Maintaining

[Lloyd90]

Hi Mark,

I recently watched your pod cast with Jordan where you talked about being very busy and stated that Jordan was probably just [or would be better off] 'maintaining' for a couple years whilst doing his residency etc

I'm finishing up my final year of my degree and am pretty busy as well. Probably not eating as well as I should and could do with dropping 20-30 lbs (Currently 235lb at 6" approx 20-25% BF)

What training method and approach would you recommend to someone in this position ?

NB* Apologies if those weren't your exact words but words to those effects.

Lifts for reference
Bench - 215x3x5 (Failing on last rep)
Squat - 350 x 3 x 5
Dead - 365x1x5
OHP - 130x3x5 (stalling out fast!)

[Mark Rippetoe]

Did you notice the weight Jordan said he was deadlifting? His other lifts?

[Lloyd90]

Yer, they were freaking huge, something like a 700lb+ dead.

What would you recommend ?

[Mark Rippetoe]

I'd recommend that you do the program.

[AndrewLewis]

Just do the program and get better. You'll go fucking insane if you don't allocate some time to something other than school work.

[Ben Patterson]

OP,

You're lifting just a bit more than I am right now. One thing that I have learned is that things that apply to the advanced lifter do not apply to novices or intermediates. To be blunt, we are not strong. Youd be trying to maintain a level of relative weakness compared to your potential.

If you're stalling perhaps take a look at how much you're sleeping and see if you can get more sleep.

[crookedfinger]

I'm sorry buddy, even if you're a genetic waste, you've got another 100 pounds on every lift before you even need to consider the fact that you should just "maintain."

Increase your expectations...

[Lloyd90]

Thank you to everyone, including Rip for his bluntness (and others). Time to knuckle down and squat then!

[Crimmy]

I have the same question though I've been on intermediate programming.

As an intermediate on TM, what does maintaining mean as far as programming goes? Would it mean cutting 5x5 back to 3x5 and just repeating the V/I day weights until you reach your weight goal? My BP/P are still going up but I've pretty much hit the limit of my DL and S.

I was supposed to do 3 singles of my current work weight for squats but have failed the 3rd set two weeks in a row. I should be pulling doubles for my DL, but it seems to have regressed.... though that's partly because I caught a cold, sneezed really hard, and injured my rib the day before I day last week....

[Matt Reynolds]

I have the same question though I've been on intermediate programming.

As an intermediate on TM, what does maintaining mean as far as programming goes? Would it mean cutting 5x5 back to 3x5 and just repeating the V/I day weights until you reach your weight goal? My BP/P are still going up but I've pretty much hit the limit of my DL and S.

I was supposed to do 3 singles of my current work weight for squats but have failed the 3rd set two weeks in a row. I should be pulling doubles for my DL, but it seems to have regressed.... though that's partly because I caught a cold, sneezed really hard, and injured my rib the day before I day last week....

You know the logical next question is....how much weight are you doing? If you are an intermediate on TM and are squatting 425 for 5x5 on Monday then our answer will be significantly different than if you are squatting 265 for 5x5 on Monday.