How long before you lose muscle?

[NotOnSteroids]

How long can you take off from working out before you actually start to lose muscle? And in a similar question, how long before you lose strength? I am talking about an actual break, as in no cardio, no weights, regular eating.

[Wanker527]

that's a very difficult question to answer, since it's dependent upon so many factors. if diet remains consistent at/or above maintenance levels, then it could take many weeks to lose a noticeable amount of muscle. a better way to go about this would be to tell us how long of a break you're planning on or need to take, and we'll let you know what we think then...

[NotOnSteroids]

I'm not really planning on taking a break, I just haven't had a chance to workout for a couple weeks. As a result, these questions came to mind. I'm not worried about losing muscle in the short amount of time I haven't worked out, I was just curious.

[AJbuilder]

It's not clearly set how long it will take to lose muscle when you're on a break but if diet is kept good then you don't have to really worry about losing any mass at all. Strength, for most people, is a different matter since i find that we lose strength more easily than we do in mass. Just my observation.

[scott_donald]

well when u going to start again adn hows the diet been in the time off...

[NotOnSteroids]

I'd like to start back next week at the latest. I actually haven't had much of an appetite lately so I'm not eating quite as much as I was a couple weeks ago. I have just felt so tired lately and have had a lack of motivation to work out.

[Zam]

Very hard to say, depends on diet, and the individual.

I had 4 weeks holiday and only put on 1 kg, however, all I did for the 4 weeks was drink beer, fish and laze around in the sun. My diet was **** eating what ever when I felt like it.

Prior to going on holidays I dropped about 10kgs in 13 weeks cardio 4-5 times a week and lifting 4-5 times per week.

So in come down to the individual.

Also since resuming my routine, it only took 1 week to get back to weight I was prior to leaving and I am also lifting more than before. So for myself I think it has helped having a break and will allow me to continue on stronger than before.


Cheers

Zam

[HoldDaMayo]

in my opinion a 2 week break every six months to a year is good for body and mind...

[forklift]

"Between 30 - 80 years, human beings normally lose 30 - 40% of limb and trunk skeletal muscle and an even greater % of their strength and power. The muscle atrophy arises from both a loss in the number of fibers and atrophy of remaining fibers. The cause of the muscle weakness with aging is unresolved, but the power loss results from motor unit remodeling causing a substantial decrease in the fast-slow fiber ratio. The ability to sustain power, which is already decreased to 50% of the adult value by middle age, decreases even further in older animals."

guess you can do your own math. i know you're 21 but try to avoid that "normal" category above

[nickk23]

i think a week-2 weeks off every 2 months is vital for progress. else your body just adapts to the stress and does not respond (although this is a highly individual opinion). It might be hard to take time off but it is soooo worth it. Better gains and better motivation.

[xenonguy]

you would lose significant amount of muscle after 6 weeks of not training

[nickk23]

but when do you think the decline would begin 3 weeks? 4 weeks? 1 week?

[TheSupaKorean]

Originally posted by xenonguy
you would lose significant amount of muscle after 6 weeks of not training

i would think with proper nutrition one could retain a good portion of the lean mass but would lose a good deal of strength.

But studies or an article would be a nice read if anybody has one.

[xenonguy]

you could lose strength as less as 1 week but this lose is temporary,you can gain your strength again in 1-2 weeks,,,,but not training more than 1 month induces muscle loss,it is muscle atrophy because of less stimulus to the muscles

[TheSupaKorean]

Originally posted by xenonguy
you could lose strength as less as 1 week but this lose is temporary,you can gain your strength again in 1-2 weeks,,,,but not training more than 1 month induces muscle loss,it is muscle atrophy because of less stimulus to the muscles

thanks for the info, makes perfect sense.

[Nick666]

When you stop training, you loose volume, but not necessarily a lot of muscle. A part of the difference is do to less water and glycogen in the muscle, because of reduced caloric intake.

If you take enough protein during these 2 weeks, you should should be able to decrease real muscle loss. After that nevertheless muscle loss will accelerate.

As for strength loss, it depends on how overtrained your CNS was when you stopped. If it was overtrained, it's going to recover completly, and you may come back stronger. If it was not overtrained, you may loose a bit of strength, but really not that much after 2 weeks.

[palisicky]

How long can you take off from working out before you actually start to lose muscle? And in a similar question, how long before you lose strength? I am talking about an actual break, as in no cardio, no weights, regular eating.

you will lose alot of size because when you workout your muscle gets filled whit blood daily and are inflamed so you look bigger but after 7 days of doing nothing you will look very smaller because no more increased blood flow no more inflamation because you high reps is just sarcoplasmic hypertrophy that liquide is going away fast so in terms some you and me too wasnt buuilding real muscle just increasing water in muscle and sarcoplasma and glycogen in muscle when you stop after 2 months you look like you did before you went to the gym

[coachcalande]

How long can you take off from working out before you actually start to lose muscle? And in a similar question, how long before you lose strength? I am talking about an actual break, as in no cardio, no weights, regular eating.

Typically if you stim a muscle once a week you will maintain your strength, maybe if you are doing everything right you can even get stronger....but if you start to go beyond

that much rest (120-144 hours ish)

....you will begin to lose strength typically. I believe when I was in college the "number" was 120 hours before the benefits of your last workout began to change toward the other direction.... but I thought that was since debunked...

certainly within two weeks - with inactivity- you will begin to decondition quickly.....


fortunately, "muscle memory" really is amazing and you can often regain strength and size pretty quickly. 2-3 months after a 2-3 month layoff....you should be around where you were. often folks who get injured and have to be out of the gym for 6-8 weeks, recovery fairly quickly.

As a personal note...Right now I bench about 400. After football season ended last Thanksgiving, I don't think I could have done 300. I was seriously feeling like 225 was "heavy" for 4-5 reps.... I really didn't train very often or eat right or sleep well during the season.....compare that to now, repping 330x6......lost a lot of strength during the last season. Lesson learned. That's not happening this year.