Many people are concerned with getting out of shape when they have an injury and worry that
stopping exercising will cause them to lose their fitness. People stop exercising for many
reasons, whether it is illness, pregnancy, time constraints or just needing a break. This time
away from exercise does not automatically mean you will become out of shape; in fact, it takes
longer than you might think.
Detraining or deconditioning can have an effect on both your cardiovascular fitness and muscle
mass. The key element here is stopping versus reducing. Research has shown that beginners
who start exercising for two months with biking and then stop for two months will lose all their
cardiovascular gains. In contrast, another study followed sedentary males who started a
strength training of three times a week for three month and then reduced them down to one time
a week. These individuals when tested had maintained all the strength gains they had
developed from the first three months, thus proving that only a small amount of exercise is
needed to maintain your strength and that you may not atrophy when injured as much as you
would think.
This concept is the same for cardiovascular system. Studies have shown that exercising one
time per week at about 70 percent of your VO2 max can maintain your fitness level, even if you
need to change or cut back on your exercise for several months. For conditioned athletes that
have been training for over a year, study found that after stopping exercise completely for three
months, they only lost about half of their aerobic conditioning. Most of the detraining effect was
felt within the 12 days then leveled off and factors like capillary density were not affected at all
by detraining. This may be one of the key reasons people often are so concerned when they
are not exercising because they actually feel the cardiovascular effect so quickly, not
understanding that a trained athlete can regain or maintain this with minimal effort.
If you have an injury that requires you to stop your sport/exercise regime, it is beneficial to
consult a physical therapist on alternate forms of exercise to maintain your conditioning.
References
Burgomaster KA, Cermak NM, Phillips SM, Benton CR, Bonen A, Gibala MJ. Divergent
response of metabolite transport proteins in human skeletal muscle after sprint interval training
and detraining. The American Journal of Physiology Regulatory,Integrative and Comparative Physiology. 2007 Feb 15.
Lemmer, J. T., et al. Age and gender responses to strength training and detraining, Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise, 32(8):15051512, August 2000.
Mujika I, Padilla S. Cardiorespiratory and metabolic characteristics of detraining in humans. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2001 Mar;33(3):41321. Review.
Toraman NF., Short term and long term detraining: is there any difference between youngold
and old people? British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2005 Aug;39(8):5614.
