How To Keep Your Strength with TA?

[lorajc]

I have been doing Meta for 2 weeks and today, for the first time, I did a cardio/weight circuit (the new Tracie Long, Reboot) and I really can tell that I lost strength. How does everyone deal with this? Do you do one regular strength workout a week?

[txfitmom]

When I did meta, I did 1 to 2 strength workouts each week. I would either go to the gym or do a KCM or Cathe workout. Really you don't have to do a lot to maintain strength, a shorter workout will work.

[Hilary]

I haven't done any additional strength workouts. And I don't feel like I've lost any strength. But I do think Meta gets progressively more challenging. Once you start doing a lot of plank work, you will be building strength in your upper body. I can understand you're worried about losing your gains, so doing a short strength workout weekly certainly wouldn't hurt. But personally I'm totally committed to doing TAM pretty much as is, and I think in the end your strength will build back up, although your physique may change.

[bee]

Yes, it's a progression, for sure. When I started meta, I was adding in other strength work. I'm on level 7 now and if not for the draw of trying other things, I certainly wouldn't need to do anything more. I am as strong as ever. For a while, try adding in a strength work once a week, but if you stick with it, you may find you don't need to.

[cardiomama]

Originally Posted by lorajc

I have been doing Meta for 2 weeks and today, for the first time, I did a cardio/weight circuit (the new Tracie Long, Reboot) and I really can tell that I lost strength. How does everyone deal with this? Do you do one regular strength workout a week?

I continued to add in other strength workouts w/ Meta, once or twice a week. I'm still using the Meta (Glute now, after using Omni for 90 days) w/ other resistance workouts, I really like the floorwork so just using that (two levels done consecutively) as a supplemental workout (not planning to focus on just Meta or TA's other workouts).

But w/ that said, Tracie's Reboot is a functional fitness resistance & cardio workout, so both of those components would limit how much you would generally lift (functional exercises have multiple focuses: balance, flexibility, & working in different planes, & cardio elevates heart rate). Using a more straight forward resistance workout would likely show you whether you had lost some strength. Also, since you're new to the Reboot workout, it could also be a matter of adapting to the demands of the workout (w/ more experience, you'll be lifting heavier weights).

Often times when people don't focus on a specific type of workout/training, and resume it, they do go back to previous levels of strength (or cardio capacity, power, etc.). So you may need to give the workout/training a few tries before you resume the previous levels (and make gains). And also if you've been sick or not training consistently, then that could affect the perceived or actual strength level.

Using just Meta (or other TA muscular structure workouts) seems to work for many VFers, but may not work for you or your goals. So you can/should definitely experiment & see what works best for you.