Why is Gohan the only one to get weaker without training?

[precita]

Has this ever happened to anyone else in the history of the series? Trunks and Goten don't train either, but they don't seem any weaker than they were in the Buu arc.

You could make the case for Krillin or Yamcha, but they have too few fights after the Cell arc to really judge. So why does this only happen to Gohan?

[kinisking]

Has this ever happened to anyone else in the history of the series? Trunks and Goten don't train either, but they don't seem any weaker than they were in the Buu arc.

You could make the case for Krillin or Yamcha, but they have too few fights after the Cell arc to really judge. So why does this only happen to Gohan?

He's redeeming himself for his sins of completely surpassing Goku not once, but twice.

[Cipher]

This is an in-universe question, no?

My Marvel No-Prize answer is that he's the only one to become so cosmically powerful without continuing heavy training. It's not as though he reverts to non-superhuman strength. By all accounts, he's still one of the most powerful beings in the universe -- just less so. Goten and Trunks never trained heavily; what we see them at is more or less their natural strength.

Add to that the instability of a rage-inspired transformation like Super Saiyan 2, and the mystical nature of his unlocked potential under the Old Kaioshin, and I can see some plausible justifications for his power being harder to access after years of slacking off.

Chances are he'd pick it all back up if he buckled down on training like Goku and Vegeta, but he has other interests; c'est la vie.

[Wizard Sesame]

It's a contrived way to get him out of the picture so they could pursue other story ideas. Unfortunately, it was unnecessary since with the advent of God Ki and Super Saiyan Blue, he'd be outmatched regardless if he was the same power level as he was against Super Buu.

[B]

Goten and Trunks were never able to do anything separately anyway. It seems to be presuming too much to say they definitely have not gotten weaker; how could you even tell?

[Lionel]

For all intents and purposes the humans don't receive any proper fights after the Saiyan arc. Krillin is the exception though it's not like he sees much direct action against villains in the Namek arc like Vegeta besides Guldo, Recoome, Ginyu, and Freeza. Most of those fights were haphazardly handled with Krillin playing subsidiary to someone else and having only sporadic participation.

There's no sense in Gohan deteriorating so much yet none of the other characters have been noted to have lost any power despite being retired for just as long. Despite having trained for virtually no time after marrying #18, Krillin is still deemed the strongest human by Toriyama himself. How is that conclusion reached by him? It's not like Krillin trained very effectively after Kami. He spends most of his time at Roshi's island doing whatever.

[ABED]

I imagine it's like muscles - unless you train them, they atrophy. Some of the other characters have retired from battle, but not necessarily from training.

[nickzambuto]

If you train until reaching your utmost limits, and then somehow surpass those limits through sheer determination (which is what happens all the time in Dragon Ball) your power becomes unstable and must be rigorously maintained in order to remain beyond limits. This is what happened with Gohan. Characters like Goten, Trunks, and Freeza never even reached anywhere close to their limits, let alone surpassing them, so their strength is more easily retained and does not require maintenance.

This is all headcanon.

[In Brightest Day]

There's no sense in Gohan deteriorating so much yet none of the other characters have been noted to have lost any power despite being retired for just as long. Despite having trained for virtually no time after marrying #18, Krillin is still deemed the strongest human by Toriyama himself. How is that conclusion reached by him? It's not like Krillin trained very effectively after Kami. He spends most of his time at Roshi's island doing whatever.

Presumably because the power up Krillin received on Namek was substantial enough that the other human warriors couldn't catch up through conventional means (which is all that was available to Tien and Yamcha after training under Kaio). Anyway, Gohan is the only Z-Fighter to see any notable action after the Cell Games, where he was by and large the measuring stick of the time so his decline went under the microscope. Neither Krillin or Yamcha saw any action in the Boo arc and both had apparently decided to stop fighting (or at least stop participating in the defense against serious threats to Earth), so it's entirely possible they also regressed as Gohan had.

[NitroEX]

So why does this only happen to Gohan?

Because the writers want to see him fail at everything, presumably just for kicks.

[dbzfan7]

So why does this only happen to Gohan?

Because the writers want to see him fail at everything, presumably just for kicks.

It's stated similar things about Krillin and Yamcha being either far removed from battle, or retired as was with Gohan. It could I guess be argued they train a little on the side, but nothing really suggests they do. Part of the point I suppose is to show how fighting doesn't really matter to him, but it still sorta does with those two. They just quit trying to keep up with Goku since it became impossible to do so, and they settled down.

[LightBing]

Kame-sennin is another example.
When introduced he's far weaker than he was, before he started watching fitness videos for a living; proved later by his increase in power after he started training again.
Even if other characters stopped training seriously I doubt they stopped altogether, contrary to Gohan. Still it might have happened with Kuririn and Yamcha post-Android arc, nobody bothered mentioning it because it doesn't really matter.

[Marco Polo]

Goten is getting shorter tho

[nickzambuto]

If all Beerus does is sleep for decades on end, why isn't he weaker upon waking up?

[Baggie_Saiyan]

If all Beerus does is sleep for decades on end, why isn't he weaker upon waking up?

I assume like Freeza a majority if not all his power was born naturally.

[ABED]

If all Beerus does is sleep for decades on end, why isn't he weaker upon waking up?

He's a god.

[nickzambuto]

If all Beerus does is sleep for decades on end, why isn't he weaker upon waking up?

I assume like Freeza a majority if not all his power was born naturally.

That wouldn't work, Whis' entire existence in-universe revolves around being Beerus' master. We know he's been trained to reach his current level.

[Marco Polo]

If all Beerus does is sleep for decades on end, why isn't he weaker upon waking up?

Beerus has been alive for over 75 million years. Decades of sleep are nothing to him.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

If all Beerus does is sleep for decades on end, why isn't he weaker upon waking up?

I assume like Freeza a majority if not all his power was born naturally.

That wouldn't work, Whis' entire existence in-universe revolves around being Beerus' master. We know he's been trained to reach his current level.

Sure he may have been trained but like Freeza he may have been naturally gifted. As we saw once Freeza trained he got even stronger. We also don't know much about Beerus's species maybe his species are capable of holding onto strength without the need to keep training.

[GodKaio-Ken]

If all Beerus does is sleep for decades on end, why isn't he weaker upon waking up?

Beerus has been alive for over 75 million years. Decades of sleep are nothing to him.

^ This is the answer to that question. Also even if Beerus DID wake up weaker he would still be able to kick the crap out of everyone and we would never notice the difference.