After 1 year off, need advice on going back to the gym.

[lpw]

Hi,

I trained for over five years, but I had to take the last 12 months off. I couldn't workout because I was working in a village in southeast asia witout a gym, not because of any illness thankfully. Now I'm itching to get back into the gym, but I'm not sure what kind of routine I should use to start out. Do I need to go back to sqaure one and do full-body workouts 3xs/week or should I pick up where I left off, doing a five-day split, or something else altogether? I need to lose some body fat and hopefully regain some of my lost mass. I used to be 245lb 12%bf, now I'm 210, 22%bf.

Also, how long do you think it will take until I reach my previous levels? (hopefully, not another whole year!)

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[b fold the truth]

How quick you get back to your old self is up to many factors. Diet, training, lifestyle, etc...

I'm not very high on a 5 day split, but I really don't think that it will matter too much.

One thing to really think about is this...you don't need to be pushing yourself to get back to where you once were. This is a common time where people end up with shoulder, knee, or back injuries. Make sure to spend extra time on training your rotators, erectors, lower back, and abs.

Good luck...

B True

 

[brooklynboy]

I would start off with 3x aweek whole body workout till you body getts use to the shock of training. Probaly a month or two then try to go back to your old routien. Just remeber do not push to hard or you maybe taking time off for an injury. Start slow then build your intensity, listen to your body noone knows it better then you.

PEACE

Brooklynboy
[email protected]

 

[OMEGA]

i want to help you.get back to you tommorrow...I was exactley where you were

 

[lpw]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Omega, hearing about your experience would be really helpful! Thanks.

 

[lpw]

bump for omega.

 

[Doktor Bollix]

You've got good advice on the full body workout 3 times a week for a month or two. Muscle memory is a great thing if you stimulate it right.
I would do the big 3, squat, bench and deadlift 3 times a week for 3 sets of 8 each on a heavy, medium, light basis (like heavy on Monday, 60% of that on Friday) Yes that's right, squatting, deadlifting and benching 3 times a week. It's only for a month or so (buy some ibuprofin).
An each-bodypart-once-a-week routine straight after a lay off would waste a lot of time IMHO. We all know that the heavy compound exercises are the ones that bring home the beef, and that's what you need to jump into to trigger the whole body metabolic effect that tells your body what's up.

 

[lpw]

last bump for Omega.

 

[OMEGA]

O kay

sorry I forgot

I useed to be in the best shape before

here are examples of a typical day

deadlifts, squats, bench press

with 225 pounds supersetted for 4 sets of 15-17 reps

back to back continuously

I was tight, full, limber, the whole bit.

then I made the tansition to bodybuilding and it worked great

but I noticed that I was overworking by biceps, and delts to often

well it led to overtraining, with a patially tron bicep, and a shoulder that was so bad that I could not lift my arm........
instead of taking a real break I would take a week off then go back and reinjure my self

this process went on for 8 months, till I finally gave in and said no more

I took two years off, gained 60 pounds of pure fat, looked miserable, felt miserable......but I was healed

the only redeeming factor was that I was gettin great grades in college

when I went back to the gym, I was fat.......people said "what happened"

I started from scratch I could not even curl a 20 pound dumbell for reps

now I am back!

with about 10 more pounds to lose

strong, but not as strong as before....but my muscles are bigger go figure


if I had a workout plan to put you on it would be this

note you must do the cardio before and after it warms you up and cools you down...you'll need the blood flow to stretch out, and cool you down.




DAY 1


12 minutes of cardio

CHEST

dumbell flys


one warm up set
one set till failure


incline machine bench press (low incline)


one warm up set
two sets till failure



cable flys


one warm up set
one set till failure

DELTOIDS
side deltiod laterals

one warm up set
one set till failure

TRICEPS
tricep press down

one warm up set
one set till failure

QUADS
Squats

one warm up set
two sets till failure



cardio 12 minutes



DAY 2 OFF




DAY 3



cardio 12 minutes


BACK
pulldowns

one warm up set
one set till failure


hammer strength rows


one warm up set
one set till failure

HAMSTRINGS
deadlifts

one warm up set
two sets till failure

BICEPS
Incline dumbell curls

one warm up set
two sets till failure


Reverse curls

one warm up set
one set till failure

CALF

calf raise

one warm up set
two sets till failure

12 minutes of cardio

DAY 4 OFF

Day 5 repeat or one more day off




you will be happy

 

[lpw]

Omega,

Thank you! This is exactly the type of information I was looking for. I am definitely going to give your routine a try.

If I can bother you with one more question, how long has it been since you've been going back to the gym? I'm just trying to get a sense of how long it will take to get back into shape. Thanks again.


And good luck with those last 10 lbs!