How long does it take before you lose mass/strength if you stop lifting...

[whoa4]

and how long does it normaly take for you to get it back. I haven't lifted in almost 3 weeks and i haven't done my normal leg routine in almost 2 months.

[elle simple]

beats me, but I have a related question

How does muscle memory work? cuz if I dont do something for a long time, that I used to do a lot, I find it comes back to me fairly quickly?

THat's why I tend not to believe that common advice that after X-amount of days you lose it all...

[whoa4]

update...

I worked out on thursday and it was straight. Felt good actually, i felt rested. I didn't lose as much as I thought I would

[Big H]

Your muscles may get a bit smaller if they received NO work at all, but strength typically comes back and sometimes even stronger if its 2-3 weeks. Anything longer though, and your risking strength loss.

As for Muscle Memory, once your muscle fibers reach a certain growth point from lifting, the muscle fibers have been pushed further than before and this results in mass gains. When you stop lifting your muscle fibers shrink if they are not worked at all, but it doesn't mean your body forgets the point you reached in your lifting.

Think of it like this, since you pushed your body to force the muscle fibers to grow, its almost like your body will respond even quicker the next time around to heavy lifting simply because the fibers have been stretched to that point in the past.

[elle simple]

thx Big H

I was actually thinking of muscle memory in terms of cardiovascular endurance and flexibility, not just size. When I dont practice yoga for a long time, I can feel my body kind of snapping back into it when I do.

But when I'm running (I'm still just starting getting conditioned), it makes kind of a big difference if I go every other day or if I wait two-and-a-half days to go again. Wondering if as I progress, that window would get wider or narrower? Guess there's one way to find out... heh...

Anyway, didnt meant to take the thread off-topic; glad you got back into your lifting routine w/o too much loss whoa4

[Big H]

thx Big H

I was actually thinking of muscle memory in terms of cardiovascular endurance and flexibility, not just size. When I dont practice yoga for a long time, I can feel my body kind of snapping back into it when I do.

But when I'm running (I'm still just starting getting conditioned), it makes kind of a big difference if I go every other day or if I wait two-and-a-half days to go again. Wondering if as I progress, that window would get wider or narrower? Guess there's one way to find out... heh...

Anyway, didnt meant to take the thread off-topic; glad you got back into your lifting routine w/o too much loss whoa4

I figure it applies the same to all aspects of your body. I'm no doctor so I don't know the complete workings of the body's physiological functions, but I do know from experience your body has memory that facilitates fast returns to previous physical states.

[icho]

STrange this happened to me. I was lifting intensely for 3 months and then stopped and started doing heavy cardio and my muscles got bigger