Hello so I recently went through lower back injury from deadlifting and currently 3 weeks out of the gym now.
I’ve read some studies saying we can lose up to like 30% strength in 2 weeks and some saying it takes about 3 or 4 weeks for people to start losing strength so I don’t know.
I would like to hear from your personal experiences on how much strength you guys lost over what duration and how you went about returning to the gym (did you start lifting like normal or implement more rehab exercises etc).
Please don’t be a troll and say “It varies for each person” or something cause I know that. Just want to know your experiences
I cant speak from injury, but I had to take about 5 months due to flooding.
Maxes (or estimated):
Pre Flood:
Squat 365×2
Bench 350×1
OHP 195×1
Deadlift 455×3
Post Flood:
Squat: 315×1
Bench: 290×1
OHP: 155×1
Deadlidt: 425×1
So pretty significant, but no where close to 30% in 2 weeks. And this was a solid 3-4 months of not physically touching a bar. And a month or 2 dicking around.
As an added bonus, maxes (or best lifts so far) since starting training a month or so ago.
Squat: 345×2
Bench: 280×6
OHP: 175×1
Deadlift: have not done anything close to max weight, so I honestly dont really know.
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You’re not actually losing physical strength over a 2, 3 or 4 week break. You’re losing your ability to display the strength.
However, I do believe after 4 weeks you will begin losing strength, tied to loss of muscle.
This is why doing something is always better than doing nothing, provided you are not making your injury worse.
If you’re out of the gym for a low back injury, why cant you do back supported work?
I’ve been constantly injured or dealing with general health crap for 3+ years now. My strength is shit, but my physique has held tight or improved because I find work arounds. If I ever turn the corner, which I fully intend to, im confident I could build my strength again easily. As in, an aggressive linear progression run would have me at PR weights in no time. This is bc the muscle is still there, I just have to regain neural output.
Who cares if you lose some displayable strength, it’s only temporary. No one does this injury free for life if they have work ethic.
Keep training unless you are truly crippled.
Edit: when coming back from injury, the easiest method is to cut 30-40% bar weight and linear progress back up to your working weights. This allows you to use perfect technique in your comeback while also hitting some rehab/prehab work as well. Dont overthink it.