{"id":7945,"date":"2021-12-17T10:59:33","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T15:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wahoofitness.com\/blog\/?p=7945"},"modified":"2022-02-22T08:47:12","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T13:47:12","slug":"how-long-does-it-take-to-lose-fitness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wahoofitness.com\/blog\/how-long-does-it-take-to-lose-fitness\/","title":{"rendered":"How Long Does It Take To Lose Fitness?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We have all been there at one point or another: the fear that begins to creep in when we have to take a day off from training. Whether this is due to energy levels, family\/life obligations, or injury prevention, a day can feel like an eternity for most endurance athletes. What would happen if that day became 7, or 21 days off?! While the thought of taking three weeks off from training sounds disastrous, depending on the time of your season, it could be just what the body needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rest is not something to be feared, but needs to be understood of how it plays a pivotal role in your training cycle: you can only train as hard as you recover. So then where does this fear of recovery come into play? At what point do we actually begin to lose fitness and can we gain that fitness back? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Good News<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When generally speaking, almost all training benefits are reversible to some degree. This means that whatever level of fitness you have built up over time, it is possible to lose most of this. So where is this good news? Well, in order to lose all of your gained fitness it would take multiple months, if not years, of detraining to completely erase it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to neuromuscular adaptations, coordination patterns are maintained fairly well during de-training, and therefore there is minimal loss from that perspective. The saying \u201cit\u2019s like riding a bike\u201d in that even without riding a bike for many years you can pick it back up very quickly from a neuromuscular coordination perspective is true. You just won\u2019t be able to pedal as hard as you previously could for very long due to the losses in fitness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still not convinced that a day or two off won\u2019t completely ruin your season? Ten days to two weeks is the length of time that would be the maximum amount of days off someone could take without experiencing a (moderate) amount of detraining in regards to cardiovascular fitness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI very often have athletes take completely off 3-7 days in the middle of the season (sometimes a few times throughout a season) with absolutely no loss in fitness\/endurance capacity.\u201d <\/em><\/p>Neal Henderson, Head of Wahoo Sports Science<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Keep in mind when it comes to de-training, all individuals will be different. Two main factors are at play when athletes undergo de-training: the length of the de-training period and the initial training status of the individual. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that we cleared that up, let\u2019s move on to the specifics of what occurs during a period of detraining. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cardiovascular Changes <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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>). This time period may start to trend towards some slight reductions in enzymatic activity in the muscles for high-intensity efforts (like your anaerobic capacity) within 3-4 days without any training\u2026but those changes would be regained in just one or two high-intensity training sessions! Our bodies will immediately begin to lose mitochondrial adaptations made within the first week of inactivity. Muscle mitochondrial oxidative <\/a>capacity undergoes rapid changes in both trained and untrained states. Muscle mitochondria increase within the first five weeks, almost doubling, at the onset of exercise.  On the other hand, following just one week of de-training, muscle mitochondria losses are at 50% of what was gained in the first five weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you get more than 3-4 weeks of de-training you will begin to see continued reductions in fitness that include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n