The Method After injury
How long does it take to lose muscle when you stop training?
A week or two off costs little. Longer breaks cost more, and more for older and untrained people.
StrongGood evidence, with a caveat worth knowing.
Updated . The Vanguard coaching team.
What most people miss
Missing a week feels like losing ground. The trials say otherwise. A full week off in the middle of a nine-week block did not cost muscle, endurance or power.1 Two weeks off did not lower leg press strength in trained men,2 and three weeks off was made up by week 15.3
Longer breaks do cost. Across 103 studies, strength losses grew with the length of the break, more so in older and untrained people.4
So after an injury or surgery, the useful question is not whether you lose some, it is how much of everything else you keep. The parts that were not hurt can usually keep training while one part heals, within what your clinician has cleared.
The research
The papers behind the answer
Each one checked against the paper itself. The grade describes the strength of the evidence, never anyone's results.
Coleman, Burke, Augustin et al., 2024 · PeerJ
Randomised trial · n = 39 trained · 9 weeks
A week off mid-block: no difference in muscle, endurance or power; max strength −4.5 kg against continuous training, an interval including zero.
Read the paper by Coleman, Burke, Augustin et al., 2024 (opens in a new tab)Hwang, Andre, McKinley-Barnard et al., 2017 · J Strength Cond Res
Randomised trial · n = 20 trained men · 2 weeks off
Leg press strength did not drop and lean mass was kept.
Read the paper by Hwang, Andre, McKinley-Barnard et al., 2017 (opens in a new tab)Ogasawara, Yasuda, Sakamaki et al., 2011 · Clin Physiol Funct Imaging
Training study · n = 15 untrained
Three weeks off: no significant loss of muscle or max, and level with continuous training by week 15.
Read the paper by Ogasawara, Yasuda, Sakamaki et al., 2011 (opens in a new tab)Bosquet, Berryman, Dupuy et al., 2013 · Scand J Med Sci Sports
Meta-analysis · 103 studies
Maximal force fell with detraining (effect −0.46), more the longer the break and in older and untrained people.
Read the paper by Bosquet, Berryman, Dupuy et al., 2013 (opens in a new tab)
Research describes groups of people. Your coach will tell you how it applies to you.
From the floor
While one part heals, the rest of you keeps training inside the limits your clinician set. Nothing is left to fade while one part catches up.
The Vanguard coaching team