Coming back after a break

[epoxy]

Been on a break over the last 6 months (most of fall, and winter) due to working 12 hours a day and just hating doing anything besides sleeping after work. Recently laid off because of the economic situation so now I'm coming back hopefully for good. I just wanted to know from some of you guys after not hitting the gym for a period of time, about how long does it take you to get back to where you were in terms of strength? I started going to the gym again this week and lol'ed at myself for how weak I felt in my first week. Just wondering what I should expect in terms of how long it'll take me to get back up to where I was. Had been training for about 2 years prior, 5x a week. 2 Test cylces, 6'1 215 lbs at my peak, now about 195. Thanks.

 

[Dlove]

It usually takes me 3 months. I know it sucks you can lose it in 2 weeks but takes a while to get it back. You should get your pump back in a month but full strength depends it might take longer than 3 months.

 

[epoxy]

Well since im going to be drawing unemployment for a while and just basically chilling out I figured I'd try to get myself as close as possible in about 2 months then do a Test/Tren cycle and blow past where I was previously. Is this advised? I wanted to get back in shape before the whole summer is over

 

[Dlove]

Two months should be good. I had a similar situation happen to me but I made the mistake of starting my cycle after a month back into it. Truthfully I wish I trained and diet hard for 6 months before jumping back on, I would be getting a lot more out of my gear. It was pretty tough for me considering I had my test/npp sitting right in my , nightstand. Im surprised I held off a month, lol.

 

[epoxy]

LOL i know what you mean man. i have a full cycle worth of test thats been in my closet for about a year now and sometimes i just go and open the box and stare at the amps for a couple of minutes before putting the shit back and telling myself to wait before i throw a bunch of money away.

 

[Dlove]

It is throwing money away bro for sure. Ive taken like 6 7 cycles I dunno. The one im on now Test Prop 150mg's EOD just bumped to 200mg's EOD and NPP 100mg's EOD, Im three weeks in and I was thinking my gear was bunk, whats wrong my training the scale is stuck at 280 im not gaining weight. Truth of the y injurymatter is I started my cycle to early. Should have gotten natural gains. I didn't practiced what I preach. If you can get your strength back to where it was before starting back up. Now Im pissed and cant decide to stop after 8 weeks like planned or say fuck it and keep runnin another 8 weeks.

 

[epoxy]

I dunno honestly, 8 weeks in i'd probably bite the bullet and try hard as fuck to make it work and just use it as a lesson. I definitely don't want to waste my hard earned money and possibly health using gear when I'm not back up to par with where I was before I slumped for a few months. I feel your pain though it's definitely easy to use AAS as a crutch in that situation.

 

[csyflt]

Hey epoxy. I was out for about 6 months myself and just started back 3 weeks ago!! So im in te same boat. Remember muscle memory is a very great thing bro. I feel and look better after being back at it for 3 weeks! My strength isnt the same but like Dlove said it will take about 3 months for that!!

 

[Mudge]

I either come back with a full body routine little by little, or I do 20% of my volume (adding 20% with each week) which puts me back in a full routine in 5 or 6 weeks.