Afraid to lose mass

[Starsell]

I am afraid of losing mass in the endurance cycle.
Will the endurance cycle -12 weeks! - set me back
at all?

I have worked so hard to build strength and mass
that I don't want to lose the mass.

Alison

 

[Dela]

Hi, I can't really answer your question, but the endurance, mesocycle #1 is only 4 weeks. The whole program is a 12 week program (well a little more with rest weeks). Each cycle is 4 weeks long, unless you choose to make this a 6-month rotation, then each cycle will be 8 weeks long.

I'm sure someone can speak better to loss of muscle mass.

 

[scouter99]

I am in the same boat. I have been lifting heavy for awhile now (6-8 reps) and am in a Transformation Challenge that started Sunday and goes until the end of March. I want to start STS when it comes but am afraid to lower my weights.

 

[L Sass]

Here's a thread where I asked that very question and Cathe answered me. HTH
http://www.thecathenation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=255786

 

[goldenrun358]

Thank you for posting this and for the responses to it. I have had a very similar experience i.e. worked with PT saw increase in mass and strength, 1RM increasing, etc. I too was worried that the endurance phase of STS would cause a set back. I have loved the results I've seen with this different type of lifting and was afraid to do the beginning of STS. So, it is good to hear a go-ahead.

 

[goldenrun358]

Here's a thread where I asked that very question and Cathe answered me. HTH
http://www.thecathenation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=255786

I will be curious to see your and my body's reaction to a new style.

 

[Starsell]

Thanks for pointing that out....that's what happens scanning
information too quickly to digest it .

 

[Starsell]

L Sass -- great going! I read your link.

I'll be curious to see my body's reaction to it too goldenrun.

One thing for sure - it didn't seem to hurt Cathe's mass any! <LOL>

 

[petramom]

I have wondered about this before. If you want to continue to challenge your muscles, you have to keep increasing the weight you lift. But you can't keep increasing your weights forever - at some point you'd get to something ridiculous and probably dangerous. So maybe a benefit to taking off a week or going lighter for a while is that you do lose a certain amount of strength - just enough so that your muscles are challenged by less weight than they were before, and thus can continue to get stronger. So even though you do lose some strength, it enables you to ultimately get stronger than you would have had you not lost the strength to begin with.

Sheesh. That seemed much more coherent when I was just thinking it in my head. Hopefully you get my point.

 

[LauraMax]

You def. won't. I switched my leg w/o to a more endurance based routine--basically going from 3 sets 8-10 for each exercise to one set of 30 for each exercise--for about 4 mos (trying to bump up the metabolism & lose a few lbs, it didn't work ). I was actually wondering the same thing about losing strength. But I went back to my regular routine last week & was pleasantly surprised to find I was still doing the same weight.