So I've been doing NRLW for the past seven months and I'm about to start stage 6 (2 workouts per week for me, not 3). Since I'm coming up on the end of the workout plans I've been thinking about what I'm going to do when I finish stage 7.

My question for you is, how do I come up with a plan that will maintain the amount of muscle that I have built up, but which is not focused on increasing strength? What I mean is, it's great to be strong, but I feel like I'm getting sick of heavy lifting and I don't enjoy it that much. I want to get back to doing exercise that I enjoy more, like the triathlon training I was doing last year. When I'm doing heavy lifting to try to build muscle, I'm too sore to do the other activities I want to do like running, biking, or swimming. It's a good sort of sore, and I know it means I'm building muscle, but I would rather be doing something else.

I don't want to LOSE muscle. I want to keep it! But I don't want to be sore all the time from lifting either, and I don't want to spend more than 30 minutes 2x/week on a strength workout. Any suggestions?

I have often wondered this myself. I am just starting to get into weight training... but I already know that I dislike it, lol. I am curious as to how one maintains muscle after they have built it, without continuing to get bigger.

By removing strength training, you probably will lose some strength, even if you go to other activities. Most triathletes (and all professional ones) still do strength training. Running, hiking, swimming, are all great but they will not maintain your lean muscle mass over an extended period (I'm talking years or so).

Perhaps you should pick an activity that is strength-based. Rock climbing? Indoor rock climbing?

Sacha, I don't want to remove strength training entirely, I just want to find some kind of strength training program that will maintain the muscle I already have without making me sore. I'm perfectly happy to do strength training twice a week for half an hour. 30 minutes is about as long as I can tolerate most activities without getting bored!

No probs 2x per week for 30 minutes, I'm just not sure how long you will be able to maintain that muscle mass for. We lose muscle mass as we age, even with minimal strength training (hence the reason for more resistance). You could give it a try. If you are going to do that, you should stick to the basic full body lifts. Squats, Deadlifts, Press, Cleans, etc. Isolated moves (ie tricep kickbacks or curls) won't cut it in this situation.