These days, you might be wondering what happens to our bodies when we take a break from training-and there's some good research on that topic. How long it takes to lose our strength gains and lean tissue size during "detraining" depends on several factors:
how long you've been training
your age
your gender
how intense your training was
The scientific data suggest that after a few weeks without training, we all start losing strength and lean muscle tissue. The longer the break, the more significant the loss becomes.
We start experiencing detraining effects after about 10 days. In particular, we start losing fast-twitch fibres, which give us metabolic health, strength, and power. After 12 weeks without training, though, we'll still be bigger and stronger than our baseline (before we started training).
Age and gender: For younger trainees, our strength and muscle size do go down significantly after several weeks without training. But if you return to training after that short break, you can re-gain your losses and return to the same level you were at before taking any break (8). Even if you take a break (1, 2, 3, 5, 7) for up to 30 weeks (4, 6), the good news is that you won't lose all your gains!
After our 25th birthday, we start naturally losing lean muscle tissue (0.5 lbs a year) and gaining body fat (1 lb a year). And the older we get, the more we lose of our precious lean tissue. Studies on detraining show that older people need a higher frequency of training to maintain their gains vs. younger people (5). Older people, particularly women (4), tend to lose all their gains after 31 weeks without training.
Intensity of training: If you tend to train with a higher level of intensity, you'll likely remain stronger after 12 weeks without training, compared to those who train with moderate intensity (7). People who emphasize "eccentric" (negative) training tend to retain their strength in those eccentric movements even after 3 months without training (6)! Because we focus on high-intensity training with 30-second negatives at the end of each set at NET, that means you have an advantage.
What can you do to prevent strength and muscle tissue loss during this time of isolation?
You can follow the home-based exercises on our YouTube channel.
Even better, you can book a virtual session so we make sure you are actually doing the workouts, while maintaining good form, good technique, and sufficient intensity for progressively better results. We are already observing significant strength gains in our clients!
Sources:
Hakkinen K, Alen M, Komi PV (1985): Changes in isometric force- and relaxation-time, electromyographic and muscle fibre characteristics of human skeletal muscle during strength training and detraining. Acta Physiol Scand 125:573-585.
Houston ME, Froese EA, Valeriote SP, Green HJ, Ranney DA (1983): Muscle performance, morphology and metabolic capacity during strength training and detraining: a one leg model. Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol 51:25-35.
Harris C, DeBeliso M, Adams KJ, Irmischer BS, Spitzer Gibson TA (2007): Detraining in the older adult: effects of prior training intensity on strength retention. J Strength Cond Res 21:813-818.
Ivey FM, Tracy BL, Lemmer JT, et al. (2000): Effects of strength training and detraining on muscle quality: age and gender comparisons. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci 55:B152-157.
Bickel CS, Cross JM, Bamman MM (2011): Exercise Dosing to Retain Resistance Training Adaptations in Young and Older Adults: Med Sci Sports Exerc 43:1177-1187.
Andersen LL, Andersen JL, Magnusson SP, Aagaard P (2005): Neuromuscular adaptations to detraining following resistance training in previously untrained subjects. Eur J Appl Physiol 93:511-518.
Tokmakidis SP, Kalapotharakos VI, Smilios I, Parlavantzas A (2009): Effects of detraining on muscle strength and mass after high or moderate intensity of resistance training in older adults. Clin Physiol Funct Imaging 29:316-319.
Ogasawara R, Yasuda T, Ishii N, Abe T (2013): Comparison of muscle hypertrophy following 6-month of continuous and periodic strength training. Eur J Appl Physiol 113:975-985.
Pedersen B (2019): The Physiology of Optimizing Health with a Focus on Exercise as Medicine. Annual Review of Physiology 81:607-627