6 months working out
Timeline: What happens to your body when you start exercising
Whether you've taken a long fitness hiatus or you've never really exercised at all, you'll be amazed at how quickly your body will thank you from your first sweat session.
Professor Robert Newton, director of Edith Cowan University's Exercise Medicine Research Institute, joins Coach today to share how our bodies benefit from day one.
After one day
Putting your body under stress will induce an immediate fight-flight response, which has instant brain benefits.
"Your blood flow to your brain increases, making you more alert, more aware and more awake," Professor Newton says.
"That lovely hormone epinephrine is released, which makes you more motivated, it blocks pain and makes you smarter immediately."
If you're doing some weights, your muscle's ability to capture and store glucose will improve, which is really good if you are diabetic or pre-diabetic.
But a day or two later, you will likely feel a bit stiff and sore.
"Understand that when you do something you're not accustomed to, the body goes into a repair process and there is inflammation that is natural and normal as the body repairs," Professor Newton says.
"The body adapts extremely quickly though – the next session you have two to three days later, you will find you can work at a higher level and you won't get anywhere near the soreness."
Meanwhile, Professor Newton says your body will start to mobilise its fat stores immediately to start reducing body fat.
One week
After you've done a few cardio workouts, the mitochondria in your cells proliferate.
"The mitochondria are the energy factories of the cell, which makes you fitter so you can produce energy more efficiently," Professor Newton explains.
"It's also beneficial for cell health – it makes them more resilient and helps them remain healthier for longer. There's also increases in enzymes involved in producing energy for muscle contraction. "
One month
After two to four weeks your strength and fitness will start to really improve and you'll start to see measurable changes in muscle cells.
"After two to four weeks your nervous system is much more efficient at being able to contract your muscles," Professor Newton explains.
"If you look at the muscle cells under a microscope, you see the slow and fast twitch muscle fibres are getting bigger. It means you are laying down more protein into your muscles, and you start to see your metabolic rate increasing so that even when you are asleep you are burning more energy."
You'll also notice day-to-day living becomes a little easier.
"You'll be able to climb stairs better or get in and out of the car more easily," Professor Newton says.
"You're also over the painful bit – you won't be getting so fatigued or feeling tired and if you're working out properly, your muscles shouldn't be stiff or sore."
You'll be a bit fitter so will be able to work at a higher intensity, lifting heavier weights and running, rowing or cycling at a higher intensity, which can increase the feel-good endorphins filtering into the brain.
RELATED: What happens to your body when you stop exercising
After six months
After half a year working out, your muscles will be visibly bigger and noticeably more efficient, meaning you'll enjoy better endurance.
Meanwhile your heart will actually have increased in size.
"In response to all the fast pumping and stretching it has been going through, your heart has grown and has become more efficient," Professor Newton says.
"Your resting heart rate will also have decreased, which means your heart is able to pump more strongly and eject more blood with each contraction so it doesn't have to contract as frequently."
As a result, you'll reduce your risk of a heart attack, and even if you did have a heart attack, it won't be as damaging so you're much more likely to recover more quickly.
One year
After a year, your bone health will be significantly improved.
"In general it takes around six months of weight bearing exercise before you can see measurable changes in the skeleton," Professor Newton says.
"Then you start to see increases in bone density and by 12 months, you see people who are osteoporotic return to normal bone health, and that's massive in terms of reducing your risk of fracture."
Your mental health will likely have also stabilised after one year.
"Very large systematic reviews indicate that appropriate exercise is more effective than cognitive behavioural therapy in reducing anxiety and equal to or better than pharmaceuticals for certain types of anxiety," Professor Newton says.
But perhaps the best thing that will happen after maintaining exercise for a year is the fact it will have become a solid habit.
"When you don't exercise you feel terrible," Professor Newton points out.
"It's a good addiction because these are natural drugs and by 12 months, you are pretty well hooked on these drugs."
RELATED: What happens to your body after high-intensity interval training?
