Strength Loss After a Training Break?

[Erik Sjolin]

Well, the Christmas break really got me frustrated. Two and a half weeks at home, away from a gym with no pull-up bar (that wasn't outside with four feet of snow in front of) or any place to hang my rings. Granted, in this time I did manage to get a bit of press work done (first chest roll to HS, finally (sort of) figured out the balance for HeSPU (even though my shoulder flexibility is really really bad), and started work on L-lifts and pike presses against the wall).

When I finally got back, much to my horror, my pulling strength had all but evaporated! Weighted pull ups dropped to three sets of three! Front lever form was sloppy! :x Back levers...surprisingly good. :?

Is this loss of strength normal after that amount of time without working those muscle groups, or is it just a matter of working through the discomfort and frustration until it comes back?

[Dillon Zrike]

It's the reason that every time I get back from vacation I always swear to never go again. You'll be back to normal in a week.

Dillon

[Erik Sjolin]

Haha, I bet! It's already started to come back, I just wasn't expecting it to be so sore after such a short amount of time. Thanks for the reassurance though!

[Cole Dano]

I think there may be a number of forum members in need of this reassurance after the holidays!

[Felipe]

I think you will be interested in what happened to me switching from lifting to bw only work and then returning to lifting. Consider that my bw training was in fact, other than pb swings and FL progression which I did everother day, more like playing than having a strict program like on lifting:

After 10 months or so of not lifting weights (and instead swimming on PB and doing HS presses) my strength was the same if not superior on the bench (last year record 74kg x5, last week 5x5 at 70kg quite easy).

On squats I did 70kg 5x5, 20% drop. passing from a routine in january of 85kg 5x5 to near nothing and then some very sporadic trampoline work and isometrics from september.

Abs and lower back were challenged too: that's my fault, because I didnt make more than kippe movements or levers to train them.

I've experienced a little drop on pressing (from 44kg to 40kg ) too, even if I trained 2xweek for hspu on bars. But it's a difficult movement for me since I began doing it only last year first. EDIT: no drop at all, today I did them and in fact I lift more than ever (46kg).

Rowing is same if not perceived better (55kg on machine) thanks to a consistently trained FL.

The sum is:

intensive BW training, other than having great effects on BW movements, had slower ones on lifting (maximal strength).

Lifting however has fast increments in lifting movements but nearly non-existent in BW ones.

The best gain someone can make depends on the intensity of chosen movement, measurability and regular increment between sessions.

Depending on your goals you will choose one on another.

(My goals in this moment are oriented to a 2x squat, front split and FL)

[AlexX]

Even a week off can leave some tremendously sore the first workout back with the same exercises. In my opinion what happens is purely neural (muscles just don't disappear that fast). A week off laying around/sitting doing nothing has your nervous system go into a state of hibernation (best word I could come up) but after that first or second workout your strength seems to skyrocket back up to your old levels. Interestingly enough this happens weather you took 1 week off or 6, of course during a 6 week break they might be some actual muscle loss but the initial effect is the same you are weak when you get back then you regain it back very very fast. We all hate it welcome to the club.

This only happens to me when I get sick, I refuse to not workout on vacations and bring all of my equipment with me and never go to places without a gym.

[Erik Sjolin]

Absolutely, I try to never miss a workout on vacation, and if I do, I just sort of do a ton of little ones all throughout the day. Since a pull up bar was really the only thing I was missing, I worked mainly on pressing, and made some headway with that. What was really surprising, was yesterday I was playing around with HeSPUs, and couldn't get a single proper rep, even though I could balance for well over a minute. Then today, I managed two full ROM HSPUs on a workout bench in my dorm's gym, though my balance was atrocious (not to say I wasn't solid, I just couldn't spend too much time contemplating the ants). Boosh!

It is worth mentioning that while it may have been a little ugly (it's no secret here that my body line isn't that great), my back stayed in the same (relatively) flat position the whole time.