I shamefully write this column after a couple of weeks of being on hiatus. My apologies. I certainly wish that I could use an excuse like I had no access to the internet! Or, I was away on vacation. But sadly, I cannot. The reason why I have not been faithful to this column lately is the simple fact that I was busy and didn't have time. Or, in simpler terms (and probably more the truth) I did not make time. Work was excruciatingly busy, and by the time I got home, tried to squeeze a run in, eat some dinner, shower, my body was fried, and the creative juices weren't flowing. This is often the same excuse that people use when they don't make time to work out, or take care of their bodies. Now I get why moms and dads don't have the energy or really the time to make it to an exercise class. I also get why some of my colleagues at school who worked part time didn't have time to make it to that 5:30 yoga class.

It got me thinking of routines and falling out of habits; whether it is exercise or things such as taking time at the end of the day to read a book, or call your grandmother. Once something becomes routine, it become engrained in our daily timetable, and there are no questions necessary. But sometimes, you fall out of a routine and your discipline slips. You don't call grandmas as often. You don't cut the grass every Saturday, and in my case, your weekly column, doesn't come out as "weekly "as it should. So what happens to our bodies when we stop out exercise routine? Well, this is what I looked into this week.

Unfortunately, it's a sad but true fact that to maintain your hard-earned workout results, you have to continually exercise regularly. It's not like earning interest on money in the bank where gains are made by doing nothing. We are like a can of pop; let us sit and we lose our fizz. Sorry for the bad metaphors.

I read that in "fitness parlance," this is called the reversibility principle. Basically -- use it or lose it. It can also be called detraining. Detraining or the technical term for cessation of exercise is also a problem for athletes who get injured.

There are many fallacies about what happens to the body when an athlete stops exercising. The most common is that the muscles turn into fat. Apparently, this is impossible because muscle cells are completely different from fat cells. What really happens is that muscle cells become smaller, or atrophy and fat cells become bigger. Too much chocolate cake versus the seven minute mile!

A main effect when you stop exercising is going to be a change in stamina. Cardiovascular benefits will be lost due to detraining. But the good news is that people with a high level of aerobic endurance can retain many of the benefits for a longer period.

Dr. Robert Moffat of the Florida State University and Dr. Randall Wilbur of the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs preformed some studies to test endurance rates amongst athletes. The highly trained athletes showed a rapid drop in aerobic endurance in the first three weeks of detraining but the decline was less rapid in the following weeks. The scientists were surprised by both the rapid initial drop but also by the fact that a significant amount of endurance was retained even after 12 weeks of detraining. Whether this was due to a cumulative effect of high fitness levels, or a genetic factor, is uncertain.

Dr. Edward Coyle from the University of Texas, a leading researcher in the area of detraining, found that muscular strength will return to pre-exercise levels after only four to 12 weeks of detraining. Muscle size is also reduced. This is why many people notice a particular "sag" to their bodies after a few weeks of not exercising.

After about two to three months of doing nothing you will lose at least half your aerobic fitness because your lungs lose elasticity, your blood vessels shrink, your blood volume drops, you use oxygen less efficiently, and your heart pumps less blood per beat. Wow. Is that all? Please note my sarcastic tone.

But I was the most disheartened to find out the fact that your muscles significantly lose strength and fade after just 72 hours of no exercise! What?

Continued here:
Health and Fitness: Use It Or Lose It