Detraining

What happens when we take a break?

How long does it take for training progress to be lost? Will two weeks of vacation ruin the whole year's work?

In this article we are going to see what the scientific literature says about detraining, about what happens to the muscles and the body in general when we stop training or reduce training.

One of the most important characteristics of muscles is plasticity, i.e. the ability to adapt to functional, neuromuscular, or hormonal demands that vary continuously.

This is exactly what happens with training: the body adapts to physical exercise and improves its ability to tolerate effort. This is why it is necessary to increase the intensity after a while that we train to continue to see results.

What happens instead when we have periods of break from training, such as during the Christmas holidays?

The concept of detraining is based precisely on the reversibility of training, i.e. on the fact that the stop or marked reduction of training leads to a partial or total reversal of the adaptations induced by training.

The muscle, and the whole body in general, adapts to the stimulus, but also adapts to the absence of the stimulus or its reduction, returning to its initial status.

Yes, but how long?

There is definitely no need to be alarmed if we go on vacation for a week or two and don't train. It's not that single week that affects the results of an entire year, and we know the same concept also applies to diet.