I Stopped Working Out for 6 Freaking Months
There are all kinds of theories of what happens to you when you stop working out for a brief time period. From half-baked ones like you lose 90% of your strength to absurd ones like your muscles turn to fat, I have heard them all.
But never for once did I expect that I would get to experience this phenomenon firsthand.
Yesterday, I completed six months since I stopped working out. As simple as that, was forced to take a break. No injuries, no illness. Just plain life hitting you with a sucker punch.
I had to move to a new state because of my job and I was too busy with that to work out. So for the first time in over three years, I didn't go to the gym. The small break turned into a big one.
I thought that this was the perfect opportunity to share my insights with you about what happens to a recreational lifter when he stops working out.
How Much does a 6 months break sets you back?There's an old adage that goes, 'Use it or lose it'. Couldn't be truer. When I stopped working out for 6-months, I noticed significant changes in my cardiovascular capacity. I could race up 4 floors of stairs without panting. But within a month after stopping my weekly 15K run, I started to feel winded by the time I climbed even two floors.
The difference was drastic. Almost night and day. This of course, was not the only change that I noticed. There were visible changes in my body composition. I had lost a fair bit of muscle mass and my waistline expanded by a couple of inches.
What happens if you stop working out for 6 months?Clinical research tells us that just four weeks of detraining can undo a lot of the strength and fitness gains you achieved over a period of months. The difference in your heart's ability to utilize oxygen and carbohydrates for fuel starts to diminish. That explains why you will feel out of breath, after an extended break.
There's another study published in the Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging, that speaks about the loss of muscle mass and strength in as little as 12-weeks.
How fast do you lose fitness while taking a 6 months workout break?As I explained, I started to notice a visible change in body composition within 2-3 weeks. But I brushed it off thinking that it's just a loss of muscle glycogen that's causing the muscles to look deflated.
Then, the reduced VO2 Max hit me like an express train. After I climbed those four floors of stairs and ended up panting, I realized that the loss in cardiovascular capacity is for real.
By the time it was week 16, I knew for sure that there was a significant loss in muscle mass too. Now, I did not do a DEXA scan, so I cannot really tell you the accurate quantity of muscle I lost. But this much I can say, that I definitely did lose muscle tissue.
Why do we lose fitness quickly while taking a 6 months workout break?Your body undergoes a series of changes when you exercise consistently. It's producing more red blood cells that help you transport oxygen to your working muscles more efficiently. Your heart's pumping capacity increases. You develop a better blood supply to your muscles, as the capillaries widen.
The size of your muscle fibers, like mysoin and actin increases. When you stop, your CNS signals to your body that the continual stress that it was exposed to, is no longer present. So, there's no reason for your body to continue to hold on to all that extra muscle tissue.
Muscle is resource-intensive to maintain. So, slowly but surely, your body will give it up and you will return to ground zero, which is a fancy word for out of shape and dad bod.
What are the physiological impacts on your body due to a 6 months workout break?Here are some of the physiological impacts on your body after a 6-month break from workouts.
Reduced VO2 MaxYour VO2 Max is the maximum volume of oxygen that your heart can pump per minute. It's a measurement of how aerobically fit you are. A high VO2 Max is a good predictor of athletic performance, as it speaks to your body's ability to process and utilize oxygen for fuel.
This is the first physiological parameter that dips when you stop exercising. Your heart can no longer utilize oxygen or transport it to the muscles quickly. So, you will feel short of breath when you work out after taking an extended break.
Reduced Muscle Strength and SizeYour muscle mass starts dropping in as soon as 2-3 weeks of your body undergoing a total shut down from workout sessions. This is due to a combination of multiple factors. There's a reduction in intramuscular fluid and, size and quantity reduction in myosin and actin fibers.
Muscle mass will be further reduced in 6-months. Essentially, the longer you go without working out, the more pronounced the loss of muscle mass.
Fat GainDidn't want to hear this, did you? When you are working out consistently, your body is primed to utilize the food you consume in the most efficient way. Depending on your macronutrient ratio, bulk of this will be used to power your workouts and for building new muscle tissue.
