I got the flu over last Christmas. It was one of the worst I’ve had in a while. When I FINALLY got back to lifting (after having to take a whole week off it), my squat had gone down like 50 lbs and my bench went down about 30. As well as my other lifts. I am still trying to recover my strength to where it was before getting sick, and I am still not there.
What happened? Is this normal?
Are these workset weights or maxes?
What percent decline is 50lbs?
Worksets, though this has affected my maxes too (I tested my 1 RM before and after the illness hit)
Like 25% maybe
That nickname is nostalgic.
I would say don’t try to rush back to hit your old numbers you may be just adding more stress by trying to reach an old max or working weight constantly instead of building back up.
Drop your numbers down to where you can still get all of the working sets and reps and slowly build up.
You will go through these ups and downs in strength as it can’t always be linear going up forever especially if you get really sick.
If 50lbs is about 25% of your max? or working sets? That means you were squatting ~200lbs which is not a whole lot of weight so just pick a routine and don’t be afraid to start lighter than you thought, over the weeks/months your strength will come back if you’re consistent.
What’s the rush? Unless you’re competing.
Testing a 1rm after a serious illness is a surefire way to impair recovery. You need to heal
If 50lbs is about 25% of your max? or working sets? That means you were squatting ~200lbs which is not a whole lot of weight
I didn’t estimate that quite right. It must be closer to 30% or 40% because my working weight is more like 150 lbs.
I’m not in a “rush” necessarily, but this illness almost got me back down to where I was when I started in July (so as it was BEFORE the illness I had made almost no progress whatsoever), and I don’t know if that’s normal for when lifters get sick or if that’s a serious problem.
I wouldn’t worry so much about their being something seriously wrong. Just need to re-build back up. Set ego aside, lift hard, eat and sleep. The numbers will come back up!
Here’s hoping, lol. Thank you!
I never experienced anything but a very short term loss of strength if I caught the seasonal flu. When the flu had taken its course (almost always less than 7 days) my strength returned in less than a week.
Whether you should be concerned, I cannot speak for you, but I would be very concerned considering how I had always responded to a bout with the seasonal flu. Maybe what you had is more just the flu.