Monday, August 1, 2016

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO REGAIN MUSCLE AFTER A LONG LAY OFF?

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO REGAIN MUSCLE AFTER A LONG LAY OFF?

I touched on this in an article on July 11th entitiled How Much Time can You Take Off Without Losing Strength/Muscle? 

But now we’re going to use a real live test-on me. I just came off a ten week layoff for medical reasons and started back in the gym on July 25th.


BEFORE

During that layoff I lost somewhere around 12 pounds. But I need to explain the loss being so big.
·        I had already begun a “cut” before the surgery (losing excess body fat on purpose-trying to get below 12%) I had lost down from 213 to 207.
·        About 8 of those 10 weeks of layoff I had little or no activity. (not ideal)
·        With the almost total lack of activity, a higher percentage of that 12 pound loss was muscle.
·        My nutrition went to hell. With no activity I had little appetite.


Here’s where I stood when I was able to get back in the gym.
·        Body fat (Using Defender Body Fat Calipers) = 14.5%
·        Weight 195 pounds
·        Measurements:
                        Before                           After             
WEIGHT=       207                                 195                 
CHEST =           -2 inches                                             
WAIST=           0                                             
UPPER ARM= -2 inches                                             
QUADS=          - 3.5 inches                                         
CALF=             -1.5 inches                                        
BODY FAT %   13.5 (27.94 lbs)           14.5(28.3 lbs)

The result: I gained less than ½ pound of fat but lost almost 12.5 pounds of muscle.

Loss of muscle could have been minimized if I could have maintained some activity and done a better job with nutrition.

The general rule is, for every week of the layoff, it will take about a week to gain back what you lose. We’ll see how I do.

I started on July 25th at only 35% of my 1 Rep Max (1RM) shooting for 20 reps .My usual loads are between 60% and 80% of 1 RM for 9-12 reps.
No lower body exercises except calves for now. That will slow muscle gain somewhat.

The plan is to increase loads by about 5% of 1 RM per week where I can, cut fat and increase protein on the nutrition side. We’ll see how I do.


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