Watch out for Deconditioning this winter

As the seasons change and days have become darker and gloomier, you may have found yourself watching Yellowstone on the couch more often than getting outside for a daily walk, bike ride, or getting outside for a sport. Bitter cold days can make it tough to want to come out from under the covers. Taking a day off from physical activity here or giving your body rest when you need it is just fine, but if you've been consistently missing regular exercise and notice some aches and pains showing up, you might have the beginnings of deconditioning.

Deconditioning explained

Exercise creates many changes in your body - your heart begins to pump blood more efficiently, your muscles use oxygen more efficiently, they contract in a more coordinated manner, and your body gets more efficient turning food into fuel, to name just a few. Deconditioning is the reversing of these changes. Exercise is a "use it or lose it" kind of thing, and deconditioning is the process by which we "lose it."

How long does it take to decondition?

As with most things related to a system as complex as the human body, it depends. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, two weeks without exercise can lead to significant loss of cardiovascular fitness. As you detrain, cardiovascular fitness tends to decline first, with muscle strength declining later. Other factors are your age, and your exercise history. If you're younger, you'll probably lose fitness at a slower rate than someone older. If you've been consistently exercising for a long time, or at a high intensity, your losses will probably be slower than for someone who just started.

Reversing the losses

If you're just undergoing a period of increased time commitments at work or with family, using a shortened exercise routine can help minimize your losses. Even one session a week will help you keep most of what you've gained. Other options are to use shorter but more intense interval training sessions, or breaking up your activity into multiple short chunks during the day. If your layoff was longer, it may take just as long to retrain as it did to make the gains initially.

If you're having those aches and pains due to inactivity or need help designing a safe program to either maintain your fitness or build it up, your physical therapist can help! Injury and illness are other common reasons for detraining. Your PT can not only help you recover faster, but they can also find activities to maintain your fitness while safely working around an injury or illness.