2023-07-01 03:20:00
How long would it take for a person to lose the improvements they get from training? The vacation can be a double-edged sword: on the one hand, they are associated with positive changes in health and well-being, but they also have less desirable modifications, such as excessive consumption of food or the possibility of increasing levels of sedentary lifestyle. In general, too little or too much sleep and too little physical activity are associated with poorer health, increased risk of chronic disease, and increased mortality.
Many different studies show that the loss of fitness depends to a large extent on the type of adaptation. For example, endurance athletes such as a runner or cyclist of a certain level will feel heavier just by not training for a week. The same goes for precision sports like tennis or golf. On the contrary, the strength seems to take a little longer to be affected, establishing that line or deadline in 3-4 weeks. However, all these figures refer to averages among the people analyzed, finding a great disparity between them. Holidays and how you manage physical activity during this period greatly affects long-term sustainability.
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Taking a seven-day break is not the same as taking a two-month break, nor are some plans the same as others. A investigation recent admits that, during the holidays, favorable changes in movement habits (ie, more physical activity and less sedentary behavior) were observed. The positive effects were greater in periods of four days to two weeks in duration, and when outdoor recreational activities were included. After the break, moderate to vigorous physical activity quickly returned to previous levels.
Sustainability
Remember: if you don’t use it, you lose it. At this time of year it is time to find the balance between what you want, probably just lying in the sun, and what you need, movement is health; For this reason, its sustainability or adherence is a variable that is hardly studied, but, paradoxically, it is one of the most important that exists. If you take into account that when you stop exercising you begin to lose the benefits (adaptations) obtained and, with the passage of time, you can be back to square one following your vacation; adherence might be the most important of all variables.
The key, therefore, would be to get them to perform healthy, efficient and effective physical activity (in that order) with the aim of maintaining it for as long as possible, if possible, throughout their lives. This requires the necessary motivation… Why do you exercise? The answer would affect each person’s chances of exercising once more following the holidays are over. Several profiles can be set:
1.- Big fan
He loves it and cannot conceive of life without that daily dose. He needs it to feel comfortable and happy. If you stop doing physical activity on vacation, this period probably becomes a source of stress rather than an escape route, obtaining the opposite result to that intended in this period. This person needs to rest from his working life, from the stress of the rest of the year, but he cannot achieve it by adding another source of stress such as, paradoxically, the lack of exercise.
2.- Average fan
Enjoy physical activity as much as its benefits. The priority is the results, but the process is not particularly annoying. It may benefit you to go a short period of time without planned exercise, if only to change your routine. Since he enjoys the process, there is not a great risk that he will not return to training in a structured way and will return to fitness.
3.- Interested only in benefits
Here we find a large part of the people who exercise. Some feel they need to take charge of their life or it slips away. On many occasions, they have been pending a professional career or caring for others, neglecting their needs and, when they reach a certain stability, they discover everything they were capable of doing with their own body before that period and that they can no longer do.
They do not enjoy the process and, therefore, without hesitation, they would take a daily pill if they obtained the same benefits as with physical activity. This is the most important profile to maintain because it is the one with the highest risk of abandonment when you return from vacation.
leaves it and leaves
“Adults have it in their heads that they have to build a future and everything else seems to lose importance, including exercise. You leave it, you leave it, ”she admitted to me on her day Aitana (48 years old). Put yourself in the shoes of someone who has spent 15 or 20 years dedicating themselves to their career, family or whatever purpose in life has kept them away from training. Before starting with all that maelstrom, from time to time I did some exercise with friends, often at school or university. But that habit disappeared years ago.
“Young people are so stupid that they don’t even know they are young,” they said in the Mad Men series. Now Aitana wants to do things once more: jump, run, get up from a chair without help, hold her daughter on her shoulders… For the first time in her life, she gives importance to something that she still did not know how to call: “Functionality ”. So, she starts training for a year, gets results, goes on vacation for a month, and quits. She relaxes, does absolutely nothing (except for a walk), begins to notice once more the limitations and shortcomings that had disappeared. Will she go back to training herself following the summer?
The conquest motivates, the reconquest not so much
The holidays are coming: do I train or not? The conquest motivates, the reconquest not so much. It depends on the type of person you are, but there are two axioms that would affect everyone equally:
1.- Lack of rest
If that person does not stop exercising or changes the way they do it in such a structured way, probably, over time, they will end up developing a burn out syndrome (finishing up burned in popular language). The problem would not be solved in a week of rest. In most cases, it can last long enough to lose everything you have obtained, ending up in worse shape and health than at the beginning of this whole adventure.
2.- Excess rest
If you stop exercising for too long, you risk losing adaptations and also losing motivation. A motivation that, paradoxically, decreases as that person feels that he is losing shape. A common example: A person has been training intelligently, effectively, efficiently and healthily from September to June. The results are evident. Julio arrives, the children no longer have school, but he has to continue working. The schedule is complicated. On many occasions, the main sacrifice, due to this scenario or any other alternative, is the practice of planned exercise. After 3 weeks she begins to notice that this is no longer the same. “No problem. I’ll be back in September, ”he thinks to himself. September arrives the children do not start school until the middle of the month. It is said: “I’ll start in October.” Conclusion: accumulate in 2-3 months without exercising. Enough time to have lost much of what was gained.
From the theory to the practice
Be honest, place yourself… What kind of person are you? The extremes are usually negative (rest and not move from the lounger or train without stopping). Find the balance between what you want and what you need. Remember: Health is flexible, so should your workouts. How long will you stop training? Going on vacation for one or two weeks is not the same as going on vacation for two months. In the second case, you must find a way to maintain your training so as not to lose the habit and the adaptations obtained. Find a way to rest actively. Avoid burnout. Train differently: Vacations can be an opportunity to exercise on a beach (walk, play volleyball, paddle surf) or strength train outdoors. Assess life goals and their motivations. Anything that is to obtain new things is a great motivation, but to recover something that was already yours, even when it requires less effort, it seems that you do not enjoy it in the same way. Imagine that you like the mountain: Reaching a new peak is tremendously rewarding. Doing it once more is not so much. Knowing how to identify that period is something personal, it should be long enough to disconnect, but not so long that it begins to affect motivation. Vacation management can be a double-edged sword. When it is well managed, it will allow that person to continue exercising over the years, without the risk of mental exhaustion or burn out, but if it is not managed correctly, it can take them away from any long-term goal, making them lose the benefit obtained and , with it, all the time, effort and money invested.
Prepare a plan with a professional. Take into account your life circumstances and speak to a Graduate in Sports Sciences, together you can adapt the exercise to your vacation. Maintain physical activity, enjoy it and discover new ones. Ask for help to prevent September from coming and finding yourself back in square one.
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