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  1. #1
    Registered User syg's Avatar
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    Got ill and lost weight, but also A LOT of strength

    Hi guys,

    Age: 26
    Current Weight: 9 stone

    Previous Weight at my personal peak: 11stone

    This is going to be a reasonably long read, so I just thought I'd warn, since I would like to explain exactly what happened leading to my strength loss, etc. Taking into consideration that the main focus of this post is to highlight the strength loss more than anything, and what I can do to regain it somehow. It has depressed me and knocked my confidence to a point that I really could do with advice from people who have maybe been in the same situation, or at least similar. It would mean a lot for some people to at least read it, and maybe offer advice or knowledge they have.

    Okay, so basically I'll go back to October 2008, I was a skinny guy but with a reasonably okay shape, no belly, etc, 9 stone at 5'9. Heartbreak had happened not so many months before and destroyed me, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, so I decided to hit the gym in order to gain back self confidence, which I did, and more.

    When I first started the gym (after no gym ever in my life before), I could bench 60kg at the size I was, with a reasonably okay strength straight away on pretty much everything in the gym. This gave me confidence dramatically, and I also started taking Nutrisport weight gain after about 2 weeks of training. Anyway, after literally 3-4 weeks I moved onto bench pressing 70kg, and started to see some dramatic lifting gains on lots of other things, yet I was still weighing in at only 9 stone 6lbs, of course the 6 pounds had been gained over the course of a few weeks.

    By January 2009 I'd put on around a stone in total taking me to 10 stone, which again boosted me a lot, my body was taking a nicer shape and my arms and traps particularly had grown dramatically in comparison with their previous skinny form. People started noticing and saying things like ''oh you've put a little weight on'' and it made me feel a lot better.

    So now, lets skip forward to around may 2009, by this stage I was weighing in at 10 stone 6lbs, and my arms were measuring 14 inches around the arm with a tape measure (so they'd literally gone from 10 inch sticks to the size they had in a matter of months). This of course boosted me again, because I thought wow, my body is reacting really well to whatever it is I'm doing, so of course I was obviously doing something right which worked for me. I was also on 80kg on the bench by this stage, able to lift it 3-4 times, then doing 2 sets of 70kg with 6-8 reps.

    So moving further forward to July 2009 and I was at what I considered my peak at 11 stone comfortably benching 80kg, and completely and utterly lean at 5'9, I had literally after all the hard work in 10 months transformed my body, 6-pack properly, and just a genuinely nice shape. I'd gone from the skinny guy in the gym that used to look over at people with the ideal body I wanted with jealousy with me always wearing a T-shirt, to me now being the guy in a vest where those guys now sometimes came up to me saying ''hey you look the part now, I'll be asking you for advice soon'' or of course the ''have you been on steroids'' remarks, which I honestly didn't, I just ate a hell of a lot and took the same nutrisport drink (which contained creatine too) constantly ........ Now when I heard these comments it really made me feel great, of course, I wasn't big in comparison to a bodybuilder (as they are usually known at least anyway), but I looked cut and like a new guy, my arms looked big for my size at 15 inches and my traps and shoulders had bulked a lot with my overall shape looking very good too.

    For the first time in my life I was proud of my body, and people always commented on my arms, in pubs or at mates houses, always picking out how well my triceps looked or how much my arms had grown, just little things like that which I noticed.

    Okay, now for the dramatic downfall which happened, lets move forward to October 2009, exactly a year after I'd started lifting. I got swine flu, and I was in hospital for 4 days, I was stripped from 11 stone down to 9stone 6 again in a matter of two weeks. Cut a long story short, I developed an auto immune disorder as a result with countless symptoms and my life felt over and completely ruined, in and out of hospital, always feeling ill, etc. I was seriously depressed, and pretty much suicidal at the time, but I never gave up, I just thought I'll get back somehow one day to feeling good again. Anyway, moving forward to over a year to around January 2011, I hadn't been lifting at all for all that time in between, and I was back down to 9 stone and feeling terrible, yet I still had a little shape to me, only a shadow of what it was before though.

    So, I tried to go back to the gym, even though I was still experiencing all the usual symptoms from the auto immune disorder, sore joints being a specific one that hindered me. I went onto the bench just to see if I had any strength still, and surprisingly I lifted 70kg, albeit only once, and it was a bit of a struggle, so I went back down to 60kg, and managed reasonably okay, finishing off the last set with 50kg.