But when you stop working out, your energy utilization pattern changes. There's a net reduction in calorie utilization that earlier went towards workouts.
This reduction will cause fat gain if you are not vigilant about what you eat. Fat is easy for your body to store and it's the most useful fuel source in case of starvation. So, anything surplus is automatically stored as fat.
How to slowly ease back to workout routine after 6 months workout break?The great thing about your muscle tissue is 'memory'. Muscle memory is for real folks. If you have been working out consistently for years, you will find it a lot easier to bounce back when you start working out again.
That said, it’s a common mistake to overdo it when you resume exercising. You expect to have the same strength, mobility and flexibility that you did when you were working out before and that's not always the case.
How do I get back in shape after not working out for a long time?Just because you stopped working out for a long time does not mean that the rules of fitness have changed. The rules remain the same.
- Find a fitness program that uses progressive overload
- Start slow
- Take adequate rest
- Sleep for 8-9 hours
- Focus on your nutrition
That's all it takes. With muscle memory on your side, you'll notice a difference in just a few weeks. You can start with small challenges like doing 100 jumping jacks per day, or doing 100 crunches per day.
After that you can ramp it up and start lifting again and here too you should take it slowly, you can start with low rows and dumbbell floor presses and work your way up from there.
What should I do the next time I have to take a break?The problem with fitness breaks is that they oscillate from months of high-intensity activity to complete sedentary states. There really is no in-between.
You need to plan to keep yourself active during the downtime. It does not need to be as intense as your workouts usually are. For instance, it's not practical to hit the gym or run 5 Kilometers when you are on a holiday.
But you can try and do some bodyweight exercises. You can do a 15-20 min run on the treadmill. Essentially, any form of physical activity that prevents or slows down the above-mentioned physiological changes is good.
How to manage a detraining period?There's no way to prevent the loss in cardiovascular output, or strength and mass during long breaks from workouts. That said, there are ways to make this loss less severe.
In other words, rather than losing 30% of your VO2 Max, you can reduce the loss to say, 15%. It's still better than losing 30%, isn't it? The idea is to either reduce frequency, but maintain intensity, or reduce intensity but maintain frequency.
Things to keep in mind while restarting your workout routine after 6 months?Here's what you can do to ease back and prevent injury.
Take a few steps backwardDon't go back to your original routine immediately after 6 months of break. Start off with low-intensity workouts and work gradually up towards your target heart rate.
Your body will be quite stiff and you can pull or strain muscles easily. Also, given that your cardiovascular capacity has reduced, the routine you followed 6 months ago might prove challenging for you.
Start with 50% of your 1RMAs eager as you might be to get in the squat rack and start pounding iron, you have to take it slow. Muscle memory is one thing. Mobility is another. You need to treat yourself like a beginner.
Start with 50% of your 1RM (One Rep Max) and slowly increase the weight. You will be amazed at how challenging even this weight will feel like. Also, based on how long it has been since your last workout, you might not even need to bump up the weights for weeks.
Adequate restDon't try to make up for the lost time by cutting down rest periods. Take as much rest as you need to prevent fatigue and overwork.
Establish a routineIt will take your body time to get used to working out after 6 months of break. If possible, try to establish a routine and stick to it. Routine helps you stay committed and prevents overwork.
FAQS about stopped working out for 6 monthsIf you're still unsure about getting back to the gym and restoring your old self, here are some more answers to your questions.
Q. How long does it take to lose muscle if you stop working out?A. Muscle loss is generally a lot slower as compared to loss in cardiovascular output. But after 12-weeks, you will notice a significant decline in muscle mass, unless you are taking preventive action.
The muscle loss will be more apparent if the break period lasts much longer and you are completely sedentary during this time.
Q. How long does muscle memory last?A. Researchers have been trying to decode the secret of muscle memory for decades now. There have been numerous clinical studies that have unfortunately produced conflicting results. Some studies state that muscle memory may be permanent, or last for at least 15-years. Others say that it's temporary and you will in all likelihood, lose it in 5-6 months.
