Coming Back After the Flu

[Zep]

How long does it take you guys to get back to "normal" after colds, flu, etc?

I've make great gains over the past 6 months, and then got a dreaded 12-day cold where I couldn't work out at all. When I got back into it, both my rep numbers and weight numbers were way down, by atleast 35%-45%. Overall I noticed my endurance was gone as well. Ten reps with 225 became a struggle to get 5 reps.

That got me wondering how you guys get back into things. Do you jump right into your normal routine? Do you add cardio up front to get the endurance back quicker? Do you modify your routine to focus on doing more reps for the first couple of weeks to gain the endurance back?

[deeder]

How long does it take you guys to get back to "normal" after colds, flu, etc?

I've make great gains over the past 6 months, and then got a dreaded 12-day cold where I couldn't work out at all. When I got back into it, both my rep numbers and weight numbers were way down, by atleast 35%-45%. Overall I noticed my endurance was gone as well. Ten reps with 225 became a struggle to get 5 reps.

That got me wondering how you guys get back into things. Do you jump right into your normal routine? Do you add cardio up front to get the endurance back quicker? Do you modify your routine to focus on doing more reps for the first couple of weeks to gain the endurance back?

Just get right back into it man. Eat lots and it will all come back quickly... You can't have lost THAT much strength in 12 days!

[ddegroff]

Yeah it will just take few workouts to get back into it. I was out just about as long as you with a cold. It's been about two weeks since I started lifting again and I'm back to where I was and making some gains.

[darkdan]

Food poisoning (or a small flu....no clue which) took me out for a weekend. I lost everything I had worked for and now I've lost motivation to even work out so it isn't coming back as quickly as it would.

But I swear...I'm going to work out tomorrow.

[Sisay]

I wrestle, which is a very cardio-intensive sport. A week-long cold can kill me for the next month of practice. Muscle-wise, I recover very quick, a couple days gets me back into things. But cardio-wise, I have to work for several weeks to a month to get close to where I was.

[deeder]

I wrestle, which is a very cardio-intensive sport. A week-long cold can kill me for the next month of practice. Muscle-wise, I recover very quick, a couple days gets me back into things. But cardio-wise, I have to work for several weeks to a month to get close to where I was.

I don't know if stuff like that is possible... Also the other post about the guy who had a stomach flu and lost all his gains...

I'd have to say it's 100% mental... Your cardiovascular capability doesn't just plummet if you don't run for a week. It takes quite a while. Muscles also don't atrophy over the weekend... Eat food, get energy, stop making excuses and blast out some heavy sets!

[Banshee Ben]

The muscle will not dissapear that quick but your body can take several weeks to recover. It just spent all of it's energy fighting a poison of some sort and needs to recover. You can lift soon but might take a couple weeks for the internals to work 100%