Are strength gains permanent?

Your body will build and maintain strength that is required for your day to day life. You'll find that you lose strength (particularly when you lift heavy) very quickly. It's use it or lose it.

Muscle memory is your friend in these situations when you've grown weak.

 

This. And id like to add that it will be easier and faster for you to regain the increase in strength then it was getting it in the first place.

 

What they said^^^. Liken it to running. You first start out and can't make a 1/2 mile without tiring. Within a couple months of regular training you are hitting 5 miles a pop. Then you quit running and decide to start back after a few months being away. You'll not make 5 miles the first time out but you will get back to 5 miles a lot quicker the second time.

 

Yes strength gains are forever- that's why grandads are so tough

 

Had to chuckle at that one BB.

 

Yep. My 1rm drops a lot if I don't do an exercise for 3 weeks, but at the same time it does go back up a lot quicker than it would do if you were starting from scratch.

 

youll keep some of it for a while. even years after some guys stop lifting they still have some muscle on them. i was out of commission for 4 months after i deadlifted 500lbs and tore my ab. if it had herniated i wouldnt have had to sit out for so long because i couldve gotten surgery and been back in the gym after a month. when i started getting back into it i was still able to lift 315 pretty easily. whereas when i started deadlifting i was struggling with 275

 

you should look up the russian conjugate system that westside barbell uses. sounds complicated but its not. say for example you do bench for 2 weeks, set a new pr. then for the next 2 weeks do close grip benches, then the next two weeks do paused floor presses. youll find if you gain strength in simililar exercises it will transfer over to one another. so by getting stronger in similar lifts, when you come back to regular benches after a month you should be stronger. very effective and simple method

 

You gradually lose it but it comes back quickly like a few have said. I tend to do a few months at the gym every couple of years to hit 200lbs then let myself drop to 180-175 before hitting the gym again. At all times there's a heavyweight inside of me waiting to rip out and check chins

 

Over about 12 weeks, I got to 215kg for my deadlift, and almost 200kg for squat(which was my target), Im lifting heavy as I want to become a faster sprinter, and at 31 was told by an expert that the only realistic thing I can dramatically change would be my power.

Anyway, I had to change my training drmatically, as in no weights for 6 weeks, and when I lifted again 2 days ago, failed at 180 on deadlift, and 150 was my best squat.
Now some of that will have been Id have lost a bit of form technique wise and it was late in the evening, but just shows how you gotta keep on top of it.

 

Muscle memory is almost a permanent thing, so if you train heavy for 2-3 years, get some solid gains, you will never really drop much below 80% of that ever. Ask anyone who has had a layoff, long or short, the top 10-20% is what goes relatively soon, but comes back quickly. There are loads of real life examples of this. A lot of factors though, diet, activity levels, age, etc. remember it is a LOT easier for your body to maintain something rather than change, be it weight, strength, endurance, etc.

 

You may lose it, but your body will remember it and you will get back to form much quicker. I say that assuming you are a young man. At some point age takes its toll.

So you would always be able to get back to your max faster than a guy just starting out. Assuming that "guy" was a clone of yours.

Whatever you do, don't reminisce on the good ole days and try to do what you did. You could hurt yourself.