i seen a post by an older lifter here who was getting 20 to 30 reps on his 531 cycles. I have been there when coming off a training layoff. After not training for a year because it wasn’t fun to me anymore with injuries to my knees and sternum (sports related) I came back and started back up on 531. I hit a max and started with am rap sets and 5x5fsl superset with pushups pull ups kb swings etc. I found that when you have decent poundage in your past your body adapts much quicker. Now I have seen Jim recommend ss for 3 months then switch to 531 but I’m a fan of am rap sets which I’m sure many of you are. I just used standard weights 315, 365, 405 and went for rep records for about 6 weeks to get accustomed to training again then moved into 531. in those 6 weeks I went from pulling 315 for a double to 405 for 6. the body knows it can do it the mind just needs to be reminded sometimes. with this I can see how someone coming back from a layoff could end up pulling 20+ reps on the 531 am rap sets and the guy shouldn’t feel stupid because this happened. any similar stories?
I would agree with Jim on this one. One other thing you could do during your layoff is high rep (50-100) squats, RDL’s, floor presses, overhead presses with a broomstick to maintain the motion pattern. Also conditioning needs to be maintained.