You lose strength much more slowly than you probably think.
A few days off changes basically nothing, measurable losses take roughly two to four weeks depending on the quality (muscle endurance fades first, maximal strength last).
Muscle memory makes rebuilding faster than building the first time, and maintaining takes a fraction of the training that building did.
Here’s the timeline, and how it can inform your training.
Has this question ever crossed your mind:
How fast do I LOSE strength if I miss my workouts?
This was an awesome question that Charles sent my way. (Thanks Charles! 🙌)
When life gets crazy and you find yourself skipping workouts, there’s a voice that says:
“Is this undoing everything I just worked hard for?”
I had that exact thought the first time I had to take significant time away for a back injury.
And heck, just recently my kiddos brought home the “crud” from school and I missed a full week of workouts.
So, let’s look at what actually happens, and what it means for your training.
Strength is stickier than you think
Short version: a few days off doesn’t impact your maximum strength or muscle size basically at all.
Your muscles may look or feel “flatter”, but that’s because stored water and glycogen decrease, not because you are weaker.
And this “pump” comes back quickly once you start training again. 💪
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Here’s a rough timeline of when we start to see the effects of detraining:
- Muscular Endurance 1.5 to 2 weeks
- VO2 Max 2 to 3 weeks
- Muscle Size 2 to 3 weeks
- Maximal Strength 3 to 4 weeks
Highly trained folks and older adults will notice detraining faster than new or younger lifters (so they’ll sit towards the beginning of these timelines.)
But you don’t lose your progress in any meaningful way after a week or 2 away from the gym. 😊
Your muscle remembers
And if you DO have to spend significant time away for whatever reason, I have good news for you, too:
“Muscle memory” is a real thing.
1) Your nervous system remembers how to do the movement.
The first session or two in the gym after time away may feel a bit clunky, but you’ll quickly regain the technique.
And a big component of strength is neuromuscular coordination (i.e. your brain and muscles firing together more efficiently, which improves rapidly.)
2) The muscle itself seems to hold onto some of the machinery it built, so it rebuilds faster the second time.
A general rule of thumb is about 50% as long as you were away (so if you were away for 12 weeks, it may take ~6 weeks to rebuild your strength.) Take this with a grain of salt as there is a LOT of variation here. This isn’t a hard and fast rule.
(And you don’t want to jump right back in at 100%. Use the 50/50 rule to get yourself going again.)
The point is, it’s generally easier to rebuild than to build the first time.
The work you did before still counts.
A little goes a long way
Building muscle and strength? It takes time and effort.
No one wakes up a day after a workout and has just magically put on 5 pounds of muscle.
But maintaining what you’ve built?
That takes only a fraction of the volume.
When you keep intensity the same (i.e. how hard the exercise is), doing 1/3 the number of sets maintains your strength for a loooong time.
The point being: doing ANYTHING during a period where you aren’t able to consistently work out is still really really helpful!
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So what do you do with this?
Two things:
1) Keep a toe in the water.
When life throws you off track with your fitness goals, you’re not starting back from square zero.
And even a single session each week with a couple challenging sets is enough to hold what you’ve built until things calm down.
2) Get the work in now.
There’s that old saying that: “The best time to invest was 20 years ago. The next best time to invest is today.”
I think the same holds true for building up your fitness.
Every session you put in now is strength you get to keep later.
The effort is worth it. 🔥
This is exactly why we built our coaching program. Because having a coach makes both of those so much smoother.
We take the thinking off your plate so it’s easier to get going.
We direct your limited time and effort toward the stuff that actually moves the needle.
AND when life pulls you away (sick kids, a work deadline, etc.) we help you maintain and get right back at it.
If that sounds like the kind of help you’ve been looking for, here’s how NF Coaching works. 💪
-Matt