Okay so firstly let me introduce myself to you, I’m a strength and conditioning coach from Leeds, England (yes the UK England!!), where I work as the Head of S&C for Leeds Met Carnegie. Within this role I work with the Rugby League side (1 defeat in 5 years- all my work of course!!), and a lot of individual scholars we have at the university. As well as this I also work with MMA fighters from my gym in Leeds. 

The topic of detraining is an interesting one. S&C coaches often programme in deload weeks which I believe have their place, and within training programmes qualities such as strength training are often reduced or removed completely in some programmes in place of other qualities such as endurance or power. Indeed this is the concept behind linear periodisation. 

One of the key questions that I’m often asked is how fast do you lose strength, power, speed, hypertrophy, conditioning etc when you stop training. 

Now I’m not big time into showing research and graphs etc in my writing, I’m all about results, but in this case I thought it appropriate to share some potentially very useful research results on the subject of detraining. 

Firstly, you can see that the graph above shows the detraining effects of eliminating heavy resistance training  (squatting) from elite weightlifters programmes. The squat strength decreased by almost 20% in a 4 week period almost 5% per week . This is fairly substantial I’m sure you’ll agree. Now I’m sure that within the group of athletes used in this study there was a degree of variance in the results however anywhere near those detraining results is to be avoided I would say. You also cannot say whether the losses were seen at the start of the 4 week block or at the end as the measures were only taken 4 weekly. But what you can say as a coach is that you need to be minimising the absence of strength training, and I would suggest you don’t leave out strength training for more than 2 weeks if you want to maintain what you have spent time developing. So there goes your linear periodisation model straight away! I would say its safe to assume that the loss in strength would be less for less experienced trainees as there is less to lose in the first place, so you cycles could be slightly adjusted here, but then again I personally would want to concentrate my time on trying to build strength in the first place so the less experienced trainees would not be having long lay off periods, the key to athletic development is consistency!

The next graph compares the resistance training experience level of males. The findings are interesting in that physically active males actually gained strength through a 2 week deload period where as the strength trained males reduced their force producing ability with no strength training. This doesn’t surprise me as clearly strength trained athletes will need a more regular stimulus to maintain and develop strength, novice and intermediate trainees will benefit more from regular deloads. But looking at the results of this study the gains made by the novice trainees plateaued after 7 weeks which perhaps suggests that 6-7 week periods of appropriate for strength training cycles and then deload for recovery. 

The strength trained subjects would benefit from regular strength training stimulus so the use of conjugate periodisation models could be used here where variation of exercise is preferred over deloading. The physically active females responded in much the same way as the strength trained males. It’s hard to say why this is the case, could be subject variability, maybe they were well trained in other modalities which had a carry over such as sprinting. 

The next graph looks at the effects of detraining on muscular hypertrophy. What you can see very clearly is that 

The next graph looks at the changes in muscular hypertrophy following cessation of strength/hypertrophy training. Its pretty clear that hypertrophy is reduced significantly after 1 month. So again this has implications for sports where hypertrophy is important such as rugby, as it also corresponds with the reductions in strength observed with the strength trained athletes as strength and hypertrophy are positively correlated. So how do you address this in training? For me this is where your programming has to be intelligent. You can train for hypertrophy and strength at the same time by using supersets incorporating a heavy  load followed immediately by a similar exercise with moderate loads such as back squat to dumbbell sumo squats. Or you can switch to an undulating model of periodisation where you switch from strength to hypertrophy sets and rep ranges on a daily basis allowing you to train for both qualities. I have used both these models successfully over the years with my rugby guys. They work well in season at specific times. The main point is that you don’t want to take hypertrophy work out the programme for more than a couple of weeks if it is an important quality.  

The results show that bedrest of 40 days reduced VO2 Max by around 30%, which is a very significant decrease, enough to make a fighter gas in the final round or a rugby player miss some crucial tackles I’m sure you’ll agree. 

Much has been written about training for strength and endurance simultaneously. I often combine the qualities with my athletes an due to logistics this is often on the same day and sometimes in the same session. Now I wouldn’t always choose to do this but that being said, I have had phases where I have used this programme and have seen significant increases in both strength and endurance. If you begin the session with the strength/power work and finish with endurance work I would argue it is still possible for advanced trainees to make gains depending on the way the rest of week looks. So it is achievable, however I would certainly split these components up given a choice.  In an ideal world I would train these qualities on separate days and follow a concurrent strength training model with a short to long approach to the conditioning side of the programme (popularised by the late Charlie Francis- discussed by Jared Deacon here). Essentially beginning with acceleration work then moving to speed work and finally adding in endurance in the timescale you have. This way you get to focus on speed, strength and power resulting in enhanced gains before moving into endurance where there will undoubtedly be some compromises in the adaptations made. 

Anyway, just some thoughts on detraining, essentially it is a 2 week rule that needs to be hammered home. If you want to maintain the qualities you have developed they need to be revisited at minimum every 2 weeks.  When your athletes are ready for it consider switching to a conjugate model of periodisation, but remember, your model needs to fit the sport and the athletes you work with and should be considered carefully.

Brendan Chaplin MSc CSCS ASCC is the Head of Strength and Conditioning for Leeds Met Carnegie. He is a regular contributor to Fighting Fit Magazine and speaks on the Perform Better UK Learn-by-Doing tour. He has a regular blog which is available at www.brendanchaplin.co.uk and information on his programmes is available at www.athletesunlimited.co.uk. He works with Rugby players, MMA fighters, Olympic sports and many other athletes from his base in Leeds, UK. 

You can follow Brendan on twitter at http://twitter.com/athletesUNLTD and join his facebook group here http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=246202266214&ref=nf or by searching for Athletes Unlimited.