Training & Nutrition - Time limit before fitness level drops

How long or what is the maximum time duration one can have a complete rest /layoff before his or her fitness level(eg..vo2 max.. resting heart rate...etc) starts to drop?

hmm... maybe someone knows some statistics, but i think it's hard to say exactly becuase it drops off gradually.

when you are training your body is constantly in a cycle of being broken down and then rebuilding due to the stress.

i _think_ and i'm not sure, that the muscle cycle is shorter than the cardio-fitness cycle as the muscles get metobolized pretty quickly but the extra red-blood cells and other stuff in the blood and circulation system are longer-cycle, but i'm only speculating based on my experience... i think the muscle on the order of 2 weeks and the cardio on the order of 4 weeks.

so if you are in tip-top shape, then do nothing... after 1 week you may actually be stronger and fitter (because of benefits from earlier training and complete recovery/regeneration). then the 2nd week will be ok. the 3rd week i think your strength would drop significantly and your cardio slightly. after 1 month your muscle strength should be greatly reduced and your cardio also lower...

anything longer than a month without any training and it would really disrupt your training schedule and you would probably need to virtually start over.

i was sick in end of Feb/March/beginning of April for almost 7 weeks during which time i did about half of my normal training --- my cardio-fitness remained pretty high, but my muscle strength REALLY suffered and after almost 3 weeks of REALLY hard training now i can still barely sprint in the group (i AM a sprinter) i think i need another 2 weeks to get back to where i was before getting sick. (i successfully sprinted with the group on wednesday, i just didn't win which i should have against the non-sprinters there)

i guess for rough numbers, i'd say 2 weeks for muscle strength and 4 weeks for cardio fitness, but it's a question of HOW much loss. this 2wk/4wk i would say is a loss of maybe 15% to 20%... (i'm totally guessing)

I'm leaving for a fitness convention in about 30 minutes... I'll ask the person lecturing on this stuff for an accurate answer with some statistics and articles you can read into.

Koffee

I read somewhere that you will notice a drop in performance after 2 weeks. This is a general number and some will be more and some will be less.

Hi SniperX,
what's going to happen that you can't ride? If you're busy, there are little tricks you can do to maintain fitness. I know of one guy who didn't have time for training, but what he did was ride the elvator down to ground level where he worked. He then ran up the stairs, back to his office,during lunch hour.

yes, it's realtively easy to maintain your cardio fitness for 2-6 weeks by doing other stuff... like running or swimming or climbing stairs.

but biking-specific muscle strength will be lost - i mean you can't not train for like 4 weeks and then go to a race expecting to be top. uh-uh

or are you going to be without the bike for even longer - like a few months?

Originally posted by Koffee Brown
I'm leaving for a fitness convention in about 30 minutes... I'll ask the person lecturing on this stuff for an accurate answer with some statistics and articles you can read into.

Koffee

That's what I love about you Koffee... always on forefront of bringing us Fitness info !!

Jeff

Endurance conditioning lasts much longer than power and speed conditioning. To some degree, even from season to season and accumulating over the years. Power and speed seem to decay (for lack of a better word) much faster. I guess there are a lot of factors at work, since you can neither build or lose much strength in the course of a couple weeks. Still, if the layoff isn't too long it'll come back fairly quickly.

Since you use the term "rest," it almost sounds like your layoff is voluntary?? Hopefully it isn't an injury. Usually a complete layoff is only recommended when you're completely mentally and physically kaput. Training programs almost universally recommend taking every 4th week easier to give your muscles (and mind) a rest and chance to rebuild.

yeah i chose to have a layoff as my avg hR was declining fast and oh mannnn after havint 6 days of rest... i did the polar vo2 test and it went down by 10 ??? this is bad man... anyone noes if its accurate??? my weight did go up by 4kg ( wonder if its fat or water gain) so i changed the weight settings in the polar .... any explanations for such changes?

I'm not exactly sure if it's accurate, it claims to be accurate, but I don't think so. Always when I take it, it'll be at 45, then I have to take it several times and it rises by 1 till it reaches the maximum, so far it has only been 50, and I haven't tested it for quite a while.

Originally posted by SniperX
i did the polar vo2 test and it went down by 10 ??? this is bad man... anyone noes if its accurate???
It's a guesstimate based on weight, age, height, and heartrate. How accurate can it be?

Originally posted by roadbuzz
It's a guesstimate based on weight, age, height, and heartrate. How accurate can it be?


Not very IMHO.

Good HRM's otherwise. Think I'm on my third...

How long or what is the maximum time duration one can have a complete rest /layoff before his or her fitness level(eg..vo2 max.. resting heart rate...etc) starts to drop? I can only speak from first hand experience, but I can give you a definite answer. About 30 seconds. :D

I DO have an answer for you, but I am soooooo tired tonight- running all weekend to the fitness convention, then running all day today... <sigh> I'm beat, and it's too hard to think. It's a complicated explanation that I need to simplify a bit so that it can make sense.

Back posting tomorrow, hopefully!

Koffee

Originally posted by MikeR
I can only speak from first hand experience, but I can give you a definite answer. About 30 seconds. :D

30 seconds? What's with that?? Can you please explain??