re: How long does it take for you to get "out of shape"

Ronnie Coleman would take 2 months off usually after his Olympia wins, stop all of the gear, eat like shite for most of those 2 months, and still carry most of his muscle and strength when he got back to training. He would balloon up to well over 300 on a 5'11" frame though.

From what starting point?

Prime shape - it takes me about 1 month of eating whatever I want and not being active. At that point I've put on lbs and am no longer cut up.

ETA: "getting out of shape"really only requires eating sugary foods.

I'm not talking about from a looks perspective or a body composition perspective. I'm talking about from a performance perspective. I don't care how fat I get or anything.

If you could run a 5k in 20 minutes, then took 3 weeks off doing nothing, how much would your time suffer?

If you could squat 315, but didn't work out for 3 weeks, how much would that suffer?

I know those are two 'different' things and will happen differently. I know I'm not going to be in peak condition. It just always surprises me how much you lose. I normally fall off the wagon for months at a time, so it's no surprise. This time I took a break due to just needing one and also an injury.

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I'm not talking about from a looks perspective or a body composition perspective. I'm talking about from a performance perspective. I don't care how fat I get or anything.

If you could run a 5k in 20 minutes, then took 3 weeks off doing nothing, how much would your time suffer?

If you could squat 315, but didn't work out for 3 weeks, how much would that suffer?

I know those are two 'different' things and will happen differently. I know I'm not going to be in peak condition. It just always surprises me how much you lose. I normally fall off the wagon for months at a time, so it's no surprise. This time I took a break due to just needing one and also an injury.

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As far as lifting goes, I'd say I'm forced to drop weight after about 3 weeks of not lifting. About the time I begin to lose my gains. It depends on how I've been eating though. If I've been eating really lean and running a lot, I'm forced to drop weight or plateau hard after about 1-2 weeks of not lifting. If I'm eating anything in sight then it's about 3 weeks - 1 month before my lifting suffers.

As far as running, I usually lose my stamina after about a month of not running. I genuinely enjoy running and run quite a bit though. I don't run as often as I used to because I don't want a runner's body, but when I do run I can cover quite a bit of ground - like 10-12 miles when I'm in peak shape and like 4/5 miles when I'm out of shape and trying to cut.

How you recover from periods of inactivity completely depends on diet during inactivity.

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If you could run a 5k in 20 minutes, then took 3 weeks off doing nothing, how much would your time suffer?

If you could squat 315, but didn't work out for 3 weeks, how much would that suffer?

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There is not exact question. Age and base physical activity factor in greatly.

Imagine taking three weeks off if you had pneumonia and were hooked up to a vent in the icu lying on your back for three weeks doing nothing.

Depending upon your age, you would lose a lot. Heck, older people who were semi active need to go to rehab after this type of even to be able to get around again.

Now imagine if you were that same age and in the course of your day you still walked a couple of miles a day and walked up quite a few flights of stairs. And even played a few games of softball.

Totally different types of taking off.

In general, you don't lose that much after a week. Furthermore, it takes a small amount of high intensity stuff to keep you from losing much of anything working out one day a week for a month.

Now taking off a couple of weeks you are going to feel sluggish if you are over the age of 40 or so for a day or two, but you can get back to where you were quickly.