I've Reached my Size Goals..but Still Want Strength?

by Spencer

Hello.

I have been using isometrics for my legs and have been building both strength and size. The thing is, I want to maintain my size at this point and continue to build strength.

What do I do now?

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Dec 30, 2011
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starstarstarstarstar 		Maintaining size and developing strength NEW
by: Paul from Isometric-Training.com

Hi Spencer,

Firstly it's great that you'v reached your size goals - congratulations!

Secondly it's quite easy to continue to develop and increase strength without adding additional size using isometrics. This is achieved with an understanding of the body's growth development cycles and nutrition.

Size depends on time and diet. Your body will only build more mass once you come to the peak of your current available strength with the muscle tissue you already have. At this current stage your body is learning to fully utilise your present muscle tissue. Let's say when you started training you only were actually using 50% of the strength you were capable of with that muscle. With consistent training and recovery you now have begin to re-train that muscle and can use 85% of your available strength. Your getting stronger because your body is learning what it is capable of with the muscle tissue you already have. It is is only when you reach a point of 100% and ask more of it that the body will build more muscle. The body then repeats the process. This creates very hard, dense musculature as opposed to what filled weak muscle that many gym goers have. It's generally more compact and takes up less size.

Once you've achieved the size you want, as in your case you simply continue your workouts as you have done, straining for maximal tension this will result in continuing strength increases with this new muscle. At some point within about 6 months of consistent training you will reach the peak strength of your current muscle. This is where the second part comes in.

You must be eating to support growth. If you want to increase muscle volume you'd take in a lot more calories, if you want to build strength but not much more tissue, then focus on lowering your calories to daily maintenance levels or just slightly below them (about -250 kcal). In order to get increasingly stronger, past the level of your current muscle the body will have to build more muscle, however a cross-sectional increase that creates a great more strength can be kept to a less than 1mm increase in muscle circumference (barley noticeable) if you keep your calories down.

Hope that helps,

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