IN AN IDEAL world, we’d all be ticking off three to five sessions a week, with flawless consistency until the end of time. However, there are always phases when our time constraints are reduced, leading to a dip in training frequency. That’s life.
We’re often reassured that taking short breaks from our workouts won’t lead to significant detraining or muscle loss, so there’s no need to stress about losing gains during moments of down time. However, if you want to actively preserve muscle mass and strength during these breaks, a new study has identified the minimum effective dose to help mitigate losses.
The study
The study, published in Sports, investigated the impact of two different training protocols on maintaining fitness after a consistent 12-week period of resistance and aerobic training. Participants either completed one training session every 7 days or every 14 days. The study assessed changes in lower body muscle morphology (including muscle shape, size, thickness, and structure), as well as strength, power, and aerobic fitness.
The methods
After a 12-week training block of resistance and aerobic training, participants were divided into three groups:
- G7 group: trained once every 7 days
- G14 group: trained once every 14 days
- GD group: detraining group (no training)
Various metrics were tested at four stages: before the training block, after the training, following the reduced training period, and after a final 12-week detraining period.
- Strength: leg press one rep max testing.
- Morphology: assessed aspects like muscle thickness and cross sectional area testing.
- Power: tested by measuring how quickly and powerfully the participants could perform exercises.
- Aerobic fitness: assessed using a VO₂ max test.
The results
The researchers found that:G7 group: maintained most of their initial gains in muscle strength, power, morphology, and aerobic fitness, all with minor reductions.G14 group: showed more significant losses of these metrics but still retained a substantial amount of the initial gains.GD group: experienced the greatest losses in muscle strength, power, morphology and aerobic fitness.
The conclusion
The researchers concluded that training once every 7 days can significantly preserve muscle gains and aerobic fitness, while training every 14 days can still retain a significant portion, though with larger declines. To conclude: regular training, even at reduced frequencies (for example, four times a month) is important for maintaining muscle strength, size, power and aerobic fitness.
What this means for us
This research highlights how maintaining at least a minimal level of training can preserve muscle and fitness when a base has already been built. It’s important to note that the study was on untrained participants and the sample size was fairly small, but the study is amongst other research indicating that low training frequencies can mitigate detraining effects.
Comparing that to our training efforts, if we can keep up one training session a week during periods when higher frequencies aren’t possible, this study suggests that we could preserve our muscle mass, strength, power and aerobic fitness. However, it’s fair to assume that if you are going to train once a week, it’s important that in that session you work all the muscle groups with enough volume, a few reps short of failure. Alongside that, ensure you are consuming adequate calories and protein to prevent muscle loss.
This article originally appeared on Men’s Health UK.
