During March 3-April 4, I wasn't able to go to the gym, because I was "living" at the office. I didn't have a single day free from work, I lost 6 days of sleep (thanks to my work), and the days that I slept, I slept between 3-6 hours.
Yesterday, I went to the gym, and I was very weak. For example, my bench press, went from 190lb x 10 reps, to 155 lb x 10 reps, and my squat went from 225lb x 10reps to 225 lb x 5 reps.
I want to get back to where I was in at most 4 weeks. I plan to train 4 days a week (instead of 3), eat huge, and sleep 8 hours everyday.
Any advice? Have any of you been in a situation like this?
If find my endurance in high-rep lifts suffers the most after a long layoff. Not necessarily my max. If you were repping for 5, the difference may not have been so great.
It’ll take two weeks of hard work and good sleep to approach your former numbers… but don’t worry, it’ll happen.
Just stick to your plan as outlined, and you should be back to form in that four weeks.
A month’s layoff, even with little sleep, won’t put you that far behind.
Look at it this way, since you weren’t working out, your body wasn’t in the repair and rebuilding mode, so that lack of sleep wasn’t quite as detrimental as it could have been.
Your experience sounds like a real nightmare, but I would be surprised if you didn’t gain back all your strength in less than 4 weeks. Your plan (train 4 days, eat huge, sleep every night) sounds like it will work fine.