It’s vacation season. Time to enjoy some fun in the sun, but that’s not what we’re going to talk about. Society is seemingly pushing the “all or nothing” way of life. It may just be the influence of social media in today’s world and the most vocal online influencers being heard. Taking that approach with exercise can be harmful, too. An exercise vacation is important for the body and mind. Exercise vacation has a dual meaning. In this case, it’s not about scheduling a week’s long vacation loaded with active excursions. It’s about taking a week or two off from your normal exercise routine and the benefits of doing so.

For some, the idea of taking a week off from exercise is blasphemous. They may fear that taking an extended break will cause their progress to be impeded. That progress may be defined as weight loss, increased endurance, or increased strength and muscle mass. Breaking from exercise routines is not as unhealthy as some may fear.
When it comes to weight loss, taking a week or so off the routine will have little or no effect. The key with any weight management is what and how much you eat. Benching your workout routine for a week will not cause an immediate, noticeable increase in pounds. One pound of fat is equal to 3,500 calories. Simple math tells you that as long as your diet remains reasonably in check, any fluctuation in weight is not due to your exercise vacation and real weight gain in the form of fat.

Improving and maintaining endurance is generally via aerobic activity. There are a lot of physiological changes that can be measured to indicate when endurance level is improved. The big picture measurement is something called VO2(max). Without getting too deep on this, V02 is measuring how well your body uses oxygen to perform activities. The ‘max’ part of this is the amount of oxygen your body can use at maximum cardiovascular exercise effort. So, if you are in a routine and you take time off, how long does it take before VO2 starts to decrease? This is dependent on several factors, but the big one is how conditioned you are before taking a break. As you probably have guessed, the higher your fitness level (VO2) the easier it is to bounce back after a break. But that still doesn’t answer the question. It takes approximately 2 weeks before noticeable aerobic deconditioning takes place.

With strength training routines, there are two concerns: loss of strength and loss of actual muscle mass. Taking a break from a strength routine and the timeline of resulting loss in gains is similar to cardiovascular routines. Strength can be affected in as little as 2 weeks. There is a difference with concern number two, however. Actual loss of muscle size doesn’t start right away and can take anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks before any noticeable change.

It’s apparent that taking a break won't seriously affect your progress. What about not taking a break? The big risk physically is it could mean pushing a little too hard resulting in injuries. The mental risk can be just as important if not more so. Knowing that when life gets hectic and your normal exercise routine is in jeopardy, it is OK to take a break, is a big realization. Exercise should relieve stress, not be another stressor to worry about. In addition, if life doesn’t get in the way of your routine, it’s OK to schedule an exercise vacation every 3 to 4 months to allow your body and mind to recover and get the most from the routine. If you happen to have an “all or nothing” personality, at least consider reducing intensity for a week every now and again. Let’s call that a working exercise vacation, but a vacation nonetheless.