how long does strength last?

Today we will be answering this question from my coaching Q&As:

Yes it's normal and ok to lose a bit of raw strength as you turn your focus away from strength building!

How much strength you might lose and how fast you may lose it depends on a number of individual factors. One of these factors is training age (how long you've been strength training). 

Strength is an adaptation that takes time to build and the longer you've been training it, the longer it sticks around.

Someone who has been consistently strength training for two years is going to have a more solid foundation than someone who has been strength training for two months.

Strength is a hearty adaptation and it stays around for a while, so building this foundation is worth it!

After a strength cycle, depending on your goals and schedule you can perform strength maintenance workouts. These help to mitigate some strength loss.

These are lower volume (thus less fatiguing), less frequent strength workouts to give your body a little "reminder" from time to time.

However, even if you decide to forgo maintenance workouts, there's more good news:

Strength is much quicker to come back than it is to build, so if you have a good foundation than you'll see fast gains back to your "baseline" when you pick training back up.

Your initial investment in building strength is a worthwhile one.