For how long can you maintain "maintenance" training?

[IronFist]

Yeah I posted this same thing over at Dragondoor...

I've been really busy with work, plus I'm getting my wisdom teeth pulled soon. I've recently come close to peaking in a cycle consisting of 2 sets of full body workouts three times a week for 15 reps for two weeks, 10 reps for two weeks, and then 5 reps for two weeks. But since I've been busy, I've been doing the same workout over and over without increasing the weight any. I'd say I'm at about 90% of my 5RM.

So my last three workouts, all spaced out by 4-5 days, have been:

Squat 245 x 5 reps (2 sets)
Bench 225 x 5 reps (2 sets)
And then some biceps/triceps/calves stuff.

My question is, I know that during this stressful time I probably won't be making any gains, but I was wondering how long I could keep this up indefinately without overtraining(?) or losing strength(?).

So, my last 6 workouts were supposed to look like this (all weights are 2 sets of 5 reps)

Squat: 215, 225, 235, 245, 255, 265 (end cycle)
Bench: 195, 205, 215, 225, 235, 245 (end cycle)

But instead it's been like this:

Squat: 215, 225, 235, 245, 245, 245
Bench: 195, 205, 215, 225, 225, 225

And I'm wondering how long I can keep with the:

Squat: 245, 245, 245, 245, 245...
Bench: 225, 225, 225, 225, 225...

or if I'll ever start to overtrain or lose gains.

[Toby]

Originally posted by IronFist
I've recently come close to peaking in a cycle ...
... it's been like this:

Squat: 215, 225, 235, 245, 245, 245
Bench: 195, 205, 215, 225, 225, 225Seems to me you've already peaked ;). Why not start a new cycle? Or try a different type of cycle, like a wave (which I did once and it was fun, but I needed to write it down on paper to keep track of where I was which sucked).

[IronFist]

Almost peaked, but not quite. I could have finished the cycle if I had more sleep and less work and more time.

I think I'm going to experiment by seeing how long I can keep this weight going for.