Are strength gains permanent?

[newuxtreme]

I'm confused.
When we workout on our 3x a week schedule. We gain strength. But supposedly we miss a workout or a week. We loose strength. It's so quick. Which means even if we're lifting 300 kg on a particular day. In about 2 months of inactivity, we'd be just as weak as the next normal guy who doesnt lift?
Or how much of our strength do we maintain if we do at all...?

[Kiknskreem]

Permanent, no, but strength is a rather long term adaptation.

[spooq]

You will lose the CNS adaptation faster than the strength adaptation. This means that if you come back to lifting after a break, your max will increase very rapidly back to close to where it was. The other point to make is that someone who can lift 300kg can take a year or two off (hell probably more like five), and still be far stronger than an untrained person. Even if Mark Henry sat on his sofa eating crisps for the next couple of years, do you think you could out-lift him?

[RyHam]

This could be total broscience, but take it for what it's worth. (No source either). But I've heard that fast twitch muscle that has been developed during training degenerates at a rate of 1% per week of non-training.

[Jason2459]

No, some day you will die...


Edit:
Strength gains for most people is a long term commitment and struggle, besides the gains you first get in the first month to two years depending on the person (newbie gains). A person can easily loose strength very easy. In as little as two weeks you can start to loose strength. Now if you think you lost strength by only missing one workout then it is completely mental. That will not happen. Not working out for several months can easily wipe out any gains that were had in a year or two of training. I've found that out myself. How ever it is typically, this is totally anecdotal, easier to gain that strength back then it was to gain the first time as long as you're not taking like a year or more off. Some call it muscle memory. What ever the hell that is.

[Power_11]

No, some day you will die...


Edit:
Strength gains for most people is a long term commitment and struggle, besides the gains you first get in the first month to two years depending on the person (newbie gains). A person can easily loose strength very easy. In as little as two weeks you can start to loose strength. Now if you think you lost strength by only missing one workout then it is completely mental. That will not happen. Not working out for several months can easily wipe out any gains that were had in a year or two of training. I've found that out myself. How ever it is typically, this is totally anecdotal, easier to gain that strength back then it was to gain the first time as long as you're not taking like a year or more off. Some call it muscle memory. What ever the hell that is.

Yeah, thats true. Strength comes back pretty quick, not muscle mass.

Strength is sort of a skill for the body. Being stronger is about your body knowing how to recruit more fibres or motor nuerons or whatever for the lift. Your body remembers how to do that quickly.

Like riding a bike, you can get good and strat doing tricks and stuff.If you stop for a while then come back, your timing is gonna be slightly off (or way off if you've been out for a while) but you get the hang of it pretty quickly because its just about re-learning what you once knew.

[SEOINAGEbb]

From someone who has trained off and on with weights for over a decade, I know you lose strength and muscle mass. Like what was said, even two months off could set you back almost a year. I took two months off when we had our first child, and built my home gym during that time. Took 6 months to have reasonable lifts again. I also took a couple years off at one point, and it didn't come back so fast, spent a few years to get anywhere near where I was before it, but I made gains well beyond it when I got there.

Its something you have to keep working at, sure its easy to maintain with minimal training, but you still have to train.

I hope to still be training till the day I die, don't ever want to be weak again.

[bigkarl]

No, but you'd have to lose a lot weight+ take a really long time off to lose significant strength. I didn't lose anything off of my bench press after shoulder tendonitis and 4 months off. squat and dead lift stayed the same too

[Engineer_Guy]

From someone who has trained off and on with weights for over a decade, I know you lose strength and muscle mass. Like what was said, even two months off could set you back almost a year. I took two months off when we had our first child, and built my home gym during that time. Took 6 months to have reasonable lifts again. I also took a couple years off at one point, and it didn't come back so fast, spent a few years to get anywhere near where I was before it, but I made gains well beyond it when I got there.

Its something you have to keep working at, sure its easy to maintain with minimal training, but you still have to train.

I hope to still be training till the day I die, don't ever want to be weak again.

No, but you'd have to lose a lot weight+ take a really long time off to lose significant strength. I didn't lose anything off of my bench press after shoulder tendonitis and 4 months off. squat and dead lift stayed the same too

Interesting and very contradicting experiences. Perhaps genetics?

[SEOINAGEbb]

could be, i probably lost 15-20 lbs of muscle during the two years off, poor diet, no training etc.

[shavethefuzz]

This could be total broscience, but take it for what it's worth. (No source either). But I've heard that fast twitch muscle that has been developed during training degenerates at a rate of 1% per week of non-training.

Fast twitch fibers are actually the default fiber type, so you have to do endurance training to "lose" them, really turn them into slow twitch.

What may be happening in your senecio is Type IIa fibers detaining and going back to Type IIb. Its weird and confusing, but any training gets you away from the most explosive fiber Type, technically speaking.



How much you may lose and how fast depends on a lot of factors, a couple big ones IMO would be:

Do you need the time off because you have built up a lot of fatigue, like taking a deload. I was out for 4 weeks completely and 2 light weeks after a car accident, and actually came back and PRed squat and bench.

Other big factor is what are you doing with the time away from lifting? If you stay active, play sports, whatever, you will hold more, longer. If you sit on the couch all day you can lose more, faster.

[NIsrael]

Fast twitch fibers are actually the default fiber type, so you have to do endurance training to "lose" them, really turn them into slow twitch.

What may be happening in your senecio is Type IIa fibers detaining and going back to Type IIb. Its weird and confusing, but any training gets you away from the most explosive fiber Type, technically speaking.



How much you may lose and how fast depends on a lot of factors, a couple big ones IMO would be:

Do you need the time off because you have built up a lot of fatigue, like taking a deload. I was out for 4 weeks completely and 2 light weeks after a car accident, and actually came back and PRed squat and bench.

Other big factor is what are you doing with the time away from lifting? If you stay active, play sports, whatever, you will hold more, longer. If you sit on the couch all day you can lose more, faster.

look at you remembering things from your anatomy and physiology degree good job sir