Maintenance Mode

You’ve probably seen the college kids back around the gym. Some of them are athletes, and they have a short break because they need to get back to their sport. A conversation with one of them reminded me of what it was like to be a college athlete, and an important lesson for all of us to remember for the real world.

I loved lifting when I was an athlete. In the summers, I would up my frequency and intensity in the gym and make a ton of progress. Months later, the hockey season started and my lifting shifted to 2 times per week at a much different intensity. It was frustrating, the weights from the summer would feel unreachable mid season. I was also on the ice 6 days a week, losing weight (from all the skating) and definitely not getting enough sleep.

Luckily I had good strength coaches who would explain that we were on maintenance mode, and that our goal wasn’t necessarily to get stronger during the season, but to just not get too much weaker so we can continue to build when the off season comes around. We still needed to lift, but there didn’t have to be a focus on improving, rather getting quality reps. At the end of the season our best weights from the previous summer were within reach, I would have plenty of time to build back up, and surpass them.

As I was explaining to the college athlete that it’s okay his front squat numbers are declining in the middle of swim season, I couldn’t help but think, if more people realized this in the real world, they would do a better job of creating a long term training habit. If his front squat drops by 30 or 40 pounds during the season, but he can gain it all back within 4 weeks of dedicated training, then it doesn’t really matter - he’s maintaining his strength, or is at least close enough to allow him to shift gears, and focus on sport, rather than the gym.

Sometimes you have a lot going on, and there isn’t a lot of time to focus on making huge improvements in the gym. If you’re not training as hard, you need to do the minimum to stay healthy, not get injured and keep up your strength and conditioning.

The key is to realize, for both scenarios, is that you have to keep training. You’re not able to just turn it off. Something far outweighs nothing. As you start thinking about your training for 2024, ask yourself, are you trying to build or maintain? Both are worthy goals.

Justin Miner

@justinminergain