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Exercise Questions - How Do I Gain My Muscular Strength Back?

Exercise Question:
I have not lifted weights in about 3 years and I was wondering what is the best way to go about gaining all my strength back? Do I go multiple reps of lighter weights or do I do less reps with larger weight? I used to max bench press at 275 pounds and yesterday I could only put up 175 pounds once. How can I gain my strength back?

Exercise Answer:
The first thing you need to focus on is not getting discouraged when you get back into the gym. Your strength and mass have gone way down and it took 3 full years of not working out to lose it. The key to remember is since it took 3 years to lose it, its not going to come back in a few weeks. It may take 3-4 months or even longer to get back to your original strength and size. You want to get back into your training regimen slowly and not over do it out of the gate. This could easily lead to over training and a serious injury which would put you even further back. Be patient and stick with quality training and solid rest.

In terms of specific repetition/set ranges for gaining strength back, its probably best to stick with the core movements for each muscle group and initially start off the first few weeks with lighter weight and higher reps. This way, your muscles will get back into the natural training movements and you will prime your body for higher poundages later. After a few weeks of light training, you should be ready to kick it up to heavier weights. Make sure to always perform each set with proper form! Use the core movements (bench, squats, military, etc) to build real strength and mass. Stick with reps from 5-8 and make sure to give your body enough rest in between sets to fully recover (3-4 minutes). This should definitely get your strength and mass back up to where it used to be and then some!

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