Detraining and the Body

Detraining is the physiological changes that occur in response to a reduction or cessation of regular physical training. It’s what happens to our bodies when we skip a few weeks of training or when we stop altogether. There are many components of fitness, and for the purposes of this article, we will look at how two of them are affected by detraining: muscular strength and power, and cardiorespiratory endurance.

Muscle strength and power

The loss of muscle strength and power is relatively small during the first few months after cessation of training. In one study, no strength loss was observed four weeks after completing a 3-week resistance training program. Research indicates that once training has ceased, muscle strength and power can be maintained for up to 6 weeks. By adding a training session once every 10 to 14 days, the strength can last much longer than this.

These figures are only relevant for healthy individuals who have stopped training. Sick or immobilized individuals will experience a much faster decline in their strength and power.

cardiorespiratory endurance

The news for cardiorespiratory endurance isn’t so good. Fitness in this area is rapidly lost after cessation of formal resistance training. In a study conducted in endurance-trained athletes, 2-4 weeks of reduced activity resulted in a 9% decrease in blood volume, a 12% decrease in stroke volume, and a 12% decrease in plasma volume. . Since cardiorespiratory fitness is greatly affected by the heart and blood, these numbers caused VO2 max. (maximal oxygen consumption) of the athletes was reduced by a significant 5.9%.

The loss of cardiorespiratory endurance is much greater than the reductions in strength and power over the same period of time. Even training once or twice a week is not enough to prevent loss of cardiovascular conditioning.

What does this tell us about our formation?

If you are doing balanced weekly sessions of both muscle power and cardiovascular endurance, and you have to miss sessions, it is best to compensate with cardio exercises. You will only need to train your muscles every 10-14 days to maintain what you have, while you need to train at least 3 times a week to maintain your cardiovascular health.

For those of you who are trying to get a cardiovascular benefit by training just once or twice a week in this area, dream on! Once or twice a week is not enough to maintain, let alone develop, cardiovascular health.