Post-Contest strength question

[JaguarHB28]

It's been about 2 1/2 weeks since my contest, and this is my second week back at the gym. Although my mood and energy level is considerably better than it was pre-contest, my strength is still a lot lower than it was before. It's kind of depressing, and I was just wondering how long it usually takes for your strength to get back up?

Thanks!

[DanTheManB]

It's been about 2 1/2 weeks since my contest, and this is my second week back at the gym. Although my mood and energy level is considerably better than it was pre-contest, my strength is still a lot lower than it was before. It's kind of depressing, and I was just wondering how long it usually takes for your strength to get back up?

Thanks!

depends on the person but usually 4-6 weeks post show your strength will return to previous levels. took me a good 5 weeks to REALLY not only start feeling strong but getting STRONGER than i was before i started my diet last year....keep the faith. slowly up cals and weights and stay patient!!!

[Barn01]

depends on the person but usually 4-6 weeks post show your strength will return to previous levels. took me a good 5 weeks to REALLY not only start feeling strong but getting STRONGER than i was before i started my diet last year....keep the faith. slowly up cals and weights and stay patient!!!

+1 ^^^

Last time I ate like a pig post comp and I feel it still took my body about 6 weeks to really get hot again.

This time around I know it's going to be a little longer because I'm limiting cals. The strength will return but it just takes time and energy.

[AniMaLizTik]

Well, I get to a point in offseason of lifting a certain weight for at LEAST 10 balls to the wall reps.

No matter what happens during prep, stick to that weight. SOme days you will get 5 reps, spome days 8, some days 12. BUT after the Contest, with those extra cals coming in, your strength will skyrocket and PRs will be set everyday.


you shouldn't loose any strength during prep, only maintain it. The last few weeks you may be a little weaker, but that is different than loosing strength IMO. The strength is there, you just may need glycogen to utilize it...

[DanTheManB]

Well, I get to a point in offseason of lifting a certain weight for at LEAST 10 balls to the wall reps.

No matter what happens during prep, stick to that weight. SOme days you will get 5 reps, spome days 8, some days 12. BUT after the Contest, with those extra cals coming in, your strength will skyrocket and PRs will be set everyday.


you shouldn't loose any strength during prep, only maintain it. The last few weeks you may be a little weaker, but that is different than loosing strength IMO. The strength is there, you just may need glycogen to utilize it...

Agreed. BUT with the end of the diet and even more depletion seems to come a greater loss of strength. i was incline benching 120lb DB's for 2 sets of 8 offseason and got 1 set of 6 a week and 1 day out from my show...i couldnt do that tomorrow tho

[jked4life]

I lost very little strength at all during my prep. In fact, during the early part of prep I even got stronger on some lifts. The last couple weeks strength was dipping but that was basically just from being so depleted.

After getting some cals. in my post contest and even on reverse diet numbers, my strength has been back up to where it was at it's peak and even a bit higher on certain lifts. We'll see what next week brings.

I guess it would all depend on how aggressive you had to get in your diet, how much strength you lost in your prep, how much bodyweight you lost and how fast, ect... For me, I had a long prep without an insane amount of bodyweight to drop. My cals weren't slashed nearly as bad as some competitors and I was even ready a bit early and started upping cals a bit into my first show. I think that's making the post-contest process a bit easier although I don't really have a basis for comparison.

[AniMaLizTik]

I think cardio volume and intensity plays a role, also. Under certain circumstances, cardio will just eat muscle, which will cause massive strength and muscle loss.