STEPPING AWAY FROM training due to life commitments can feel like progress lost – but according to research, it might actually boost your long-term muscle gains.
Strength and conditioning experts Dr Mike Israetel and Dr Josh Pelland break it down in a recent YouTube video, explaining why dialling back intensity doesn’t necessarily mean wasted effort. They also highlight a new study that explores how strategic training breaks could lead to even greater gains over time.
The study
The researchers discuss a study published in The European Journal of Applied Physiology. The study compares the effects of continuous training with periodic training (with breaks) on muscle size and strength over 24 weeks. It included 14 young men who were divided into two groups, each following the same bench press routine. The continuous training group trained for the entire 24 weeks, while the periodic training group trained in three cycles of six weeks, with three-week breaks (detraining phases) in between.
The results
After the first six weeks, both groups showed similar increases in muscle size, as well as improvements in strength. However, as the continuous training group progressed beyond this initial phase, the rate of muscle and strength gains gradually slowed down. In contrast, the periodic training group experienced greater increases in muscle size and strength after their second cycle of retraining following a three-week break.
By the end of the 24 weeks, the total muscle growth and strength gains were the same for both groups. This suggests that taking planned breaks from training does not reduce long term training results. In fact, the study indicates that short rest periods may help prevent plateaus and allow for continued progress in muscle growth and strength over time.
Why rest days are important
In light of this study, the researchers explain that periodic rest can similarly prevent burnout and improve long-term muscle gain and strength progress. Dr Israetel emphasises that while taking full weeks off might not be necessary, regular deload weeks or reduced volume phases could help maintain enthusiasm and recovery. He explains, “Just the idea that you can train less and get the same result over a lifetime of training allows you to accumulate less physical and psychological fatigue.
“If you get a three-week break every now and again, you’re going to be able to climb higher every single one of those little instances.”
And if we’re worried about losing gains, a study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports found that occasional short breaks from resistance training (up to 10 weeks) are not detrimental to muscular strength and size in the long-term. The study indicates that both continuous and periodic resistance training routines are effective, and detraining effects from training breaks are rapidly reversed after returning to exercise.
How many workouts a week to build muscle
While Dr Pelland is fairly sceptical on the topic of muscle sensitisation after training breaks, the researchers suggest that training fewer times per week could potentially increase muscle sensitivity to growth, although more research is needed. This means that if you rest longer between sessions, your muscles may be more primed for hypertrophy when you return to training. Dr Israetel compares this to a heightened response after a period of rest, reinforcing the idea that spacing out workouts can deliver similar or even better results than high frequency training.
‘If you rest so long between sessions, your muscles get really sensitised to growth again,’ he says, “We already know from other research that once you build muscle it doesn’t just go away super fast, so it kind of hangs around just kind of waiting.”
What is volume cycling?
The researchers mention something called ‘volume cycling’. This is where you alternate between periods of high and low training volume. This strategy allows muscles to recover fully and respond better to future stress. They argue that taking occasional breaks or reducing volume can prevent physical and mental fatigue, keeping training sustainable over the long haul.
Dr Pelland shares, “I’m just kind of grouping volume cycling into things like deloads, like introductory weeks where you kind of ease back up into training, a lot of people do that and I think that’s for good reason. I don’t think I can confidently say at this time that it’s because of some inherent resensitisation effect and therefore you’re just going to grow like a weed after deloads. From a muscular perspective, I do think that’s a good move long-term.”
Reduced volume vs complete rest
“[I’m] a little skeptical of dramatic periods of complete time off,” says Dr Pelland. Rather than taking long breaks, the researchers suggest that incorporating deload weeks where you reduce intensity while still training.
“Taking periods of lower training can allow long adapting structures like tendons to grow where usually they would just be like outpaced by muscle,” says Dr Israetel. “So all that taken together, the psychology side, taken together, the other interesting thing is the opportunity to focus on other muscles. It gets people away from that idea of you’re either gaining muscle or you’re losing muscle if you ain’t training it.”
This article originally appeared on Men’s Health UK.
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