Most exercisers skip a workout occasionally. You may be traveling, fall ill, or have an unusually heavy work deadline that keeps you from the gym. Sometimes you simply may lack the motivation to work out, which may lead to another skipped workout or two.
Skipping workouts is not the same thing as spacing your workouts appropriately. In the case of high-intensity interval training (HIIT), for instance, you should only do it two to three times a week, max, because the intensity is so high. Your body needs rest in between to recuperate.
If skipping workouts becomes a habit, however, your body and your fitness level will suffer, with negative changes occurring faster than you might think.
How Long Does It Take to Get Out of Shape?
There’s no hard and fast rule about how long it takes to lose your fitness edge. Generally speaking, if you’re very fit to begin with, your body will remain in a fitter state longer than someone who’s not fit, even as your workouts cease.
That being said, a study in the Journal of Applied Physiology suggested that skipping workouts for just two weeks can significantly reduce your cardiovascular fitness, lean muscle mass, and insulin sensitivity.
Dr. James Ting, a board-certified sports medicine physician with the Hoag Orthopedic Institute in Irvine, California told CNN it can take two months or more to completely fall out of shape if you stop exercising.
Two months to lose all of your fitness gains is fast enough… but there are varying opinions on the matter. Many experts agree that about two weeks is a pretty standard number after which your body will start to fall out of shape with no exercise.
However, coach Pete Magill, six-time masters national cross-country champion, told Shape you can lose up to 50 percent of your fitness gains in a single weekof inactivity.
