I’m back! In case you noticed my column hasn’t been very active the past almost 6 weeks because TPS moved. And that was quite an undertaking. And it forced me to skip training for almost a month. This was the longest time I have ever taken off from training that wasn’t related to a surgery. Today, we will discuss Old Man Conjugate: Returning to Training After a Layoff.
Now, I’ve written about this before and my advice won’t change a lot, but let’s get right into it.
My last training session before we moved was, as far as I can remember, July 24th. I returned to “training” August 28th for one day, went on vacation and then officially returned yesterday.
I knew I would have to take it extra easy because I did very little physical activity other than helping with moving stuff. I didn’t even walk the Great Brandino much. She was not a fan of that.
I also knew that Returning to Training After a Layoff required an ego check and a plan. IF you read the bodybuilding mags from back in the day, my “plan” was to keep my ego in check, do less and use Weider’s Instinctive Training Principle.
I always got a laugh out of Weider’s Instinctive Training Principle because it seems like a do whatever you feel like excuse. It’s not. I did what I felt I was capable of and when the opportunity to do more arose, I did less.
Old Man Conjugate: Returning to Training After a Layoff: What Did I Do?
Great question.
I won’t random session last week because I did so little it’s not worth mentioning. But yesterday, I had a partial idea of what I needed to do and it looked like this:
- High Kinetic Squats with the Bandbell Bar x 5 reps
- Bandbell Bar Overhead Press x 5 reps
- Pullups x 5 reps
Done as a circuit for 5 total rounds.
The weights were LIGHT. 100 on the squat, 80 on the press. I RESISTED the urge to use any more.
Wisely.
I followed it up with 2 sets of 45 Degree Back Raises x 8 reps + Pushdowns x a shitload for 3 sets.
I felt pretty good. Almost like a I did a long warmup.
So, what would Old Murph do?
He would have gone heavier and maybe added briefs and done something dumb.
What did Older and Wiser Murph do?
I stopped. And cooled down.
This was the right call.
And you won’t believe it, but I’m pretty sore today. Not debilitating, but certainly much sorer than I feel like I should be.
This just goes to show me that Returning to Training After a Layoff has to be adjusted for many factors.
Some are:
- Age
- What kind of shape you were in before the layoff
- Strength levels
- T levels for the older crowd
- GPP level
- Injuries
So you understand what I mean, let’s say we have a 25 year old man in PEAK physical condition and he took 3 weeks off. I’d say he could return to training using a typical Deload principle for two weeks or so.
Maybe 3 sets of 5 reps at about 70-75% on the big lifts and then half the normal volume for Assistance and Accessories.
But what about the 56 year old guy with low T (A typical Old Man Conjugate reader) who has some injuries but is still going. Because quitting is never an option. Maybe he does something like I did.
And maybe keeping the Ego in check is the hard part. It is for me.
I’d say that the old guy needs to ease back into things for at least two weeks and make sure that he MOVES on non lifting days.
Brandy agrees. We went for a 1 hour walk yesterday. And we will today.
Motion is lotion kids. Make sure you move your body after lifting.
I hope I gave you some good ideas in Old Man Conjugate: Returning to Training After a Layoff. I’ll try to shoot some video of training tomorrow so you can see what I mean.
Did you miss last week’s log?
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Vincere vel mori
C.J. Murphy
September 5, 2024