HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO LOSE MUSCLE?
Many of you (myself included) have had instances where hitting the gym just isn’t possible *ehem, quarantine*.
Whether you’re sick, on vacation, have an injury, fell out of your routine, OR are experiencing a global pandemic, everyone has the same question: “How much time can I take off from the gym before all my hard work withers away?”
Well, to be quite honest, this question is dependent on quite a few factors. A few main factors in this equation are:
How long you’ve been training
How long you’ll be taking off training for
Engagement in other physical activity
Muscle type & muscle fiber type
For the average person, it can actually take a decent amount of time for any kind of significant decreases in muscle mass. This loss in muscle tissue is otherwise known as muscle atrophy.
That being said, if you DO happen to lose some lean muscle tissue, there’s hope!
The loss of skeletal muscle due to unloading and inactivity CAN be reversed upon the return of normal weight bearing (or reloading) of the limbs. In other words, once you return to your usual training, you WILL gain your strength and mass back, and it typically won’t take as long to build it up this time as it did your first go around.
Regarding muscle loss, assuming you stop ALL forms of training, BUT you are still eating around your maintenance calories and getting enough protein, actual losses in muscle mass probably won’t decrease until roughly 2 full weeks of inactivity. [We’re talking straight up couch potato here.] When I say inactivity, I’m referring to an avoidance of ANY movement, ANY resistance, ANY lifting.
A Note on Protein & Calories:
These are two very crucial components to not just gaining muscle but maintaining muscle. Evidence suggests that maintaining protein intake during a period of disuse can in fact attenuate (slow down) muscle atrophy from disuse. Furthermore, supplementation with dietary protein and/or essential amino acids can be applied to further aid in muscle mass preservation during disuse. If you struggle to get enough protein in, this is an instance where BCAA’s or EAA’s can in fact be helpful, contrary to the belief that they’re entirely useless.
Note: Supplementation of either one is typically unnecessary for people with a sufficiently high protein intake (1-1.5g per kg of bodyweight per day or more).
That being said, if you’re not getting enough protein OR are eating in a caloric deficit, there is a higher risk of muscle atrophy happening a bit more rapidly.
Now, while (generally speaking) the muscle loss process may START after about 2 weeks, it happens very slowly and gradually from that point on. By taking 1-2 weeks off from the gym, you’re simply pausing your training, not necessarily going backwards. At this point, you might feel “flatter” (less defined) after 4-5 days, but that has nothing to do with muscle loss – rather a decrease in muscle inflammation, myogenic tone, and a lower level of intramuscular glycogen. Simply put, your muscles won’t be as “full”, but don’t let it get in your head by confusing it for muscle atrophy. Those babies will pump back up once you hit the gym (or workout) again
When it comes to inactivity, you can usually expect a slight decrease in strength upon your return to the gym. But again, if you ARE working out at home or in SOME capacity, even with just body weight or bands, you will retain a LOT more strength and muscle than you would if you chose to not workout at all.
Something important to note however, is that strength is typically much easier to build and lose than the actual muscle mass itself. Your first few workouts back might be rough and you may in fact question if you “even lift” but again, this is not necessarily because you lost a significant amount of muscle. After let’s say a three-week break from all exercise, you might lose ~5-10% of your strength BUT this is mostly due to lost neural adaptations. After 3 weeks of disuse, you can expect some muscle loss, but again, how much you lose is dependent on the several factors I listed at the beginning of this article.
One of the factors I mentioned above is the amount of time you’ve been training, otherwise known as “training age”. Typically, the longer you’ve been lifting, the longer it will take to lose your “gains”. By the same token, if you haven’t been training for that long, your muscle and strength losses will typically happen at a faster pace. While there are no set “rules” about how long it will take to regain strength and muscle once it’s lost, I'd personally say to allow yourself a 1:1 time frame. Meaning, it should take about the same time to rebuild lost muscle as the duration of your non-training period.
Example: 3 weeks off = 3 weeks to build back up.
Back to the neural stuff.
Missing time from the gym doesn’t just illicit physical, but also neurological adaptations. Keep in mind, strength is a learned motor skill, not just a product of new muscle tissue. So, when you’re not training regularly, you’re no longer training your brain to use those particular motor patterns. And thus, your strength may decrease a bit from a neurological standpoint. That being said, muscle memory is a thing and once you start training those movement patterns again, that “rusty” feeling will subside. Ex: Getting on a bike after you haven’t ridden one in a few years, throwing a baseball after it’s been a while, etc. It all feels a bit weird at first but eventually, that “why is this so hard?” feeling WILL go away. Be patient!
Overall…
Short term “breaks” from the gym (1-2 weeks) are not the end all be all of your hard-earned progress. But, be sure to keep your diet high in protein and feed your body what it needs to help you hold onto that muscle!
And if you do have to go without training for a bit (for whatever reason), it is wise to stay as active as you can in other ways, even if it’s not your usual routine.
If you can’t train due to your schedule, try to fit at least 1 session in every now and again. ANY bit of muscle movement helps to preserve muscle mass. If you’re injured, think about the other exercises that you CAN do. Just because you won’t be training “like usual” does NOT mean it’s a waste. While you won’t be gaining muscle, you WILL be helping to preserve it. Remember, SOME movement is better than NO movement.
And lastly, as the American Council on Exercise points out, each body responds in its own unique way to exercise stimuli; so it's no surprise that YOUR body will have a unique response to a period of disuse. That being said, in general, taking a week or two off from working out won't affect your strength and endurance too significantly.
With Good Vibes - Owner & Head Coach Joelle