How long does your fitness last?

Training
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Different types of fitness take different lengths of time to build, but they also take different lengths of time to disappear when you don’t train them. Original question: “Quite some time ago the TrainerRoad Blog had an article exactly about this topic, one problem, I cannot find it. Does anyone know to find or have this chart? Detailing the difference between for example VO2max fitness VS general endurance.” Thanks to @IanDarlington for finding it quickly!

The original TrainerRoad source:

Training Residuals:

  • Aerobic Endurance – Establishment: 25-35 days; Residuals: 25-35 days
  • Anaerobic Power – Establishment: 14-22 days; Residuals 14-22 days
  • Muscle Endurance/Threshold – Establishment: 10-20 days; Residuals: 10-20 days
  • Sprint Power – Establishment: 2-8 days; Residuals: 2-8 days

Declines in Aerobic Capacity:

  • 1-7 days: negligible decrease
  • 10-14 days: 6% decrease
  • 14-30 days: 12% decrease
  • 30-63 days: 19% decrease
  • >63 days: 26% decrease

Minimum we can do to stay fast:

  • Aerobic Endurance – Once every 2 weeks, do a long, low-intensity ride. Ride long enough that the fatigue comes as a product of the ride’s duration, not its intensity. Example:Laurentian
  • Anaerobic Power – Once a week. Something along the lines of 30- to 60-second repeats upwards of 130% FTP should suffice. Example: Bird -1
  • Muscle Endurance/Threshold – Once a week. Try a 2×20-minute Threshold or even Sweet Spot workout. Example: Eichorn
  • Sprint Power – Once a week. Perform 4-6 all-out efforts somewhere between 20-30 seconds long. Example: Bays

Research:

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2

This one I think: How much training volume does it take to maintain ~3w/kg? - #4 by mcneese.chad

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3

Ah yes thank you! I remember seeing this way longer ago but I guess it has been sourced multiple times.

I can now either delete this topic or keep it as a Training Residuals resource place. Let me know what you guys think.

4

There’s loads of stuff on the internet about detraining and what happens to your fitness if you stop.

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I now have a second question which is, what constitutes the fact that you can regain past fitness much faster than it took to get it the first time?

6

Muscle memory? Because you don’t lose 100% of fitness? :man_shrugging:

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Part is mental. It’s easier to attain a level of fitness you have already obtained. You just know you can.

Part is physiological. Exercise related angiogenesis is not 100% reversible even after detraining. There is always some residual increase in capillary density. Same with mitochondria size & density. There is always some residual increase that remains even after detraining. For sure, detraining leads to decreased capillary density and decreased mitochondria count but it’s still materially above a ‘virgin untrained’ state.

I personally believe that there is residual muscle recruitment learning that does not detrain or does not detrain quickly.

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