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One of the most important parts of a fitness program is consistency. By sticking to a regular routine, you can strengthen each workout and make real progress. However, sometimes the routine goes awry. that’s what I’m guilty of right now<\/em>.<\/p>\nWhether you’re busy at work, feeling unwell, dealing with an injury, or just don’t feel like it, it’s normal for your workout routine to stagnate once you’ve nailed it. There’s nothing wrong with taking some downtime, but waiting too much<\/em> If you keep it up long enough, all your hard work at the gym, track, or wherever you want to sweat can start to wear off.<\/p>\nAs I sit here this morning, trying to get through another workout, I wonder how much space I have left. So we spoke to experts about how long it takes for fitness to decline. Reassurance at the top: “A short vacation of 1-2 weeks will have minimal impact” elizabeth matskin<\/u>MD, Sports Medicine Orthopedic Surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. This is when vacations really start to matter.<\/p>\n\nMeet the experts:<\/strong> elizabeth matzkin<\/u>M.D. is a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. aaron lee baggish<\/u>M.D. is a sports cardiologist and founder of the Cardiovascular Performance Program at Massachusetts General Hospital.<\/p>\nSome amount of rest is normal and necessary<\/strong><\/h2>\nIf you’re having a tough week without training and are being hard on yourself about it, stop. never lose fitness that<\/em> fast. Taking a day or two off won’t have any effect, and taking a week off won’t bring you down that much. As you probably know, taking recovery days can actually be beneficial. After a lifting session, your muscles need rest to repair so they can grow bigger and stronger.<\/p>\nThe importance of rest applies to almost all treatments. For running, for example, “If you’re training for a 5K, 10K, or marathon, rest days are an important part of your program,” Dr. Matzkin says. A day or two of rest allows your body to recover and become stronger. and<\/em> Reduces the risk of overuse injuries and potential longer absences. Taking breaks at the right time can also help fight burnout, but it can seriously hinder your progress.<\/p>\n\nLoss of fitness is only a concern after weeks to months of rest, and it affects different aspects of fitness differently.<\/p>\n
Aerobic capacity declines fastest<\/strong><\/h2>\nAfter just 5 to 7 days of no aerobic exercise training, blood volume decreases. aaron lee baggish<\/u>MD, sports cardiologist and founder of the Cardiovascular Performance Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. What is the impact? Less oxygen reaches your muscles, which can affect your aerobic performance and make your body temperature less efficient. If you sit for another week, even more changes will occur. The heart becomes slightly smaller and the muscles begin to lose mitochondrial function.<\/p>\n
But what does that mean for running, cycling, and swimming? After two weeks, Dr. Baggish says you may feel like you’ve lost your “high gear” setting. “All the factors that keep a good athlete functioning begin to reverse, and if you don’t start training again, they do so over a period of weeks or months,” he says.<\/p>\n
There is one big caveat to all of this. It’s about how active you are in general. \u201cOne of the main factors that determines how quickly your fitness declines is how much physical activity you actually engage in during your daily activities,\u201d Dr. Baggish explains. \u201cIf you stay in bed and rest, you will quickly lose your strength. [would] lose a lot [it]. If you maintain your normal daily activities, take 10,000 steps, and go up and down stairs, your physical fitness will decline at a much slower level. \u201d Incorporating other forms of cardio and cross-training during your rest periods can be even more effective.<\/p>\n
However, complete breaks for long periods of time are not recommended, says Dr. Matzkin. That’s when you’ll see the real benefits for aerobic capacity, endurance, and VO2 max, she says.<\/p>\n
Your cardiorespiratory fitness will start to decline after a week or two, but there are ways to reduce the severity and you should be able to reverse the decline fairly quickly. Think about it. You should see improvement within a few weeks after a long break.<\/p>\n
When it comes to your strengths, you have more room to act freely.<\/strong><\/h2>\nExercise physiologist Rachel Reid, Ph.D., says that while you may notice a decline in performance or an even-out in size after about two to three weeks, actual muscle atrophy tends to occur gradually over long periods of inactivity. We’re talking anywhere from one month to multiple months.<\/p>\n
Early on, you’ll start to see changes in these higher level skills. “The initial changes are often neurological and performance-related,” Reid says. “These include decreased force production, coordination, training tolerance, and explosive power.” Basically, after a few weeks, you’ll notice that the weights you primarily use feel a little heavier and your endurance during workouts decreases.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, it takes longer for any real reduction in muscle size, strength, conditioning, and overall training capacity to occur. Factors such as age (older people tend to lose muscle and strength faster), training history (more experienced people retain muscle longer), protein and carbohydrate intake (the more the better!), sleep (also important for maintenance), and overall activity level all affect how quickly you lose muscle. “Even if you stop lifting weights for a few weeks, people who regularly walk, hike, or do occasional bodyweight exercises are likely to retain more muscle than those who are completely sedentary,” Reid says.<\/p>\n
So if you want to reduce muscle loss, just like you want to reduce cardiovascular decline, you can try to stay active in other ways and incorporate resistance as much as possible. Once again, it is completion<\/em> A state of inactivity that you want to avoid. “Even short or low-volume workouts can provide meaningful maintenance stimulation,” says Reid. “Sometimes this may not be possible, for example if you have a serious illness, are on a long business trip, or have a busy life. That’s why it can be important to maintain a flexible approach to exercise, or maintain a strict approach.”<\/p>\nAnother perk: If you lose muscle strength, it should recover faster than it took to recover in the first place. “The encouraging news is that those who have trained previously often recover strength and muscle faster than when they first trained because their ‘muscle memory’ and neuromuscular adaptations are preserved,” Reid added.<\/p>\n