Being in shape is not easy. Moreover, it turns out that we "lose" the body / health we gain, much faster than we needed to be in shape.
To understand how the body "is no longer in shape," we must first understand how we become fit. The key to becoming more fit, both in cardiovascular condition and in muscular strength, is to overcome the "usual load". That means doing more than the body is used to. The "stress" that this brings to the body, makes you adapt faster and become more tolerant, leading to higher levels of fitness.
The time it takes to adjust depends on a number of factors, including difficulty levels, age, environment or how hard you are working. You can gain muscle strength in less than two weeks, but changes in muscle size will not be seen for 8-12 weeks.
How quickly we lose physical fitness when we stop exercising also depends on many factors - including the type of exercise.
As an example, let’s look at a marathon athlete who is in good athletic condition and can run a marathon in two hours and 30 minutes. This person spends five to six days a week training, running a total of 90 miles. He has also spent the last 15 years developing this level of fitness. Now let’s say he interrupts the training completely. Because the body no longer has the stresses of training forcing it to stay in shape, the athlete will begin to lose “skills” within a few weeks.
When it comes to strength (for example: weight training), the evidence shows that in the average person, 12 weeks without training causes a significant drop in what is gained. Thankfully, research shows that you maintain some of the strength you gained before you stopped training. What is intriguing is that despite the significant decrease in strength, there is only a minimal decrease in the size of muscle fibers.
The reason for losing muscle strength is mainly due to the fact that we are no longer putting muscles under stress. So when we are not working our muscles harder, they become "lazy", leading to a decrease in the number of muscle fibers. The number of muscle fibers used during exercise is reduced by about 13% after just two weeks without training - although this does not seem to be associated with a decrease in muscle strength. This means that the losses observed during longer periods of "training" are a combination of this initial decrease in the number of muscle fibers we use, but also the slower decrease in muscle mass.
However, even after all the efforts to be in shape, we start to lose cardiovascular ability and strength within 48 hours of stopping exercise, but we do not feel these effects for at least 2-3 weeks for cardiovascular training and 6-10 weeks for strength training. The price paid for lack of physical activity is similar for both men and women, and even for older athletes. However, the more fit you are, the slower you will lose what you have gained!
Source: CNN
