Dredging up this old thread --
After I got over my virus, I took it relatively easy with the workouts for a couple of weeks, not trying for any new PBs or anything, just assessing my condition and seeing how much I had lost from being so sick.
After a couple of weeks, I was able to comfortably lift in the same weight range as pre-virus, with maybe just a little less endurance, but it was time to start trying harder again. So I stepped up to the 75lb. DBs for shoulder presses, had the devil of a time getting them up, but once they were up I was working them in the 10-rep range.
I've started experimenting with a new, for me, method of getting the DBs up to my shoulders. I cannot master the leg kick thing, I dunno if it's the height of the upright benches at my gym, or my leg length vs. torso length ratio (I have short legs and a long torso), or what, but I can't even get it started that way. So I tried dangling the DBs down at my side, swinging them back and forth a couple of times for momentum, then cleaning them straight up to my shoulders. Wham! It worked! Well, it worked on the right side. On the left, I can't use that technique with anything heaver than 70 lbs., 'cause I'm extremely right-handed and my brain just can't seem to tell my left arm how to control the momentum. Yet. So I use a hybrid method -- swing the right one up, then just muscle the left one in place. It's not pretty, but it still takes less out of me than muscling them both up.
Today I stepped up to the 80 lb. dumbells, and did 45x10, 60x10, 80x8, 80x7, 75x10, 75x8. I could probably have done the last two sets with the 80s too, but didn't wanna risk hurting myself just getting them up to my shoulders. You should see the color of my face when I'm trying to get those things up from my knees to my shoulders, it's not a color that occurs in nature.
--dnb