This detailed review analyzes the systematic review titled "Cardiorespiratory and metabolic consequences of detraining in endurance athletes," published in Frontiers in Physiology  (2024). The authors, Barbieri et al., synthesized data from 41 studies to examine how stopping or reducing training affects the physiological and anatomical adaptations of endurance athletes. 1. Objective and Context The review was prompted largely by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced many athlet

For athletes and coaches, the fear of "losing it" during a break is a constant concern, yet the science of detraining — the partial or total loss of physiological adaptations due to insufficient training stimulus —is more nuanced than many realize. Research indicates that short-term breaks of less than four weeks often have minimal impact on sprinting speed  and neuromuscular function , as certain adaptations are retained during brief periods of inactivity. However, extending

This review covers Part II of Mujika and Padilla’s comprehensive analysis of detraining. While Part I focused on short-term breaks (under 4 weeks), this article was written to examine long-term detraining  (cessation of training for more than 4 weeks). The authors aimed to detail exactly how the cardiovascular, metabolic, and muscular systems degrade over extended periods of inactivity in both highly trained athletes and recently trained individuals. Crucially, the article al