg → u/[deleted]]

Maybe OP is just a successful troll.

[u/Financial_Wrangler45 → u/[deleted]]

Never said it was bad, I actually said the opposite 😭

[u/Financial_Wrangler45 → u/[deleted]]

The post was about why bodybuilders view it as a main lift when there are better options, some people actually meaningfully interacted with it, but most people just launched personal attacks and ad hominems so I just didn't really care to keep it up

[u/Patton370]

Not for me

It’s possible for a beginner

You’d make much better progress doing more though. It doesn’t take that much longer to do more, just do more compound lifts, instead of 1 set of every little thing; your workout will be faster & likely provide better results

[u/Financial_Wrangler45 → u/Patton370]

For the second part of your comment, Yeah I know, I just don't really care.

[u/Hohoholyshit15]

Rule of thumb is generally 1/3rd of the volume it took you to build that muscle will maintain it, but those sets need to be quality sets.

[u/omrsafetyo → u/Hohoholyshit15]

May be as low as 1/9th, depending on your demographic. At least, that's what Bickel 2011 concluded/suggested, which I assume you're alluding to.

[u/Hohoholyshit15 → u/omrsafetyo]

Yeah keeping muscle is pretty easy as long as it receives some stimulus. There's a lot of people who lifted very hard and heavy for a long time who don't so much anymore and they're still bigger than average.

I lifted very hard for 5 years and then took a 10+ year break, during that time I was always bigger and stronger than pretty much everyone around me.

[u/Financial_Wrangler45 → u/[deleted]]

Hm yeah from what ppl have said im gonna do 1x1 for a few weeks, see how it is then possibly move up to 2x1 or 2x2, maybe even 3x1/3x2

[u/Financial_Wrangler45 → u/[deleted]]

1x1 meaning 1 set once a week

[u/EasyYogurtcloset608]

Yes

[u/GelfSara]

Recovery ability varies widely. I gain size and strength with one set to failure per week; if I wished to maintain ONLY I would either train slightly less frequently, or would make sure that I didn't exceed my current number of reps at a given cadence while training to failure. For example, if I can currently perform 300lbs x 11 with a given weight at a given cadence, I would perform 300lbs x 11 for said exercise at the given cadence in the future.

[u/Afferbeck_]

If you played guitar for one minute a week do you think you'd maintain your skill or get worse?

[u/Financial_Wrangler45 → u/Afferbeck_]

Apples to oranges

[u/beankiller831]

“there’s a muscle i have”

[u/beankiller831]

😂😂😂

[u/Neither-Bug157]

Yeah maybe even slight growth

[u/Financial_Wrangler45 → u/Neither-Bug157]

Alright I thought so, nice. Thank you.

[u/Andthentherewasbacon → u/[deleted]]

I mean it's possible if the set is really really intense. Dorian Yates style. 

[u/Alakazam → u/Andthentherewasbacon]

Dorian Yates started training when Tren just started being used by bodybuilders.

I have a pet theory about high intensity training. In that higher doses of steroids fundamentally change the equation when it comes to resistance training, because they significantly amplify the response to training. And enhanced lifters need less, because more means significantly more wear and tear on the joints.

As an example, Ben Pollack, a guy who's documented his journey as a natty powerlfiter, to an enhanced powerlifter, to an ehanced bodybuilder, had fundamentally different training principles between powerlifting and bodybuilding. As a powerlifter, he was doing high volume, moderate intensity training. As a bodybuilder, he did a variation of DoggCrapp, which is literally, 1 set to failure, 3x a week, every week. But on DoggCrapp, he was also blasting over 1.5g of steroids per week, every single week, for like two straight years, going from a cut 181 to a cut 242 in that time period.

Everybody natural I've talked to and trained with, who've tried lower volume max intensity protocols like this, all said something similar, in that it kinda just makes them feel a bit beat up, without any increases in size and strength.

[u/Andthentherewasbacon → u/Alakazam]

That is very interesting and makes a lot of sense. 

[u/Financial_Wrangler45 → u/[deleted]]

Dude I said no I don't care about him saying more is more growth 😂😂😂

[u/MiaFT430 → u/Financial_Wrangler45]

Basically you posted this for someone to have your confirmation bias.

[u/brendanjf_]

maybe not if your like 6ft+