How long does it take to lose muscle gains? A long break from workout !

Everybody, once getting into a fitness routine may worry about losing all the gains and progress. Especially, when they take a long time off or break due to some injury or any other reasons.

But remember a few days off from exercise can be beneficial for you and can help in reaching your fitness goal for a long term. Meanwhile, taking too long of a break means you will start losing your muscle gains and cardio fitness. But several people wonder "How much time it take to lose muscle mass?". This thing depends upon various factors, let’s check them out.

• If you are a trained athlete.

Basically, a trained athlete works out for more than six times a week. According to science, athletes can start losing their muscle strength in about 3 weeks of no workout. But they typically lose less overall muscle strength during a break than non athletes. It takes around three to four weeks to feel the loss.

• For non athletes.

Not athletes are people who generally follow a workout routine just for their overall fitness. Mostly these people work out less than five times a week and sometimes not regularly. Non athletes are more likely to loose muscle gains father then athletes. They can easily identify their loss in less than three weeks of proper off from workout.

• Age and sex are another important factors.

Age and sex also plays a vital role in determining the muscle loss duration and amount of loss. As the body ages, it becomes harder to maintain muscle mass and strength. So older people and middle age people may experience a bigger drop in fitness after a long break.

Middle age people may lose strength almost twice as fast as younger ones after a long break.

Moreover, in women menopause is one of the major cause of loss of strength in older females. A decline in oestrogen levels can be a reason behind the decrease in muscle gains and strength.