Detraining

Summary

When you stop training, you lose fitness in a predictable order and on a forgiving clock — cardiorespiratory fitness fades fastest (measurable within ~2 weeks, ~7–10% off within 1–3 months), strength and muscle size hold far longer (often little change at 2–4 weeks, drifting back toward baseline only over 2–6+ months) — and because of "muscle memory," whatever you lose comes back markedly faster than it took to build, so a planned break or a forced layoff is a setback to *re-climb*, not a fortune to *re-earn*. ---