Q. How long does it take for your body to get out of shape?A. Shape is a broad term. If you were new to workouts and fitness and had to take a long break, then you will lose your gains rather quickly and go back to square one.
On the other hand, if you are a seasoned athlete and had to take a break for 6 months, then you wont lose the gains as quickly. You will still lose your cardiovascular strength and muscle mass, mind you. But the changes will not be as drastic as they are for newbies.
Q. What happens to the body after 6 months of exercise?A. A lot happens. But it depends on the effectiveness of your fitness program, your nutrition, continual progressive stress, rest, sleep, hormone levels, and your age.
That said, even if some of these factors were not on point, your body will still undergo a series of changes. Firstly, you will have gained some amount of muscle mass. Secondly, your cardiovascular output will have improved drastically. Your heart will be able to pump more blood and your lung capacity will improve greatly. Thirdly, you will have gained muscle strength.
That of course is scraping the surface. We are not even getting into the psychological benefits that exercise offers.
Q. How long does it take for muscles to come back?A. Again, this depends on how long you worked out before you went on the break. If you have been working out for years, then you will regain your muscle mass a lot quicker.
On the other hand, if you were a newbie, then it's quite possible that you had not yet made any significant gains. The hypertrophy you noticed was transient. In this case, you will be restarting from scratch.
To sum it upSince I have been exercising for over 6-years, I found it reasonably easy to bounce back after my forced hiatus. My cardiovascular strength and muscle mass were almost back to the original levels in about 8-weeks of vigorous training.
But the first 4-weeks were absolute hell. Not kidding. So, do yourself a favor and don’t let those tiny breaks from workouts go on forever. Do whatever form of exercise you can during unplanned breaks. They will help you bounce back a lot sooner.
Related Readings:
- My Personal Chest & Leg Workout for A Big Chest & Toned Muscular Legs
- Best Meal Replacement for Breakfast – Top Tasting Morning Shakes
- Best Kachava Alternatives – Cheaper, Tastier, & Better Substitutes
- Most Surprising Science Back Benefits of Indoor Rowing – & My Favorite Rowing Machine
- One Punch Man Workout – I Did 100 Pushups, 100 Sit-Ups, and 100 Squats for 30 Days – Results and What I Learned!
Resources:
- https://www.outsideonline.com/health/wellness/five-things-happen-your-body-when-you-quit-working-out/
- https://www. bbc.com/future/article/20210603-how-soon-do-we-become-unfit-when-we-stop-exercising
How long to wait for the effect of training
Forget magazines that promise you will lose weight in a few days of training or that you will have an athlete's body if you do 10 push-ups a day. It takes patience, motivation and consistency to see results from sports. You don't have to go far to do this - you can do it without leaving your home!
Below we describe the stages that you will go through when playing sports.
It is very difficult - maybe even almost impossible - to accurately measure the effect of sports in just 2-3 weeks. Not overly motivated people give up after this short period of time.
And this is a big mistake: 3 weeks is the minimum amount of time that you need to change your habits, get used to training, learn the minimum skills in a particular sport. 3 weeks is a turning point. Be patient and don't give up!
Even if the results of training do not immediately reflect on your body, this does not mean that nothing changes. You can feel the positive effects in different ways.
Are you less irritable than before? Are you no longer out of breath after climbing stairs? Are you gradually gaining confidence? These are the positive, less noticeable effects of exercise. You are moving in the right direction, keep training!
After about 2 months of training, your body will begin to transform, and you will be able to notice the first physical changes, muscle relief will appear. However, we are we advise you not to stand on the scale - this can mislead you and negatively affect your motivation. Do not stop. The main indicators of changes in the body are your clothing, health and well-being. And nothing else!
To multiply the impact of sports activities on your body, follow a serious training plan: at least 3 sessions per week . At the same time, it makes no sense to exercise every day - the body needs rest to consolidate the effect of exercise.
Nutrition is just as important to your transformation. Eating the Right at the Right Time will help you capitalize on the effort you put in whether you're at the gym, at home or outside. To get the most out of your workouts and achieve the results you want, you must be willing to change your daily diet.
