How quickly will my VO2 max fall off if I stop all exercise?
I have been exercising regularly for about 2 years and completed my first half Ironman earlier this year. I am currently recovering from ACL injury (from recreational basketball game). It has been about 3 weeks since surgery and I can put some weight on it again. I am told that rehab will be about 3-4 months.
Maybe I can start swimming again relatively soon but expect it will be at least a few months before I can do most of what I was accustomed to.
I know my VO2 max will fall (it probably already has to some degree) but how large of a decrease in VO2 max is expected during recovery?
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The negative effect on VO2max due to detraining varies a bit with different studies, with losses ranging from 4-14% when training is stopped for less than 4 weeks [1-8]. Obviously, the longer the inactivity, the more the negative impact on VO2max., to a point. For example one study found that endurance athletes lost 7% of their VO2max in the first 21 days of inactivity and eventually stabilized at a 16% loss after 56 days (1).
A different study found that over a 2400 meter run, women averaged 21 seconds slower following 15 days of inactivity. [18]
The better trained you were before the inactivity (higher trained-state VO2max), the bigger its decline when training is stopped (1).
You can find the references in the following link
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