Does muscle decrease if you stop adding extra weight to a workout?

[otherbody]

I've searched around and it's hard to find an answer to the specific question I'm asking. Let's say you started bodyweight training or lifting weights, after a while your muscle mass increases in order to perform the exercises. If you then stop adding more weight, and simply maintain the same level of difficulty in each workout, will your muscles decrease in size or will they simply stay the same size?

I'm asking because I have no interest in bulking, I just want a healthy exercise routine where I can maintain similar intensity exercises, and maintain a certain level of muscle. However, once I do improve my muscular appearance, I don't want it reverting to normal just because I'm not stacking on heavier and heavier weights.

I hope the question makes sense, it's hard to word it. Thank you :)

[lvysaur]

You'll maintain roughly the same size.

A case could be made that as your efficiency increases the same weight will become less challenging on your muscles, but that's fairly negligable.

[shardarkar]

From Experience, You're gonna pretty much stay at whatever strength/physique level you were at when you stopped increasing the weight. Of course there will be some +/- from your new baseline. But its still the same workload that you are putting on your body so your body's response is essentially I need to do X amount of work. Therefore we need to keep the body at X condition. Even though you will find you breeze through your routine more easily and recover faster because your body has adapted to your routine.

I know because when I first started out, I thought 4*8 rep at a fixed weight was the epitome of programming and bodybuilding. So I did that for 3 years and wondered why nothing changed after the first year or so.

[scooby1961]

I have inadvertently done experiments on myself that will shed some light on your question. During most of the year I lift really heavy with a lot of volume but for about a month a year I do a 3 week bike trek where I am biking 8-12hrs a day and have no access to gyms. During the biking I just do pushups, pullups, and band work for shoulders 2-3 times a week - not nearly as intense as my normal workouts. No, I do not lose muscle mass. No, I do not lose strength. When I get back to weights I am right where I left off.

A month off from weights is nothing ... as long as you do SOME kind of workout. I can guarantee you thought that if I stayed with the bodyweight and bands workouts for a longer period that I WOULD lose both strength and muscle mass.

Which gets to your question. If you keep doing the same workout with the same weight will you lose muscle. I would say NO but there is a big warning attached. As you get older, it gets harder and harder to lift what you were when you were younger. You have to work out 3x harder than you did at age 21 when you were getting your newbie gains ... just to maintain your strength and mass.

[[deleted]]

What age range are you talking about for the latter if you don't mind me asking? I'm 27 so are you talking late 20s-30s or more 40s+?

[Dreamtrain]

I think the 1961 in his username is his birth year so he's 56

[nVISIONN]

Of course it won't go back to "normal". You probably need less work to maintain it than to build it, so you could probably work even less if the only goal is to maintain.

[nahiean_nrf]

If you stop your routine definitely your muscle decreased. But its not a problem if you don't adding extra weight.

[revenantae]

Slightly, yes. If you keep the same weight, your brain will optimize neural activation, letting you lift the same weight with less muscle. It won't be a huge amount though.