Nobody likes taking unplanned time off training, it sucks. If you are anything like me then you love training and it's an enjoyable part of your day. I don’t think I would be far off claiming that many of you probably search for gyms you can visit when planning a holiday. Nothing beats going to the gym, having a great workout and setting some personal bests. The sense of accomplishment and confidence boost it can give you is unrivalled.
Unfortunately, sometimes there isn’t anything we can do to avoid unplanned time off the gym. So, when it does happen, should you panic? What happens to your body? How fast do you lose muscle? Do you get weaker? Is it bad mentally? These are all questions that you can have running through your mind when you aren’t able to access the gym.
Since everyone’s timescale will be different when they are forced to have time off the gym, I’ll run through week by week the changes that happen to our bodies when this unfortunate circumstance occurs.
Week 1 - Don’t panic! There will be a change in muscle mass or muscle strength. You might notice a little bit of ‘flatness’ towards the end of the week, but this is just because your muscles aren’t holding as much glycogen due to having no training stimulus.
Week 2 – There will be a little decrease in your V02 max. However, this will barely be noticeable. There’s still no change in muscle mass or strength despite what your mind will be telling you. It's normal to start thinking you look smaller or fatter during this period, but as long as you are eating right, I promise you won’t look any different.
Week 3 – There will be a further decrease in your V02 max now which may be more noticeable in those who train at a high intensity, if they were to continue training at this point. Depending on the individual, muscle mass and strength may take a slight dip this week. Despite this, your testosterone and growth hormone levels will be higher than they were in week 1. Resuming training at this point will be beneficial to make use of the elevated hormones.
Week 4-8 – This is where it starts to get ugly. The majority of gym users will now be losing muscle mass and strength. If you are a beginner, your loss of strength will be less noticeable than if you are an advanced lifter.
Week 8-12 – Further muscle mass and strength loss as well as a near complete reduction in V02 max.
Weeks 12 onwards – Muscle size has now probably decreased by about a third. However, this will differ between individuals. You will still lose strength, but the levels are unlikely to fall below where you were at before you started training (thank god). If calorie intake isn’t altered to match new levels of muscle mass and decreased activity, then body fat levels will increase.
It's quite rare that anything other than a serious injury will keep you from training for more than 2-4 weeks. Therefore, if you find yourself with no access to the gym for as long as 4 weeks, don’t worry too much. Your mind will be telling you it's worse than it really is, when in reality, very little has happened physically to your body. You may even benefit from the extra energy and libido you have from resting your body.
