A study by the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Jyväskylä investigated how a 10-week break from strength training affected maximal strength and muscle size. The study found that a 10-week break after half of a total of 20 weeks of strength training had hardly any effect on development. During the break, maximal strength was better maintained than muscle size.
In the study, the results of 20 weeks of strength training were compared between two groups: one with continuous training and one with a 10-week break in the middle.
The results of the study showed that the outcomes in terms of the development of maximal strength and muscle size were similar in both groups. The same progress in both groups was attributed by the researchers to the fact that maximal strength and especially muscle size quickly returned to pre-break levels after training resumed.
"In the first few weeks after the break, progress was very rapid, and after only five weeks of retraining, the pre-break level was already reached again," says Eeli Halonen from the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, who is writing his doctoral dissertation on the effects of training breaks.
The "muscle memory" will next be studied at the cellular and molecular level
The phenomenon of previous muscle size being quickly regained after a break is called "muscle memory."
"The physiological mechanisms of muscle memory are not yet fully understood," say lead researchers Juha Hulmi and Juha Ahtiainen, "and our next step is to investigate in more detail the cellular and molecular changes in muscles that might explain this phenomenon."
Maximal strength is better maintained than muscle mass
The study also found that maximal strength was better maintained during the break than muscle size.
"This could be explained by the fact that changes in the nervous system may be more permanent than peripheral changes in the muscles," says Halonen.
Based on this study and previous findings, it appears that gym-goers need not worry about occasional training breaks of up to ten weeks, provided that training is otherwise regular and progressive throughout the rest of the year.
Original Paper https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/sms.14739?
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