Starting Over

[Jorge Sanchez]

Brief Background: I injured myself and have been out of the gym for a little over three months. Over the past couple of weeks I've been doing some BW exercises and some light squats trying to get myself ready to hit the weights hard again. Over the past three months I've lost a fair amount of muscle and I'm generally much softer than I'd like to be, although I definitely wouldn't say I'm fat (maybe 13-14%bf).

Today I'm going to go to the gym to find my new 5RMs so I can jump into Starr's 5x5. I'll also be doing HIIT on two of my off days.

The only thing I haven't decided is what to do about my diet. I have two approaches in mind:

1) Get my diet together but eat for maintenance. I will regain my strength quickly and hoping my body will cooperate and recompose. I like this idea because I'm hoping it will help me drop some BF while gaining strength and hopefully a little muscle. I'm afraid that I'll just be spinning my wheels and it won't result in any changes to my body's composition.

2) Screw it and bulk. I'll get real strong real fast and I should explode as my I throw myself back under the iron. I'm hoping I'll be able to regain my strength and size very quickly while gaining very little in the way of BF. I'm afraid that I'll gain more fat than I'd like - I prefer the lean muscular look to the fat muscular look no matter what the size.

So I am here to solicit your opinions. Do you think I can siginificantly recompose if I get my diet on point and eat at maintenance? Or do you think I will be able to bulk and keep my relatively stable?

I'm hoping I'm in for some newbie games (part deux) since I've been out of the gym for so long.

[Bob]

Jorge... welcome back...
And glad you are healing up.
Personally, especially since you are still healing and you want great gains... I would go with option #2.
Plus, that is more inline with your sig!!

GL.. and stay injury free..

[shazoo123]

truthfully, if i were you i would get back into the swing of things diet-wise as well. take it gradual. start out maintenance and then gradually increase until you are full on bulking. I think it will be easier on you, and would allow for your metabolism and bodily functions to adjust a bit.

[Detard]

welcome back jorge. Whatever you choose, do it right and good luck.

[Nosaj]

Slow bulk. Surplus calories means your body has enough of everything it needs and then some. 13%~ bf is fine, you won't get over 15-16% bf if do a nice slow bulk, and that's far from fat. Get your strength back, some mass, and then start a cut once you get to a comfortable size/strength level. You'll probably get discouraged and tired if you just stay at maintenance now, I mean you're already feeling soft, but add that to weak (compared to what you used to be) and tired (lack of abundance of calories) and you're just looking for some rough times ahead. Good luck.

[Vapour Trails]

What injury? If you're going from little activity to "hitting the weights hard again", you're setting yourself for reinjury.

[Jorge Sanchez]

What injury? If you're going from little activity to "hitting the weights hard again", you're setting yourself for reinjury.

I broke my tailbone so it wasn't related to lifting, and:

Over the past couple of weeks I've been doing some BW exercises and some light squats trying to get myself ready to hit the weights hard again.

Thanks for the advice guys. I've reset my maxes and, to be honest, I didn't lose as much strength as I was expecting. I think I'm going to eat at slightly above maintenance for a couple of weeks and see where that takes me. I have two weeks off between school and work so that will give me some time to get my diet and training really dialed in. Once I start work I'll reassess my priorities and go from there.

[Nosaj]

Good luck man, sounds like you're heading in the right direction. Enjoy the newb gains while they last.

[Vapour Trails]

Well if you think BW exercises and light squats have prepared you for 3 squat sessions a week, heavy deadlifting and so on, then go ahead. Personally I think going into a program like 5x5 right after an injury is silly. After the first workout, you'll probably be sore for a week.

[Jorge Sanchez]

Well if you think BW exercises and light squats have prepared you for 3 squat sessions a week, heavy deadlifting and so on, then go ahead. Personally I think going into a program like 5x5 right after an injury is silly. After the first workout, you'll probably be sore for a week.

Except for the fact that you work up to your maxes over 4 weeks. But thanks for the concern.