taking a break from the gym?

[ktimekiller]

Well, im a very regular gym goer, usually 4-5 a week. Half a month ago, i hurt my wrist, so i havent gotten any outdoor activity for about 2 weeks, and when i went back, i couldnt even do half of what i used to be able to do. This always happens when i take a short week or two break. And I dont take these breaks often. I only take breaks from the gym when i get injured. Is it normal to have such a set back after each break? After i get back into my regular gym going habit, it takes a week or two to get back up to what i was able to do. It is frustraiting.

 

[Dan]

Muscle strength is very fickle. It is quick to gain but also quick to disappear. It's because your body automatically adapts itself to the situation that it is in and having extra muscle costs a lot of energy and nutrients.

 

[ktimekiller]

so what your saying is that its normal?

 

[jondy]

Yeah, a couple or three weeks break is enough to make me sweat at stuff that came easy before.

but this thread is useless without pics of your sculpted body :E

 

[G-Dub]

LOL, never happened before??

It's perfectly normal mate.

 

[ktimekiller]

no its not that its never happened, it was annoying me when i get injured, and my performance dropped due to stop of activity

 

[MiccyNarc]

Perfectly normal, and it's not your muscles, it's your nervous system. When lifting, it's your nervous system that fails first, not your muscles. That's why it only takes a couple days of lifting to get back to where you were. These breaks are good, they allow your body to rebuild during that time period. I took a 2 week break over Christmas, came back and I had added 10-20 lbs to all my lifts.

 

[Raxxman]

Yeah I'm not having the greatest run atm.

Just got back in the gym from some ligament damage and a shoulder injury, now have masses of flu and no energy

However the few sessions I got in I was way off the boil.

my recommendation if you can do it is swimming. None load baring, but Cardio like you wouldn't belive. It's also good physio for injurys. But don't overdo it.

 

[Dan]

swimming is a bad idea if you have a shoulder injury

 

[Gorgon]

Muscle strength is very fickle. It is quick to gain but also quick to disappear. It's because your body automatically adapts itself to the situation that it is in and having extra muscle costs a lot of energy and nutrients.

agreed, everything he mentioned is true.

 

[PvtRyan]

My break so far is 1 year and 7 months, back to square one...

 

[Sebastian]

I'm taking a break for a couple of weeks as well. I sprained my knee skiing and my shoulder was beginning to bother me after I did a few chest exercises last week. Right now, I'm taking my time off to do core exercises and resistance band exercises to strengthen my rotator cuffs.

 

[Raxxman]

swimming is a bad idea if you have a shoulder injury

Not really, you can use a float and not actually use your arm at all.

When I started using the arm in a crawl it very quickly built up a good amount of strength.

Like I said it's the case of not overdoing it. If it hurts, then it's not ready.

 

[AzzMan]

its pretty normal, you should be back to your regular strength after a couple workouts, I took about a month off one time and I had a hell of a time with the same weight I used before...the next week however I was doing everything as usual, so dont sweat it

 

[Ridge]

A buddy of mine was pretty well pumped...he was out of school sick for a week with the flu, came back, and was like skin and bones...he lost all his muscle tone in just a week...

 

[Baal]

A buddy of mine was pretty well pumped...he was out of school sick for a week with the flu, came back, and was like skin and bones...he lost all his muscle tone in just a week...

What?

That's messed :|

I don't work out, I've been tempted to (lift weights, that is. I get enough cardio crap with my current job and I'm pretty skinny so) but reading something like that just makes me want to refresh more forum pages :frown:

 

[jondy]

Yeah, but he was sick, probably not eating properly because of it too. You can lose weight fast like that.

 

[CrazyHarij]

thats insane.. my muscles stick around for long periods of not working out. i think it has to do with testosterone levels and general body type.

 

[MiccyNarc]

Crazy, if you get really sick and don't eat, it's a one two punch.
1. Your body is fighting off the disease, which uses almost all of your energy
2. You're not eating right

If you're not eating right, where is your body going to get its energy from? It will cannibalize itself. Doesn't matter how much testosterone you have or what body type, anyone can become thin as a rail under those conditions.

 

[Sebastian]

God, i can't wait to get back in the gym. This two week break I've taken to let my knee heal is starting to irritate the hell out of me. I gotta get off my ass and do something. But I have to stay off it till march 19, so ****!

 

[AzzMan]

A buddy of mine was pretty well pumped...he was out of school sick for a week with the flu, came back, and was like skin and bones...he lost all his muscle tone in just a week...

I remember I got the flu one time, and looked in the mirror and thought "hey i dont look too bad lol" =]. In cases like that though muscle memory will kick in and he should have it back in no time, barring malnutrition or something like that.