What Happens When You Don’t Work Out for a Week?

You’ve been training consistently, rocking your workouts, and watching your fitness goals become a reality. The only problem? You’ve got a week-long vacation coming up. As much as you might be looking forward to, say, traveling somewhere new or far away, if you can’t fit any exercise into the schedule, you might worry about what not working out for a week will do to your body.

The truth is, you probably don’t need to fret. Regardless of why you’re taking time away from the gym—whether for travel, illness, a jam-packed work calendar, or another reason—a week-long fitness break is unlikely to ruin all your hard-earned gains. In fact, it can even be beneficial. “I love a week off,” says Peloton instructor Denis Morton. “If you’ve been training hard, a week off can be really good for you.” 

Here’s everything you need to know about how not working out for a week can affect your fitness—and how to make the most of it. 

What Happens When You Don’t Work Out for a Week?

Most of us likely won’t notice major differences in our strength and endurance from not working out for a week. “Don’t panic if you’re taking a week off from training,” says exercise physiologist Rachelle Acitelli Reed, PhD. “For most people, in seven days, any changes in fitness are very minimal.” Research shows most fitness declines don’t start to occur until week two (about 10–14 days in), she says.  

However, the exact effects of a break can vary, depending on your fitness level and age. The older you get, the more you might feel it. And a high-performance athlete might notice some changes more acutely than the everyday gym-goer, Reed says. 

Someone who’s in the peak of marathon training, for instance, might find they feel extra gassed on a long run after a week or two off. That’s because your VO2 max—how much oxygen your body can use during exercise—can start to decrease after about 10–14 days, Reed says. Your blood volume and plasma volume also start to decline, which makes it harder for your heart to get oxygenated blood to your working muscles. However, the percentage of these changes are pretty tiny, so someone who casually does a little cardio here and there might not even notice any difference.

When it comes to strength, researchers actually don’t see many changes unless your week off becomes a month or longer. Even after 4 weeks, you’ll see a bigger effect on muscle size than actual muscle strength. “Which, of course, makes sense because when you are strength training, you’re getting additional blood flow, additional water, oxygen, nutrients to the skeletal muscles, so they’re pumped up,” Reed explains. 

No matter your fitness level, it’s taking multiple weeks off that can really lead to negative changes. One 2019 study conducted by the American Council on Exercise found that when new exercisers (who had followed a 13-week training program) stopped working out for 4 weeks, they “rapidly abolished all training adaptations.” 

“What this shows is that, especially for people who have any kind of cardiometabolic or health risk factors, we want people to be in it for the long game,” Reed says. While a week off now and then is unlikely to set you back, letting those weeks add up can reverse the fitness progress you’ve worked hard for. That’s why Reed suggests keeping your fitness breaks to less than 2 weeks when you can. “That 2-week time point seems to be when things start to shift back,” she says. 

How a Week Off of Working Out May Benefit You

If you’ve been training at a high volume for a long time, not working out for a week can actually be super helpful. It’s why serious lifters and endurance athletes purposefully take scaled-back deload weeks, and most will keep it easy for a week after a major event like a marathon. 

“I think many people are like myself in that they push themselves harder than they realize,” Denis says. “And a little bit of rest goes a long way: A week off can be really good for your central nervous system, your connective tissue, your joints.” This can help you avoid a repetitive stress injury, he adds.  

You might even notice your wearable fitness tracker begin to show an improved heart rate variability (HRV), Reed says. That’s because this metric reflects the balance between your sympathetic (fight-or-flight) and parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) nervous systems, and a week off often allows your body to physically recharge enough to find a better equilibrium between the two. 

If you’re on vacation and swapping a strict training schedule for fun watersports or sightseeing walks, you’ll also work your body and mind in new ways. “Doing things a different way forces your body to form new neuromuscular pathways—a greater internal internet, if you will,” Denis says. 

That doesn’t mean you need to focus on trying other kinds of movement during your week off. Even just hanging out with friends or family at the beach can give you a helpful mental recharge, Reed says. “Then you might even feel more fired up when you’re back to your normal routine,” she says. “Your body will crave getting back into it.” 

