How long does it take to lose your fitness?

Posted at 12:49 on Aug 12, 2010 by Muscle Blog

If you’re going away on holiday for a week or two, and you’re worried about losing fitness, here's one important rule-of-thumb to remember:

It takes a lot less exercise to MAINTAIN your current level of conditioning than it did to GAIN it in the first place.

And it appears that training INTENSITY (how hard you work), rather than frequency (how often you train) or duration (how long you train for) is the "key" to maintaining your conditioning.

In other words, if you've been used to training at 80-85% of your maximum heart rate, then make sure to maintain that level of intensity if you cut back on the frequency and duration of your workouts for any length of time.

"Studies done on people new to training suggest that they can maintain relatively good levels of endurance or strength for a couple of months with just one ‘maintenance’ session of training a week,” says Men’s Fitness magazine.

“And if you’re training fairly hard, the occasional week off might actually improve your fitness, as your nervous system gets a chance to recover. Unless you’re aiming for the Olympics, getting fit is tougher than staying fit.”

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