Keeping gains

  • Fushnicken
    Keeping gains
    on: 2015-05-03 23:31:19
    What is the best way to hold onto your hard earned muscle while off cycle
  • IFBB Undercover
    Re: Keeping gains
    on: 2015-05-08 02:41:37

    Great question! So often, guys work their asses off while on cycle and then once it's over, they drop the ball and lose it all, sometimes ending up worse off than when they started. 

    So, planning ahead is key. Mentally and physcially. When a guy comes off, he's never going to look quite as round or cut as when he is on, especially about a month after he comes off and hormones are at their lowest. It's easy to get depressed when you are used to seeing fast progress in the mirror and with the weights, then only to see things come to a slow, anticlimactic crawl. It can take the fire out. The thing is, if you stick with the diet and continue to train, as you recover, you can maintain a lot of what you gained. It might not look quite as great as when you were on, but look at gear as 3 steps forward, 1 step back. So yes, during your off period, you may lose a small amount of your look, but stick to what has worked and when you do go back on, you will have a much better base to start from. 

    Some other thoughts. 

    Off cycle, you may want to back down the training volume a little. I would continue to lift as heavy, but if your training session are normally longer, you might want to tighten them down a little for awhile. I would say that it would be best to not train longer than 1.5 hours for guys in PCT or in the weeks following. 

    You may not be able to handle/process the same amount of food that you had used in the past. So you may need to adjust food by a small amount as you go. 

    Most important, watch your changes and learn from them. If you have a coach on your side, he will be able to provide you with experience and know whats fat, whats muscle and how hard to push through the transition. Or through trial and error, you will learn with time. All part of the expereince!  With that said, just a plug for my service, if you or anyone else is interested in working on a diet plan, please get in touch with me through the Next Level Nutrition page, here at Naps!