It might sound easy, but staying in shape can be just as difficult as losing fat or gaining muscle. In a way, it’s more motivating to have a set goal and clearly defined approach. The problem is that you can only keep a laser-like focus on your diet and exercise program for so long. At some point, you should return to reality and enjoy yourself a bit. Ironically, easing up a bit will help your body and mind recover and allow you to push harder again in the future. Pushing too hard for too long can easily lead to burn out. That’s where a maintenance workout routine and diet plan come into place.
Maintenance Workout Routine & Diet Plan
In my opinion, the goal of a maintenance workout routine and diet plan is to stay in good shape or marginally lose body fat and/or gain muscle. This is not the time you should see 5-10lb fluctuations in your weight. Simply try to maintain your body. Here are three general approaches to adjust your workout routine and diet plan:
- Exercise less while maintaining a relatively strict diet
- Exercise while relaxing your diet
- Create a balanced approach
Exercise Less
A lot of people will like the first approach I listed because they don’t want to take time to exercise. The key is finding the minimal amount of time you can exercise to maintain your muscle mass. Most people could probably get away with 2 hours per week of exercise. The challenge is that you will have to keep your diet in check to avoid too much fat gain.
Eat More
Rather than changing my exercise routine, I prefer to relax my diet. This time of year is particularly busy with summer cookouts, birthday parties, ice cream, and vacations. Rather than try to stave off all temptations, I relax and enjoy myself. To compensate for the increased calories, I make sure to exercise 3-4 hours per week. In other words, I don’t really change my workout routine. The less than stellar eating means I merely maintain my weight rather than losing it.
Balanced Approach
Rather than taking one extreme or the other, you could simply do everything in moderation. Exercise 2-3 hours per week at your leisure. Eat well most of the time, but indulge every once in a while. Or switch up certain weeks. If you know it’s going to be a bad eating week, put in an extra hour or two at the gym. If you’ve had a good week of eating, keep to the lower end of the exercise range.
Motivation
The most challenging aspect of a maintenance workout routine and diet plan is that it’s hard to stay motivated. Staying the same is really boring to most people. We all like to push for a goal and achieve it. Once the journey is complete and the goal has been achieved, what’s next? You can always reset and start over but before you do that, take some time to enjoy the body you worked so hard to achieve. Then move on and try to get into elite physical condition if you so desire.
How I am Staying in Shape
For my maintenance workout routine, I do 4 days of strength training for 30 minutes per session. Additionally, I do 3 days of HIIT for 30 minutes per session. I try to eat well during the week so I can really enjoy weekends. In general, I can maintain 11-12% body fat with this method. I take weekly body fat readings and if I see it rise above 13%, I’ll get a lot more rigid with my eating.
For what it’s worth, I always ease up like this during the summers. It’s a great time to put cares aside for a couple months and enjoy some fun foods. Personally, I enjoy exercising and don’t mind putting in 3-4 hours per week when I can. As long as I stay within a 5lb weight range and a 1-2% body fat range, I’m more than happy to let loose for a little while. Just make sure to stay within striking distance and when you’re ready to work hard again, you’ll find that you will be able to push yourself to new limits. That’s how I’m staying in shape…so what are you going to do?
Related Articles:
Best Workout Program for Women
0 Comments
If you have any question please comment our website.
Emoji