    Anyway, I went to the gym for 2 days, and it made me feel a little positive and I was confident that I could rebuild my strength and look pretty fast. Long story short again, I didn't go back to the gym, I was aching, I felt ill and I let it go again. Move forward to July 2011, I thought right, this time, I AM GOING BACK to the gym properly, so I went again, I tried to lift 70kg, and again I managed it only once but it didn't feel quite as hard as before, more so my shoulder joints just cracked and ached. Again, I didn't go back, I don't know why, I just didn't really feel up to it again.

    Now moving onto the current time over 6 months later, I've been back at the gym for 3 weeks, and I intend to stick at it this time NO MATTER what, hence I am on here for advice. Only this time, when I tried to do the bench, not only could I not lift 70kg, I also couldn't lift 60kg, and guess what I couldn't even lift 50kg more than twice. So, obviously I was literally heartbroken almost, I felt ashamed, humiliated and just a complete c*nt basically. My best mate couldn't believe what he was seeing, he'd been there with me through my previous peak and strength gains benching 80kg comfortably at a size not so much bigger than I am now, to him now witnessing this embarrassment, it also doesn't help that throughout this time that I'd been away from the gym he had hit the steroids and was big and strong, so my confidence just felt and feels shattered, I've gone from being strong for my size and respected for my shape in the gym to now looking like one of those complete noobs who has never even seen a gym, let alone previously looked good in one.

    I'd be okay if the strength I have lost since not going to the gym at least went back to what my strength was like before I'd ever been to a gym before benching 60kg from the off, but no, now even that seems like a impossible goal, or at least months away anyway.

    So, I'm confused here now at 26 years old, what has caused me so much strength loss, Doctors don't care, they don't see it as important, but to me it means everything, because without having the natural strength I did before, building muscles is going to be so much harder this time. I intend to keep the gym up and I will no matter what, but it's almost unbearable to be in this position. I have started taking the same drink again, Nutrisport weight gain, but guess what, this time I'm not seeing the instant gains I saw last time, last time I'd put on half a stone in just over a week, this time nothing after 4 weeks, no strength gains, no energy gains, just zero.

    I'm worried that I have messed my muscle production or muscle memory up somehow, attempting to go back twice to the gym after long periods of time but then quitting again. It's also worth noting that the 2 times I attempted to go back to the gym before instantly pumped me up a bit and I could see that I hadn't lost everything. But this time now only 9 months on from the last attempt, I can't even lift 70kg or 60kg once, I don't get pumps at all hardly, I don't feel anything almost, just pain and aches.

    It's like my body has changed in some weird way, and people who may meet me for the first time laugh if I attempt to explain that I once looked really good body wise, if the conversation of weights come up, etc.

    One last important note: When I was at my peak last time, I did intensive workouts, although I never trained any more than an hour each time, and I never went over 3 times a week, I did chest/triceps on Monday, shoulders on Tuesday and back/biceps on Wednesday. It worked for me, I saw dramatic results as I previously explained in both look and strength.

    This time I'm following my friends routine because he thinks that it's right and also he has the car that takes us lol, and he basically listens to nothing I say (regardless of how well he knew I previously looked) about how often to workout and how to do things and what not, because of his new found size from steroids (albeit he isn't cut at all, just bulk!). So now he has me training 5 times a week, pushing myself to failure on everything. I haven't seen any strength or weight gains or any benefits to my body whatsoever (in fact I'm even weaker this week than I was last week!! Which of course didn't happen before when I was doing it on my own), and yet when I did what I was the last time, after 4 weeks I could already see a big improvement in my body and strength.

    Has anything similar happened to anyone else, and can I expect that one day I will regain the strength I have lost. Is the way I am training this time halting my performance because I'm not recovering properly.

    Thanks an absolute load if you are still with me here, and have read this, I know it's long, but I'm pretty sure some advice from here will help me

    Thanks again
    Last edited by syg; 03-13-2012 at 07:50 PM.
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  2. #2
    Team No Calves Luca2's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by NealHalden View Post
    Ditch the friend,hop on a beginner program like ICF 5X5 and just hit it hard.
    Haha, um, anyone else who is considering replying should probably check the OP date...
    "Listen, I want you to come down here and go dancing with me and we'll have fun together. You know you like The Spaniard, you know you like The Sith Lord, you know that. Hello? You're blushing, I know you're into The Sith Lord, I know it! Hello? Hello? Helloooo? Aww I lost connection."
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  3. #3
    Registered User DCSpartan's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by NealHalden View Post
    Ditch the friend,hop on a beginner program like ICF 5X5 and just hit it hard.
    Im glad he got this advice nearly 3 years after he posted it.
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  4. #4
    Registered User NealHalden's Avatar
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    What the ****,I swear this was on frontpage because I didn't do that.
    Squat-235x 5
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    OHP 110 x 5
    Bench 170 x 5

    Lifting since August 2014.
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