Precontest Training

Weight training is actually a very catabolic activity. It's the rest and nutrition that is responsible for the building up of muscle tissue.

So why does everyone think that the training that built the mass will be the best for keeping it? When the nutrition and rest aren't there, you're literally just tearing down muscle tissue without building it back up!

One can't just halt training altogether though, as this will inevitably lead to loss of muscle. This is seen even when calories are present! The most important thing for muscle growth/maintenance is that stimulus.

So I speculate that switching from a hypertrophy to a strength approach precontest would be the best avenue of action. As long as you're getting stronger or at least maintaining strength, you can bet that you're not losing muscle.