This 37-Year-Old Stopped All Bicep and Tricep Training for a Year. Lost Only 1 Millimeter of Muscle (Here’s What Actually Maintained Her Arms)

When two experienced fitness coaches finally meet up for a training session, expectations run high.

But what unfolds might surprise anyone chasing gains in 2025.

In a recent collaboration video, fitness coaches Victoria and Holly Baxter—both seasoned athletes with decades of combined experience—tackled a glute-focused workout while dropping knowledge bombs about training volume, muscle maintenance, and why most gym-goers are probably doing way too much.

Their candid conversation reveals truths about building muscle that fly in the face of what social media often preaches.

Training Volume: Less Is Actually More

Holly trains just four days per week, focusing primarily on glutes and shoulders with minimal work on other muscle groups. Her approach isn’t born from laziness—it’s strategic optimization for someone with nearly two decades of training experience.

I’m currently training 4 days a week. Um not by preference though. I think my personal preference would be to get a fifth day in because I have a lot of volume.

What’s remarkable is her distribution strategy. Rather than crushing glutes in one marathon session, she spreads volume throughout the week to avoid diminishing returns.

You kind of find like once you’ve done more than six to nine sets on any one muscle group, you’re done. It’s like once you turn your car on, it doesn’t turn on anymore. Like you’re kind of wasting any more work.

Victoria echoed this sentiment, revealing she sometimes performs only three exercises per lower body session. For context, many influencers promote workouts with seven or more movements.

The Muscle Maintenance Revelation

Perhaps the most eye-opening discussion centered on how little volume is actually required to maintain muscle mass once you’ve built it.

Holly shared a personal experiment that challenges conventional wisdom. After transitioning from WBFF to IFBB bikini competition, she completely eliminated direct arm training and drastically reduced back and chest work to just six sets weekly.

I took out all biceps, all triceps. I lowered my back and my chest volume down to six sets a week. So, that’s me just like literally doing nothing.

The results? Using B-mode ultrasound to measure muscle thickness after one full year, her biceps lost only one millimeter of size. Secondary muscle activation from compound movements was sufficient to preserve nearly all her arm development.

Victoria experienced something similar when reducing her training volume significantly.

I have not lost any muscle size since I started reducing my training last summer. It’s been 9 months. My measurements are essentially the same. My weight is pretty much the same.

Strength Versus Size: Understanding The Difference

Both coaches emphasized a critical distinction that beginners often miss: strength and muscle size don’t necessarily move in lockstep.

Victoria explained that while her measurements remained constant during nine months of reduced training, her strength declined noticeably. Holly demonstrated this perfectly during their workout.

I used to do the seated version, the entire stack, 20 reps. Sometimes even adding a plate.

But with reduced volume over time, that strength diminished—without corresponding muscle loss.

The explanation lies in neuromuscular adaptation. Strength improves rapidly through neural efficiency and motor pattern refinement, but these adaptations fade quickly with detraining. Muscle tissue, once built, proves remarkably resilient.

Strength is so volatile. You take a week out of the gym, you come back after a holiday and it’s like, ‘Why does this feel so heavy?’

Strategic Exercise Selection For Aesthetics

When training for physique competition—particularly bikini division—exercise selection becomes crucial for creating specific proportions.

Both women have eliminated or drastically reduced compound movements that develop the waist and lower back. Holly stopped heavy RDLs, squats, and deadlifts entirely.

I stopped training all heavy RDLs and squatting and deadlifting. I don’t do any of those anymore cuz my back was powerlifting looking.

Victoria faced similar issues approaching competition.

Going into my last show, I had to stop training RDLs because I was going so heavy. I was at 285 for like reps. And I noticed my traps and upper back was getting locked up from the holding all that weight.

This doesn’t mean these exercises are “bad”—they’re simply not optimal for every goal. For bikini competitors seeking maximum glute development with minimal waist thickening, isolation movements become paramount.

Their Go-To Glute Builders

• Smith machine hip thrusts: Both prefer this variation for easier setup and better stability, allowing focus on glute activation
• Machine-based movements: Holly particularly favors certain machines that isolate glutes without lower back involvement
• Rotary hip thrust variations: The angled setup allows greater range of motion and hamstring stretch
• Kickback variations: Victoria dedicated an entire training season to progressively overloading this movement

The Technique Foundation That Everyone Skips

Before discussing rep ranges, training splits, or advanced periodization, both coaches emphasized something most fitness content completely glosses over: proper exercise execution takes years to master.

Most average women that go into a gym are not even performing the exercise to a way that they’re actually engaging the muscle. Their coordination, their mind to muscle connect is all over the place.

Holly doesn’t hesitate to spend 30 to 40 minutes on squat technique alone when training clients in person. This patience stands in stark contrast to the “just lift heavy” mentality promoted online.

Victoria added another layer to this discussion—the psychological component of training intensity.

