maintenance phase

What percentages are you guys lifting at during the maintenance phase? This is after a 7 week strength phase. After the four weeks of the maintenance phase is a competiton phase.

i would think 85-90% of your relative max would be a good area (ie, 85-90% of 5RM for sets of 5).

Normally i do 3 sets of 3 reps building up to the 110% at the end of the strength phase. I like the 85% of the new max for 2 sets of 5. Enough for cns stimulus but not enough to over do it.

Thoughts or suggestions

http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=1082&page=1&pp=15&highlight=maintaining

Page 3 has the thread summed up with a post by DMA.

Just thought I would post it here. I have a question, do you keep the same weight for the entire 7 weeks?

yes you would keep the weight bc as the weeks go on you will need to reduce volume to keep feeling fresh.

why maintenance then comp phase they are really the samething right now, are you gonna decrease the weight and volume even more?

well there are no indoor races around here for about 5 weeks anyways, so i was gonna follow the 7 week plan which reduces the volume and leads into a taper for competition.

be careful bc after about 8 weeks the strength lost outweights the freshness and your performance will drop.

Good suggestion, dont want to be stale, I dont even think the maintenance phase will last 7 weeks, its just nice to have a plan tried and tested.

if you wanted a maintenance phase just do 3x3x80-85% then once you start to compete follow the 7 week program.

Remember, in the Maintenance Phase you’re just hanging on, so the amount you drop depends somewhat on how long the phase will last. You start at lower rep numbers than in the Max Str Phase slightly below the max lift and then, as the phase goes on, you may need to drop the weight a bit further.
Dropping to 85% right away might be too much to maintain sufficient strength through a longer maintenance period but might be ok if the phase is short.

Yes, they can be the same thing when the early comps are only part of the prep for later, more important races. If you need to perform right away (to qualify for something for example) you may need to get into the Maintenance Phase a bit beforehand.

what do you think about post #5 for inseason training just using a set load all the way through, i see some good and bad things?

I can’t really answer because it depends on athlete requirement for increased strength (more for beginners and less for higher level) and the balance between strength enhancement, which requires more variability, and consistency, which allows for easier adaptation and tolerance for other components of the program. It’s an individual call.
That said, it always helps to think about the loading in general terms first before making a decision.

why would you try and increase strength during the season.

I thought that the description ran from SPP to Maint

not sure. i just dont see any major differences between the maint vs comp, you may decrease the vol a little but in most cases you stay around 3x3x80-85% of 1rm - maybe 90%.

I was just going from the fact that the first meet has gone BUT the season goes on for 5 months. You can’t maintain that long so you must go up for some, even if only a bit, and hang on for the rest if you consider the last meets the most important.

if your indoor season is 7-8 weeks there shouldnt be a problem hold strength then after indoors many have about 4 weeks before outdoors which would allow for some strength to be done.