All the results of your work will be visible after about 3 months of regular classes. If you have been following your workouts well and eating right, then your work will pay off, we assure you!
Of course, the results will be individual for each person. We don't have the same genetic code, basic fitness level, nutritional issues, or morphology.
As you now understand, it is quite difficult to establish an accurate calendar of training results and the impact of exercise on the body. Be patient and persistent, and the results will definitely appear!
Are you already exercising? Tell us about your experience in the comments.
Training program for beginners for 6 months
By training according to this program, you will not only gain muscle mass, but also significantly increase your strength indicators.
At the initial stage, we recommend that you thoroughly hone the correct technique for performing exercises. In combination with proper nutrition, this will be the main factor in achieving the goal. The list of exercises, as well as the technique of their implementation, you can see on our website in the section - "Exercises".
Tip: Before heading to the gym, work on your technique at home. While watching the video demonstration of the exercises, repeat the movements yourself. What you will be holding in your hands (a bar from a barbell, a mop or an ordinary stick) does not matter. Your task is to thoroughly hone the correct technique. Also, do not forget about proper breathing.
Training Features
The entire training session should not exceed 70 minutes!
- Warm up - 10 minutes
- Core workout - 40-50 minutes
- Stretch (optional) - 10 minutes
Working Weights
Perform one warm-up set using 60% of your working weight before heavy lifting. In the main approaches, select the weight on the projectile so that you can complete the specified number of repetitions and you no longer have the strength to complete the next repetition. That is, in each approach you work to failure. This applies to all exercises.
Consider the example
Standing barbell curl - 4x15. Means you have to do 4 sets, 15 reps in the first set. All other approaches (2,3,4) you must perform with the same weight on the projectile, as many times as possible. That is, on average, you get something like this - 4x15,12,9,8.
Training program
Month 1.2
At first we will train twice a week. In each workout, we will work out the main muscle groups. Moderate weight on the projectile, a large number of repetitions. Firstly, you will go through the stage of “krepatura” (muscle pain), secondly, strengthen your muscles and prepare them for more serious work, and thirdly, hone your exercise technique.
Rest between sets - 2 minutes, between exercises - 3 minutes.
Monday
General warm-up (10 minutes)
- Standing barbell curl (biceps) - 3x15
- Extension of the arms on the block with a direct grip (triceps) - 3x15
- Seated dumbbell overhead press (shoulders) - 3x15
- Flat bench press (chest) - 3x14
- Leg press (legs) - 3x14
Friday
General warm-up (10 minutes)
- Incline bench press (chest) - 3x14
- Shrugs with dumbbells (trapeze) - 3x15
- Pulldown of the upper block to the chest (back) - 3x14
- Hyperextension (lumbar) - 3x15
- Leg press (legs) - 3x14
Alternate your first and second workout within two months.
In the first two months of training, train the press on days separate from training in the gym. You can download the press at home in any way convenient for you. Twice a week will be enough. Perform any one exercise for the press - 3 sets, the maximum number of repetitions in each approach.
Month 3.4
Continue training twice a week, but start with heavier weights, add basic exercises and slightly reduce the number of repetitions. This mode will make the muscles grow more intensively and due to this you will begin to gain muscle mass.
Rest between sets - 90 seconds, between exercises - 2 minutes.
Monday
General warm-up (10 minutes)
- Bench press on a horizontal bench (chest) - 3x12
- Lifting the barbell for standing biceps (biceps) - 3x12
- French bench press (triceps) - 3x12
- Bench press up from behind the head while sitting (shoulders) - 3x12
- Leg press (legs) - 3x12
Friday
General warm-up (10 minutes)
- Incline bench press (chest) - 3x12
- Bent Over Row (Back) - 3x12
- Shrugs with dumbbells (trapeze) - 3x12
- Forward bends with a barbell (lower back) - 3x15
- Leg press (legs) - 3x12
Rotate these workouts over two months, and don't forget to hit your abs twice a week on separate days from your gym workouts.