Do Holidays Kill Your Gains?
The French word for strength training is musculation. I love it. It’s so dramatic. I’m a little sad I won’t be partaking in any musculation while I’m in Paris in a few weeks.
When I quit my job recently, people said things like, “I’m looking forward to your next chapter,” and “Now you can have a well-deserved rest.” Lovely in theory. Harder in practice. I am, unfortunately, one of those classic Type-A-ADHD-people-pleasing-anxious types: I thrive under pressure, I like a packed schedule, and I find sitting still both difficult and vaguely guilt-inducing. If you read last week’s missive, you might be spotting a pattern.
Oh, you’re so tired you can’t sleep? Just power through. Body aching? Another set won’t kill you. Burnout schmurnout. That little voice in my head has kept me moving for years, but I’m starting to wonder if maybe it’s not the wisest personal trainer.
As I said last week, I’m on holiday right now - we queued up a bunch of newsletters before I left, but we may take a couple of weeks off because Carl deserves a break too. What I know for sure is this: I’m not going to lift while I’m away.
That doesn’t mean I’ll be inactive. My last big overseas trip I averaged 18,000 steps a day, and I suspect Rome and Paris will be no different. My bestie has already declared she wants her “John Wick” moment on the Sacré-Cœur steps, so I guess it’s lucky I’ve been sneaking in some cardio.
And here’s the thing: I actually love a hotel gym. Well, love/hate. They’re almost always bad. A single set of mismatched dumbbells, half a square metre of floor space, two treadmills, and an elliptical nobody wants. Stained carpet. Terrible piped music. But there’s something fun about the challenge of figuring out how to make it work anyway. So yes, if we’re in hotels, I’ll probably pick up a light weight here and there, just for the joy of it.
Mostly, though, I want to focus on mobility. My goal is a short routine every morning: open up my hips, stretch out my hamstrings, roll my shoulders. With all the walking we’ll be doing, my calves will thank me.
I learned this the hard way a couple of weeks ago, when I skipped the gym for just seven days. Pretty quickly my whole body started to ache. Not because I’d stopped lifting heavy, but because I’d skipped the ten minutes of mobility I do as a warm up that I can't convince my brain is a good idea the rest of the time. Even a little makes a big difference.
So that’s my plan: enough to keep my body feeling good. Loose, open, ready. (That’s what she said.) Maybe even rested enough to come back stronger. I’m trying to find a space between going all out and doing nothing at all. And I’m hoping that balance is a lesson I can carry into whatever the next chapter looks like.
So, Carl…what should we be doing on holiday? Am I planning for the right things? And if i don’t lift for ten weeks, am i gonna lose all my gains?
Carl here…
Firstly yes, you absolutely deserve a break! Burnout is very real (we’ll get to that next time), and ignoring it is never a good idea.
Before we dive into training on holiday, let’s look at what actually happens to our body and brain when we take time off. Stepping away from our usual routine often means we shed daily stressors and replace them with anticipation of fun, novelty, and rest. This shift activates what’s called a parasympathetic-dominant state, basically our “rest and repair” mode. Research shows that stress hormones like cortisol decrease, while feel-good neurotransmitters such as serotonin rise, which explains why we feel calmer, happier, and more present. I like to call this “coming out of the mist,” because sometimes you don’t realize how stressed you were until you finally step out of it.
Then there’s the social side. Sharing adventures with people we love increases oxytocin, the bonding hormone. Studies link oxytocin to stronger social connections and reduced stress and anxiety. Add in new experiences, and the combination of lowered stress and stronger connections can even enhance neuroplasticity, our brain’s ability to adapt and form new ideas. That’s why holidays often leave us feeling more creative and inspired.
Of course, it’s not all smooth sailing. The lack of routine, changes in sleep, diet, movement, and environment can throw our physiology off balance. In fact, research shows that disruptions to circadian rhythm and lifestyle habits can weaken immune defenses, which helps explain why some people end up catching a bug during or right after a holiday.
So while holidays give us that much-needed reset, they can also shake things up a bit.
Training on holiday. Personally, I think this depends on a few things. Firstly, define training. If training is following your gym routine or if it just means staying active and trying new things. It also relates to your relationship with movement? For example, I'm excited about most forms of movement and I feel like movement translates culture. When I was in Brazil, I did Samba, when in Argentina I did tango, in Japan I needed to see all of the temples and find my favourite zen gardens and when in the U.S I had to train at Muscle beach California! So training, perhaps, perhaps not. Staying active, definitely.
It depends on how long you’re away for. If it’s two weeks or less, the answer is: probably not! After that, you might notice some drop-off, but it’s really not the end of the world (unless you’re an elite athlete chasing every last 2%).
In fact, a brand-new study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports looked at exactly this. One group trained for 10 weeks straight, while another group trained for 10 weeks, took a 10-week break, then came back for another 10 weeks. Sure enough, the break group lost a bit of muscle and strength while they were off, but here’s the cool part… within just five weeks of training again, they were back to where they left off. By the end of the study, both groups had made almost identical progress.
This bounce-back happens thanks to muscle memory. When you train, your muscles develop long-lasting changes at the cellular and nervous system level. So even if your size or strength dips while you’re lying on a beach or exploring Europe, your body is primed to rebuild it much faster than it took to earn it in the first place.
Bottom line: a short break won’t erase your hard work, and even a longer one is only a temporary setback. Your body is much better at remembering than you might think, so enjoy your holiday guilt-free. The gains will be waiting for you when you get back.
The hard part, however, is rebuilding habits. As we have all experienced, building healthy habits is hard, and attaining less healthy ones seems so easy! This is another reason why having a coach can be useful to help support you in regaining your habits and keeping you accountable! So Megan, I'll be waiting! Although I can't imagine your love for lofting heavy things will disappear over night!
Cool things we saw:
Megan - check out this squat mobility routine!
One for the writerly folks : Read this
We lift so our bones are good when we’re old and grumpy: https://theconversation.com/does-weightlifting-improve-bone-density-263045
The Women’s Rugby World Cup has kicked off! (That’s where megan is off to.) Some extremely important content: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNd_MKTTK0v/?igsh=enRoMHZtZXE3cjhn
Carl - Creatine for women's healthspan study! Did you know that women produce 70-80% less creatine in their bodies than men? 1. Creatine improves strength, power and recovery in women. 2. During high estrogen phases within the cycle, protein breakdown increases and carb storage dips - creatine may help fill the energy dip. 3. Post menopausal women lose bone density as estrogen declines, and combining creatine with resistance training can reduce this loss.