Training is the biggest tool you have to hold muscle tissue on prep.
If load and reps or quality of stimulus (execution and intention) declines that lessened stimulus will NOT be potent enough to give a reason for muscle to stick around in a calorie deficit.
But what can we do?
We have to continue to manage fatigue in our training to keep quality stimulus and you can with these 4 tips.
#1 Move to a Braced Pattern:
If only certain movements are declining, usually these have high bracing requirements. Think about the effort of back squatting and having to walk out the weight and stabilize the core. Your waist has shrunk 2″ on prep and now you look like a baby deer trying to walk for the first time.
For a movement like this we can then change to a smith machine squat to increase the external bracing and reduce the internal bracing requirements. Less systemic fatigue and keeping internal stimulus (muscle tension) high.
#2 Move Challenging Lifts to First in the Session:
Another option is to move that free weight lift to early in the session. Maybe for some reason you had a Squat after your leg press. You have accumulated fatigue from the leg press and now squatting takes a hit.
Well move the squat first in your session when fresh then you can move to the more braced leg press. This is exercise order programming for managing fatigue and output across the session.
#3 Weak Body Parts Trained Fresh:
You might notice your weak body parts have the biggest drop off on prep. For me its my push day and chest training specifically.
So rather than train push the day after a pull or leg workout, I move that session so I train it after a rest day, being fresh. This is weekly split design programming to manage fatigue.
#4 Set Volume Reductions:
If you see detriments in only one session across the board, it is likely that volume now needs a reduction in the session as you might be training that muscle group beyond its recovery capacity. Our goal is to uphold training effort, load and reps and we can make set reductions to do so.
Reduce a set on one of the demanding compound lifts to drop intra session and weekly training volume. Set reduction are taking out the big hammer to drop off fatigue, but we can keep in isolation machine lifts that have a high stimulus for a low fatigue cost.
What is Coming to J3U August 6th?
This is the launch of our Brand New Hypertrophy Module covering everything you need to know to assess a physique, build out a program and make sure progress is happening.
John Jewett MS RD IFBB PRO
J3 University Educator
J3U Coaching Head Coach
