Cliff notes: Use high reps for awhile.
These are my thoughts just based on empirical knowledge I have gained. Maybe I can humbly suggest maybe what follows could help others. I have been lifting for around 51 years. I have no potential or natural attributes for the sport of bodybuilding. I don't even call myself a bodybuilder but my basement gym might contradict that point, lol.
The point of writing this is because of my health problems. For roughly 6 weeks I have felt like hell including two ER visits. I won't get into my health problems. Sometimes for many trainers it isn't even health problems that makes them back pedal on training. It could be a busy time of year for their work schedule. The thing is especially with older lifters who take zero testosterone derivatives it can be hard to come back after back sliding.
Here are my thoughts that have been successful in my past. To reiterate I have been having health issues but I'm feeling better now. No, I'm not cured but I feel pretty good finally. One thing for sure is that I'm sick of doctor visits. In past decades I had to come back from an arm operation to repair a completely detached bicep and another maybe living the too a good life of eating like a hog and drinking. Now I face the current challenge of being 65 and not really feeling my best but all things considered I'll take it as a win my current health.
So many ways to get back. Different splits, rep ranges and how often you hit a body part a week. The most important thing is self evident. The weight used is adjustable
. This is what I'm doing. It's a Yates inspired routine of one set to failure after warm ups sets if needed. I normally do the typical rep ranges of 8 to 12. What makes the comeback different is that I can't handle the weights I use to use. Now coming back I'm using what for me is high reps. This is key for me because it seems to "awaken" the muscle memory if there is such a thing. I think it exists. Here are some examples. Pulldowns during normal times would be stop at around 10 reps to failure. I'm using relatively light weights and failing at 20 for the single set. I swear doing the high reps to failure seems to quickly get the muscles primed for a comeback. If my health stays good for awhile I predict I should be clicking on all cylinders in a month, fingers crossed.
The same applies to cardio. If you are out of cardio shape it's best to do low intensity for long durations. Meaning charging hard for one or two miles isn't optimal. I started incline walking at 3.8 MPH for around 50 minutes. If anyone is curious about the mythology I can post it later. When I eventually transition to running it will be a dog crawl slow but for 4 or 5 miles at a time on the treadmill for now. The last quarter mile I will pick it up to remind my muscles that I want to run fast eventually as I pick up the pace at the end.
Anyway I hope my health remains in tack. My oncologist is doing another one of his many blood tests next week. Can you believe to have it hand evaluated by a pathologist costs $10K. Thank God I have good insurance. They paid 8K of the bill and the rest they ate. Curious to see if I'm in remission.
On a side note I hate high rep lifting. It is so monotonous to do 20-30 reps of something but in this situation I know the value. Every week I will lower the reps and increase the weight. I remember trying to lift when I was sick because I refused to give up. What a bad mistake. My muscles I think when into rhabdomolysis because I wasn't healthy. I had dark urine and I literally was never in my life more sore. My muscles hurt to touch them and I think instead of a positive gain I had a negative loss. I remember telling my wife how much pain I was in. I actually made myself sicker.
So far I'm positive about this week of training. Weights are embarrassingly light but I make up for that with the high reps.