Being able to train close to failure is a skill. Like you don’t pick that up overnight.

Many trainees spend their first two to three years never truly approaching muscular failure. They lack the confidence, pain tolerance, and technical proficiency to safely push boundaries.

Until these foundations exist, debates about optimal rep ranges remain premature.

Individual Response: The Forgotten Variable

Holly referenced research by Dr. Stuart Phillips examining responders versus non-responders to training stimuli—individuals who gain muscle easily versus those who struggle despite similar programming.

This genetic variability extends to volume tolerance. Some athletes thrive on minimal volume while others require substantially more to progress.

There’s probably other people that can do 22 sets like you were just saying you’ve maintained your muscle on a really low volume. You’re one of those other ones that can just do pretty little and like still get you really good growth.

Recent research examining volumes up to 52 sets per week on single muscle groups showed no meaningful hypertrophy differences compared to moderate volume approaches. However, individual outliers—the “unicorns”—may still benefit from higher volumes.

The takeaway isn’t that high volume is worthless, but that more isn’t automatically better for everyone.

Practical Equipment Considerations

Throughout their session, both coaches discussed practical realities that social media rarely addresses—like how commercial gym equipment often doesn’t accommodate female proportions.

Most women are 5’2, 5’3, maybe 5’4. A lot of these machines are made for like grown men who are at least 5’9.

Hip thrust machines present particular challenges. Pad thickness matters significantly—thicker pads roll during movement, creating discomfort. Victoria and Holly are both 5’7″ or taller, yet still struggle with machine setup designed for larger male frames.

Their solution? Prioritize Smith machine variations that offer adjustability and don’t require a training partner to stabilize the bench.

Extra padding is non-negotiable, especially when leaner. Holly uses three layers of padding for hip thrusts to prevent bruising and discomfort that would limit performance.

The Diminishing Returns Debate

When discussing whether two sets per exercise suffices, Victoria offered a nuanced perspective on diminishing returns that cuts through typical dogma.

Diminishing returns doesn’t mean that not—So you’re not at 100% maybe you’re at 90%. 90% of a dollar is still 90%. There’s still some return.

For beginners, one set produces measurable gains. Two or three sets optimize growth potential. Advanced lifters require more weekly volume, but not necessarily within single sessions.

Holly’s guideline: three sets as baseline when time permits, two sets when pressed for time. The occasional reduced-volume session won’t derail progress, but consistently leaving sets “on the table” accumulates over months and years.

Context matters enormously—training status, recovery capacity, life stress, and specific goals all influence optimal volume.

Exercise Rotation For Continued Progress

Victoria shared a simple but effective strategy for breaking plateaus without constantly chasing higher volumes or weights.

When people ask me what’s the best exercise for growth, usually my answer is the one that you don’t do.

She dedicates entire training blocks to specific movements—one year focused on kickbacks, another on 45-degree hyperextensions, 2022 emphasized hip thrusts. This approach introduces novel stimuli that experienced lifters adapt to, triggering new growth without excessive volume.

The body becomes efficient at repeated movement patterns. Variation provides fresh stimulus that lower volumes can effectively leverage when you’ve been training for years.

The Squat Debate Settled

Despite their focus on isolation work for competition prep, both coaches maintain that squats remain the foundational glute builder.

I will stand by squats are the OG.

Victoria attributes her early glute development primarily to squat variations. Holly agrees that for general population seeking glute growth with functional quad development, squatting movements are irreplaceable.

Options extend beyond barbell back squats—Smith machine squats, hack squats, leg presses, and specialty machines all provide squat-hinge patterns without identical loading demands.

The anti-squat sentiment in some physique circles applies specifically to advanced competitors manipulating proportions, not to the broader training population building foundational muscle and strength.

Key Takeaways From Two Decades Of Experience

This collaboration offers refreshing honesty from coaches who’ve moved past chasing social media trends toward sustainable, results-driven training.

• Muscle maintenance requires far less volume than building—sometimes 70-80% less once you’ve achieved your development goals
• Strength fluctuates independently from muscle size, particularly in experienced lifters
• Technique mastery takes years, not weeks, and should precede discussions about advanced programming
• Individual response varies dramatically—what works for one person may be excessive or insufficient for another
• Exercise selection should align with specific goals, not generic “best exercise” lists
• Equipment limitations are real, especially for women using commercial gym machines
• Diminishing returns still yield returns—the question is whether additional volume justifies the recovery cost

For the 42-year-old Victoria and 37-year-old Holly, training smart has replaced training maximally. Their physiques demonstrate that sustainability trumps intensity in the long game of muscle building.

Perhaps most importantly, they model what real adult fitness looks like—not perfectly optimized training blocks, but strategic workouts fitted around careers, relationships, and life responsibilities.

Sometimes that means four exercises instead of eight, two sets instead of five, and Smith machines instead of free weights. And according to their physiques and measurements, that’s working just fine.