Signs You May Benefit from Not Working Out for a Week

Denis admits that he doesn’t often schedule a week off, but sometimes his body will tell him that he needs one in order to avoid overtraining. Some signs to keep an eye out for include excessive muscle soreness or fatigue, unexplainable mood changes, back-to-back illnesses, and trouble sleeping.  

Reed adds that a common principle in exercise science is that “stress plus recovery equals adaptation”: Training puts your body through physical stress, but only with enough rest will you see positive changes from it. “I think where people can get into trouble and start to see the effects of overtraining—injuries or even mental burnout of never noticing progress or really not looking forward to workouts—is when people have a high training volume and not enough recovery to match that,” she says.

While it’s unrealistic to expect yourself to be excited for every workout, you should generally find it enjoyable to stay active, Reed says. If you notice yourself dreading every session, or you feel like you’re not seeing any progress despite how much work you’re putting in, it might be time for a short break.

How to Make the Most of a Week-Long Fitness Break

In theory, most of us would agree that not working out for a week sounds lovely. In reality, though, it can be surprisingly challenging. 

“The hard part about taking time off is enjoying it,” Denis says. “We are so conditioned to believe that inactivity equals laziness or that it reflects poorly on your work ethic.” But whether your body simply needs a week-long break or you’ve got a busy trip planned, embrace the time away from your regular fitness schedule, he encourages. 

Remember: A week off doesn’t need to mean a week stuck on the couch. It could just be a time to prioritize lower-intensity activities like gentle walks or some low-key yoga (which you can do with the Peloton App!). “Try some restorative things that your body might really thank you for,” Denis says. “Use it as an opportunity to explore some new movement patterns. Experiment with what it feels like to stop pushing and restore.” You just might find something you want to incorporate into your regular fitness routine going forward.

Also, don’t forget to lean into the recovery of it all. “This is not sexy advice, but make sure you’re still prioritizing sleep,” Reed says. Remember: Sleep is when your body performs that all-important repair work to restore your tissues so you can grow stronger and more resilient. So if you want to come back from your week off feeling refreshed, you need to get plenty of Zzzs.  

Tips for Resuming Your Fitness Routine 

Once you’re ready to dive back into training, take things easy. “Be smart about your first workout back,” Reed says. Although it might be tempting to try to jump right back in where you left off, come back gradually and be mindful of your effort level so that you don’t push so hard that you then need to take another few days off to recover. “Go into it with a moderate intensity in mind—you should feel refreshed and energized after your session rather than totally depleted,” she says. 

To do this successfully, it can be helpful to ignore metrics like pace or output at first, and instead just tune into your rate of perceived exertion. Also, try to keep your mind in a helpful place with positive self-talk rather than focusing on how much harder everything feels right now.  

Because, honestly, that first workout back (or even the first few, depending on how long your break was) might feel more challenging than usual. “You might feel it in your heart and lungs, and you might have a little bit of elevated muscle soreness,” Denis says. You may even notice that your balance and coordination feel a little off, he adds. 

But don’t beat yourself up over this. “We have a tendency to judge ourselves harshly,” Denis says. “Finding the grace to acknowledge that you took that time and returned to the practice without self-judgment is the most important thing.” 

The good news? “You will return to your previous status relatively easily,” Denis says. Even if you took multiple weeks off, research shows it’s easier to regain fitness than it is to create it in the first place. So as long as you ramp back up gradually, you’ll be hitting your stride again in no time. 

The Takeaway

If you’ve been training hard, not working out for a week can give your body a helpful opportunity to recover and offer your mind a chance to reset. Serious endurance athletes might notice their aerobic fitness take a small hit, but overall, any negative impacts of a 7-day break will be fairly minimal.

So rather than worrying about it, take advantage of the week off to explore other kinds of movement—and don’t forget to actually enjoy the break from your typical routine, Denis says. Then, once it’s time to come back to your normal programming, let yourself ease back in without trying to make up for lost time. You might be surprised just how quickly your body gets back in the groove.