Hopefully, you won’t stop exercising; why would you want to? Working out has too many mental and physical health benefits not to make it part of your lifestyle. But sometimes life intervenes. You might get injured or have to travel extensively for a new job or work an irregular schedule. For the latter, you may still be able to fit in some exercise. Even if you cut back, you’ll still maintain some of the health and fitness benefits exercise offers. Do what you can! But if you’re forced to stop exercising for a sustained period, here are some changes that may occur.
Your Body Doesn’t Process Glucose as Well
One of the benefits of exercise, both aerobic and strength training, is it increases how responsive cells are to insulin. If you stop working out, you’ll experience a decline in insulin sensitivity and your cells won’t take up glucose as easily. Therefore, your pancreas will have to pump out more insulin to get glucose into your cells. When this happens, insulin levels rise. Not only is this bad for your metabolic health, but insulin also makes it easier for your body to store fat.
How long does it take after you stop working out for insulin function to decline? When you work out at a higher intensity, your insulin sensitivity improves for up to 2 to 3 days after a workout. However, longer-term training can lead to long-term improvements. Exercise intensity matters and is the most important factor in determining how much insulin sensitivity improves.
One study found that exercising at 70% of V02 max boosted insulin sensitivity significantly while there was little benefit from exercising at 50% of V02 max. So, pick up the pace to improve how your cells respond to insulin and be as consistent with your workouts as you can. If you stop, you will lose this benefit, but you can reclaim the benefits once you start exercising again. Also, avoiding weight gain will keep your insulin sensitivity from dropping even more.
Your Aerobic Capacity Declines
Aerobic capacity is a measure of cardiovascular fitness and how well you can sustain sub-maximal exercise. The best measure of aerobic capacity is V02 max, a measure of the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during exercise. One of the benefits of aerobic exercise is it can enhance V02 max by as much as 25%. But when you stop exercising, aerobic fitness drops. Studies show that V02 max declines by 7% after only 12 days of not doing aerobic exercise. After you haven’t exercised for 84 days, it will decline by about 16%.
Stay away from exercise long enough and you’ll lose all your gains in aerobic capacity. Along with these changes, your heart will become a less efficient pump, and muscle cells’ ability to produce ATP in the presence of oxygen will decline as well.
One of the positive adaptations to exercise is an increase in the number of energy-generating mitochondria within muscle cells. When you stop, you’ll lose some of those energy-producing mitochondria. The loss of mitochondria reduces the amount of energy your cells can generate, and you have less stamina. When you have fewer mitochondria, it reduces a cells’ ability to burn fat too. Fortunately, you can earn back these benefits over time once you start training again.
Your Mood May Change
How good do you feel after a workout? Exercise is a mood booster. It’s not clear exactly how exercise helps you put on a happy face. It may be partially due to an increase in endorphin release, but changes in the levels of other brain chemicals are a factor as well. Regardless, many people experience an uptick in mood after working out. For some, the benefits are short-term. Their mood improves for several hours after a workout. For others, regular workouts help to alleviate stress even between workouts. However, you can’t expect to stay in the best of mood if you stop exercising all together. So, keep your workouts consistent and balanced. Add some mind-body exercise to your routine, like yoga to help with stress management.
You Become Weaker
Yes, if you stop working your muscles against resistance, you will lose strength and muscle size over time. The process of losing muscle gains is called detraining. Fortunately, it doesn’t happen right away. You can afford to miss a few training sessions without worrying about significant strength declines. Most studies show you don’t lose significant strength until 3 to 4 weeks after you stop exercising. But, if you push it much beyond that, you’ll get more significant losses in strength and muscle size.
Research shows that you can maintain strength and muscle size by training less frequently but not quitting altogether. In fact, training as infrequently as once a weak is enough to maintain strength for most people. There’s some evidence that focusing more on eccentric contractions when you’re training less frequently helps preserve strength gains better. After taking a break, recouping your gains is easier the second time around, thanks to muscle memory.
You Become Less Flexible
Strength and aerobic capacity aren’t the only things that suffer when you take a long hiatus from exercise. Flexibility does too. When you aren’t moving your muscles and you lose flexibility, your walking speed may slow and you’ll unconsciously take shorter steps. Less strong and flexible people are at higher risk of falling too. Even if you have to stop exercising for a time, keep stretching to maintain your flexibility.
The Bottom Line
Now you know what happens when you stop exercise training, but even if you have to stop you can recoup the gains due to the marvelous ability of your body to adapt.
References:
Journal of Medical Sciences. Volume: 37. Issue: 6. Pages: 227-236. (2017)
Borghouts LB, Keizer HA. Exercise and insulin sensitivity: a review. Int J Sports Med. 2000 Jan;21(1):1-12. doi: 10.1055/s-2000-8847. PMID: 10683091.
Anxiety and Depression Association of America. “Exercise for Stress and Anxiety”
Sci-Fit.net. “The Science of Detraining: How Long You Can Take a Break from the Gym Before You Lose Muscle Mass, Strength, and Endurance”
Psilander N, Eftestøl E, Cumming KT, Juvkam I, Ekblom MM, Sunding K, Wernbom M, Holmberg HC, Ekblom B, Bruusgaard JC, Raastad T, Gundersen K. Effects of training, detraining, and retraining on strength, hypertrophy, and myonuclear number in human skeletal muscle. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2019 Jun 1;126(6):1636-1645. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00917.2018. Epub 2019 Apr 11. PMID: 30991013.
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