Better to Exercise Consistently, For Life...

...than peak and then completely slack, as this article discusses:

Similarly, although in a more compressed time frame, a study published earlier this year found that when a group of world-class kayakers completely quit training (at the end of a competitive season), they rapidly lost strength and endurance. After only five weeks of not training, according to one measure of strength, they’d sloughed off about 9 percent of their muscular power and 11 percent of their aerobic capacity.

In other words, being almost completely inactive, whether for a short or prolonged period of time, inexorably de-tones muscles and compromises health. The benefits of regular activity don’t last long.

I've observed this phenomenon many times in my 20+ year exercising history. I'll start seeing someone at the gym every time I go, and I ask them about it, and they'll tell me they are going every day. I'm like, wow, that's great. Then all of a sudden I will stop seeing them. At all. I finally run into them outside the gym, and they sheepishly explain they got busy, or sick, or started traveling, and just stopped exercising. I try to tell them--much better to exercise 2-3 times weekly, for the rest of your life, than this kind of yo-yo routine.