Oct 29, 2024Study reveals effects of resistance training break on muscle and strength
A study conducted at the University of Jyväskylä’s Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences investigated how a 10-week break from resistance training affected maximum strength and muscle size. The study found that a 10-week break halfway through 20 total weeks of strength training had little effect on development. During the break, maximal strength was better preserved than muscle size.
The study compared the results of 20 weeks of resistance training in two groups, one with continuous training and one with a 10-week break midway.
The study found that the results for maximum strength and muscle size development were similar in both groups. According to the researchers, the equal progress in both groups was due to the fact that maximum strength and especially muscle size quickly returned to pre-break levels when training was resumed.
“During the first few weeks after the break, progress was very rapid and after only five weeks of re-training, the pre-break level had already been reached,” says Eeli Halonen from the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, who is writing his doctoral thesis on the effects of the training break.
“Muscle memory” will next be studied at the cellular and molecular level
The phenomenon where the previous level of muscle size is quickly regained after a break is termed “muscle memory”.
“The physiological mechanisms of muscle memory are not yet fully understood,” said senior researchers Juha Hulmi and Juha Ahtiainen, “and our next step is to study in more depth the cellular and molecular changes in muscles that could potentially explain this phenomenon.”
Maximum strength is better preserved than muscle size
The study also found that maximum strength was better preserved during the break than muscle size.
