It takes about three months of total inactivity (e.g. bed rest) to lose your strength gains. In fact, if you're doing heavy training consistently, a 1–2 week break can actually help you get stronger, which is exactly why Centr Power has deload weeks.
A two-week break, especially due to illness, won't derail your progress. Think of it as a recovery period that could even prevent overtraining or burnout. Your body is designed to adapt, and with consistent effort, you'll return to your normal strength and performance in no time.
Yes, it is possible for a person to experience some loss of muscle gains after not exercising for two weeks. This is primarily due to a decrease in muscle protein synthesis and an increase in muscle protein breakdown when physical activity is reduced or stopped.
People are actually advised by trainers to take a break of 1-2 weeks. But it is only if a person has been doing intense workouts for over 8-12 weeks. A week off the gym will help the body recover and replenish. However, during the rest period the body will undergo some changes.
“You can regain approximately one-half of your fitness in 10 to 14 days with moderately hard workouts,” Dr. Coyle said. After this initial period of retraining, the amount of time it takes to get the rest of your fitness back to prebreak levels can vary depending on how much catching up you have to do.
You can actually lose your cardio endurance and muscle strength with two weeks of complete rest, says Milton.
For the majority of people, it takes roughly 130 quality hours to get fit. A lot of people ask me where I got that number. It's equivalent of training hard, an hour a day, 5 days a week, for 6 months. Your hours can't be half-ass hours, either.
Aerobic Capacity
Research shows significant reductions in VO2 max within two to four weeks of detraining, which is attributed to decreased blood volume and cardiac output. Another study found that most of the aerobic capacity gained through exercise over two to three months is lost within two to four weeks.
In the first ten days to two weeks of inactivity/de-training, there is a measurable loss in cardiovascular fitness, but even this level of decrease is only about 2-3% drop in values such as VO2 Max, MAP (maximum aerobic power), or FTP (functional threshold power).
A lot of people fear de-load weeks as they believe they will make them weaker, when in reality, the opposite is true. On average, you won't begin seeing reductions in strength and power until around 3 weeks away from the gym, so don't worry about that.
From there, “typically you can see tangible changes—whether it be body composition, change in resting heart rate, etc. —within two to six weeks,” says Ellis. That breaks down to roughly two to four weeks for beginners and four to six weeks (or more) for more seasoned athletes, he adds.
The general guideline is that every week you're not working out or immobilized, it takes about three weeks to recover and return to your previous level, he explained.
However, skipping a workout here and there typically doesn't cause weight gain, and taking regular rest days is healthy for muscle recovery and preventing injury.
Studies show that those who weight train regularly are less susceptible to muscle loss when training breaks take place. In these studies, there was actually NO significant drop off in muscle mass after two weeks of detraining.
Active recovery: If you are having a period off running after a key race or during a holiday, there is nothing to stop you from remaining physically active and mentally healthy. Walking, cycling or swimming are great ways to maintain physical activity during a period of two to three weeks off running.
In the last decade, most researchers agreed if you took two weeks off from the gym, you were not only bound to lose all your gains, but you'd suffer some pretty serious psychological issues in the process.
In 2 weeks, most people can lose between 2-4 pounds (0.9-1.8kg) if they're sticking to a healthy eating plan and exercising regularly. This might not seem like much, but it's the best way to lose weight without causing harm to your body. Remember that small, steady progress leads to long-term success.
Generally, it takes anywhere from two to 12 weeks to regain cardiovascular endurance and muscle strength and feel like you're back at your previous level of fitness.
According to the journal Medicine & Science In Sports & Exercise, two weeks of downtime causes no significant loss in bench press or squat performance, while, in a separate study, scientists estimated that strength 'is readily maintained for up to four weeks of inactivity'.
Physiological muscle memory
While they may lose muscle mass due to their inactivity, it will typically return more quickly than when they first put it on. This form of muscle memory occurs because when you first build muscle, your body adds new cells to those muscles.
The 1000-Hour Rule is a provision that allows temporary employees to qualify for certain benefits, such as participation in an employer's retirement plan, after working 1000 hours within a 12-month period.
In Carl Richards' fantastic personal finance book “The One-Page Financial Plan,” he discusses what he calls the 72-hour rule. The rule is quite simple. For all non-essential purchases, before you make the purchase, wait 72 hours.