I came down with a bad case of the flu on 10/4. The week previous I set PRs in the squat and bench press and tied in the DL. I was sick with a 104ish degree fever for almost five days and felt like total crap for another week. I also lost nine pounds of body mass, not water weight. I went to the gym yesterday and repeated the last squat day from before I got sick. Three weeks ago I got 9 reps of 295 the last set on my 5’s week. Yesterday I failed with only 3 reps of 260 on the second set.
I’m looking for advice on where to start over as I haven’t been really sick in almost ten years. I assume I should drop back around three cycles but any advice from others that have been through similar would be awesome.
I can tell you a bad flu can take weeks to get over even after you feel 100%. Your body was under extreme stress for an extrended period.
Personally, I’d do a deload week and see where I am after that.
[quote]tsantos wrote:
I can tell you a bad flu can take weeks to get over even after you feel 100%. Your body was under extreme stress for an extrended period.
Personally, I’d do a deload week and see where I am after that.[/quote]
Do deload week - then 5’s week with minimal FSL. Until bar speed is back up to par - keep doing 5’s week. You should have a very good idea about optimal bar speed for yourself, so base it on that.
Thanks Jim and tsantos. I’ll do a deload cycle this week and start 5’s next week. FWIW I have terrible DOMS from squatting on Saturday even though it was like half my normal volume.