How does a break in training affect the body?

Author: Timko Ilya - master of the whole project and fitness trainer.
2013-01-07

Practically everyone who trains has faced the need to take breaks from time to time. The reasons can vary: illness, business trips, work overload, and much more. And the breaks can also vary: one workout, one week, one month, one year, or even more.

When a person returns to the gym, the first thing they think is: "How should I train now? What should I do, and what should I avoid?" All of this is discussed in detail in the article Training in the Gym After a Break. Here, I will talk to you about the changes that occur in your body.

A Week or Less

So, during the first week, nothing serious happens. Physiologists have determined that the first negative changes in the muscles occur no sooner than 10 days after stopping training. Often, skipping one workout or one week can even be beneficial. The body has time to fully recover and enter a state of supercompensation. For more details, read here.

This means that if you missed a week or less, you can maintain your training intensity. Often, I've even observed an increase in strength.

A Month

However, after the body has fully recovered, and there are no workouts – deterioration in physical qualities begins. Initially (after about 2 weeks), muscle strength starts to decline. Then (another week later), their volume, as well as overall and strength endurance, begins to decrease. This is related to the depletion of glycogen stores in the muscles. Since training has ceased, the body no longer needs large muscles in everyday life. And it doesn't need that amount of carbohydrate reserves.

But these are all superficial changes. If you haven't trained for a month, they are of an initial nature, and it's easy to restore everything.

Several Months and More

Then changes occur at the level of the nervous system. When they occur depends on the training experience. The fact is that with years of training, muscle innervation improves, making them stronger. This is because more motor neurons connect to the muscle. After training stops, some of these neurons die off. The muscles become weaker, and intermuscular coordination deteriorates, reverting to the initial level.

In addition, when performing the same exercise, a motor center responsible for that exercise is formed in the cortex of the brain. This is called motor skill. When you perform a certain movement thousands and thousands of times, this center "moves" lower in the brain until it reaches the subcortical area. At that point, you can perform it automatically without thinking. This is the motor skill. For more details, read here.

So, motor skills are forgotten over time. Neural connections break down, and you have to relearn the movement almost from scratch. However, motor skills that you have internalized will never be forgotten. In other words, exercises learned to the point of automation will stay with you for life.

Therefore, I said that the nervous system's reaction to stopping training depends on your training experience. If you haven't trained for six months or more, you will have to relearn exercises that were not fully automated. But this process happens much faster than the first time.

A Year and More

Typically, after a year of break, negative changes no longer occur. The body has had time to shed everything unnecessary and stabilize.

However, nothing passes without a trace. During prolonged breaks, neither your strength, muscle mass, nor exercise technique will drop to zero levels. If you take the difference between your initial and achieved training level as 100%, then after a year of break, about 20% - 30% will still remain. But again, this depends on your training experience. The greater the experience, the more you will retain.

I hope it is now clear to you what happens to your body after stopping training. So, don’t drop your workouts for too long. Good luck!