To summarize, the higher level of chronic fitness, the more important it is to throw consistently & not miss extended periods of time.

Once a high intensity day is missed, it puts the athlete behind the 8 ball for maintaining a healthy on ramp without spiking ACR on the return.

Hopefully this thread demonstrates the importance of finding a way to continue throwing when you're in a position you may have multiple off days in a row.

Even some amount of light throwing will keep chronic fitness from tanking (especially in early stages of off days).

As we get closer to spring seasons for many high school and college players, the importance of sticking to a throwing program cannot be overstated.

With holidays, school breaks, vacations, etc., it can be hard to keep throwing consistently without normal space and resources.

One last note about the process I used: This still assumes there will be spikes in AC Ratio once returning to throw. I continued the throwing program once it resumed from off days just as it was before. In an ideal situation, another on ramp would need to happen to avoid spikes.

Prior to the 7 consecutive off day mark, there is a bit more fluctuation. In general, the higher the chronic workload a player has built up, the more time it will take to get back to prior fitness levels.

This reiterates the importance of throwing early and often once built up.

From the line chart below, it shows that on average, once a player has at least a week off, it will take a minimum of 3 weeks (often times more) just to reach the same level of chronic fitness they were at before taking their break.

Important to note:
I assume the throwing program structure was kept the same as it was before the off days. This simulated an environment that most high schoolers and some college players experience that are on universal/general throwing plans.

For each chronic workload listed above, I adjusted the throwing programs to include off days (ranging from 2-10 in a row) right after the highest intensity day of the week, and noted how long it took to return to the chronic workload that was built up before the off days.

Using Driveline Pulse workload sensors, I calculated chronic workload across a general on-ramp template that I use for most of my pitchers.

I then noted when chronic workload reached the values of 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 coming off of a high intensity "push" day.

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