De-training: The Need to Keep Active this Holiday Season

By , SparkPeople Blogger
Now that the holiday season is upon us with parties, festivities, and shopping excursions abound, many of us curtail our exercise agenda all together until after the New Year when once again we resolve ourselves to a sound exercise program. The problem with this scenario is that the effects of de-training can and will occur if we choose to depart from our exercise routine until after the first of the year.

De-training is the body’s ability to lose many of the benefits one has gained over the course of a few weeks, months, and yes, even years of activity. Studies have shown that within just seven days of not running, blood volume drops considerably and within 2-4 weeks lactate threshold levels decrease, muscle glycogen levels decrease, and stroke volume decreases. And if you think this is true for runners only, de-training can occur in all levels of cardio activity as well as resistance training. Whenever the body is not being challenged to adapt to the stress of exercise, de-training is often a side effect.

Now if you are getting a tad discouraged, according to the American Council on Exercise the longer you have been exercising and the fitter you are when you stop training, the longer it takes to revert back to your pre-training levels. However, in fit individuals you will still see these effects occur most rapidly within the first 3 weeks before tapering off and by the end of 12 weeks you may even find that all levels of fitness are lost.

If you are fairly new to exercise, your cardiovascular fitness will change quite rapidly and in just a few short weeks you may lose all benefits from all your hard work.

So how do we avoid de-training at this time of the year? Remember that exercise is not an all-or-nothing activity. Just getting in short intense workouts just a few times a week may be all it takes to maintain one’s level of fitness. But try to avoid too many days of rest in between workouts since this scenario can also lead to a decrease in fitness levels. Try scheduling your workouts into your day. For many of us, getting our workouts done first thing in the morning allows for a little more leeway should something come up during the day and we are unable to get to the gym or out for a run.

Many experts agree that if your regular aerobic exercise doesn’t fit into your hectic schedule, this is a great time to add some cross training activities--a great opportunity to try something new. In other words, walking and pool running are great cross training activities for runners, while the Stairmaster mill and a spinning class make a nice compliment to outdoor cycling.

The moral of the story is do whatever you can to keep active this holiday season so come January 1st you will be ready to put a little more oomph into your workouts. And if you find that you have missed more workouts than you had anticipated, don’t fret-- after all this is a lifestyle and not just a means to getting to a certain number on the scale.

How do you plan on keeping active during the holiday season? Do you find it harder to keep active when the temperatures get colder and life becomes a little more chaotic-and if so, how do your tackle these issues?