Rapidly regaining strength

SweetDaddyPatty

New Member
For several months I was using a 5x5 routine focused on deadlifts and bench presses. Then I moved, had my work schedule turned upside down, and started training in brazillian JiuJitsu 2x/week so I havent really been lifting since August.
I've found a new gym and time in my week to lift twice a week. I have lost about 20 lbs of wat looks in the mirror like mostly fat loss but I'm sure I have lost quite a bit of strength as well.
Does anyone have any suggestions for a routine to get me back to my former strength levels on a 2x/week frequency?
I'm guessing I will be able to progress faster to these former strength levels than i could the first time. What would anyone suggest? i thought maybe 3x5 sets at a constant weight, adding 5-10 lbs every workout would be good.
But I'd like to hear if anyone has had success with any particular routine in such a scenario, training to failure, high volume, very low volume, etc?
 
just keep hittin the main compounds and your strength should rocket to previous levels.

3x5 sounds good, once youve acheived your goal u can reevaluate.
 
If you haven't been lifting and have lost 20lb then some of it will definitely have been lean tissue unless you think the jujitsu training was strenuous enough to retain most of your muscle mass.

What lcars said to do should work just fine. Even with just 2 x weekly, you could just as readily try a standard HST cycle as that will ease your joints back in to regular training. Just do four workouts for each mesocycle. You should find you can keep incrementing loads each session so zig-zag won't be an issue. Then stretch out the 5s and go to 3s or use max-stim techniques where practical.

Also, you'll probably have to eat over maintenance to get back to where you were unless you think you had very high fat levels before dropping the 20lb. Some recomp is possible as you start training again so you may get away with eating at maintenance levels for a while. Try to ensure you get 1g protein per lb of bodyweight daily.

All the best!
 
If it's truly pure strength with no value upon growth then the quickest way would be 3x3 using either a push/pull or upper/lower split- use only the most basic compounds , no doubling up (ie. incline AND flat) and begin at around 80-82% of 1rm for each lift - add no more than 10 lbs to the bar each w/o; ( 5 and some patience would actually be better), you will find yoyrself @ 85% or so in no time and then you may find yourself doing 2x3+1x2 or 3x2-what ever , it's all good - by then you'll be back at or surpassing previous strength levels. Key (and hard part for HSTer- no offense) is to not let the idea of low volume bother you - remember you are strength training not SIZE training. example-

monday- flat 3x3
              military 3x3

weds.- dead 3x3
           row 3x3

friday-   flat 3x3
            military 3x3

sun-      squat 3x3
            row

keep repeating every other day - works out to 7x every 14 days entire cycle should last 4-6 weeks or so if load is properly progressed.





Hope this helps- RUSS
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(RUSS @ Nov. 30 2008,9:58)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">If it's truly pure strength with no value upon growth then the quickest way would be 3x3 using either a push/pull or upper/lower split- use only the most basic compounds , no doubling up (ie. incline AND flat) and begin at around 80-82% of 1rm for each lift - add no more than 10 lbs to the bar each w/o; ( 5 and some patience would actually be better), you will find yoyrself @ 85% or so in no time and then you may find yourself doing 2x3+1x2 or 3x2-what ever , it's all good - by then you'll be back at or surpassing previous strength levels. Key (and hard part for HSTer- no offense) is to not let the idea of low volume bother you - remember you are strength training not SIZE training. example-

monday- flat 3x3
              military 3x3

weds.- dead 3x3
           row 3x3

friday-   flat 3x3
            military 3x3

sun-      squat 3x3
            row

keep repeating every other day - works out to 7x every 14 days entire cycle should last 4-6 weeks or so if load is properly progressed.





Hope this helps- RUSS
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this looks really good but my problem is I'm only able to get to the gym twice a week unless i want to do BJJ and lift on the same days which is going to hurt my recovery and my free time. I suppose if i was motivated enough to do nothing but eat sleep train and work i COULD do it but I know I won't.

I may do something like

M/F bench 3x3 dead 3x3 chin 3x3


I also like the other suggestions which were very close to what I had envisioned.

I honestly dont care about hypertrophy at all at this stage. Once i get my strength back up I will do a more hypertrophy based routine.
 
Sorry I missed that twice a week requirement. No problem though :


MONDAY-  Bench 3x3
                Row 3x3
                Dead lift 3x3


THURSDAY- Overhead press 3x3
                  Pull downs/weighted chins 3x3*
                  Squat 3x3

(* or upright rows if no pull down machine and an aversion to chins/pull ups-no biggie)

                 This would keep focus very high and time spent very short.A key point I forgot to mention in my above every other day suggestion , that holds for any low rep work is that warm ups become more important not only for the obvious injury prevention but because they can make or break the workout from an energy viewpoint.


                  For 3x3's I pick an absolute baby weight and do a 1x12 this extremely light warm up is a nod to my age a younger lifter could easily skip it-If this is any heavier than something you could be tossing up all day while doing math in your head and smoking a cigarette than you are going too heavy - it's a baby weight you don't want a pump , or any strain what so-ever.

                  Next a 1x5 somewhere around 50% of what my eventual working weights will be.

                  From here on out it's singles as I add plates no less than a 30 lb. jump no more than 50. until I'm up to the working weights.

                  Another key strength training point- don't rush to get to the next set - take all the time you need - should be 3-5 minutes between sets especially as you move into higher ranges of your RM.

                  You may not have an absolutely accurate of RM's upon which to base starting weights - no big thing if you start out lower than 80%1RM if the first set is just way too easy add 4-5 lbs. and call that first one a warm up. you'll get the weights straightened out that first workout by doing so and wont waste anytime with the &quot;well NEXT time I'll make a bigger jump since it was too light&quot; stuff. Of course you only do this the first workout - this is not to failure training and the first workouts of a 3x3 shouldn't be &quot;kill yourself hard&quot; - that comes later as the weights ramp up over time and really only at the very end of a cycle.
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                  RUSS
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(SweetDaddyPatty @ Dec. 01 2008,12:19)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I may do something like

M/F bench 3x3  dead 3x3 chin 3x3</div>
This is good too !
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