Regaining strength after weight loss

donnbradman

After suffering a mild eating disorder I lost about 10% of my overall weight which obviously meant I lost a lot of gains I made using weights. Has anyone any advice on how to best regain this strength? e.g. Low reps, high reps?

Note: I do feel I am back to normal eating habits

Alf Veedersane

donnbradman wrote: »

After suffering a mild eating disorder I lost about 10% of my overall weight which obviously meant I lost a lot of gains I made using weights. Has anyone any advice on how to best regain this strength? e.g. Low reps, high reps?

Note: I do feel I am back to normal eating habits

There are many people better qualified to advise but I just wanted to congratulate you on turning things around and getting yourself back on track.

theGEM

donnbradman wrote: »

After suffering a mild eating disorder I lost about 10% of my overall weight which obviously meant I lost a lot of gains I made using weights. Has anyone any advice on how to best regain this strength? e.g. Low reps, high reps?

Note: I do feel I am back to normal eating habits

The best method to gaining mass is to do compound excersises (squats, deadlifts, pullups, dips etc.) for about 5 - 10 reps (3 - 5 sets). Most people would recommend the following programs:

• Starting Strength
• Stronglift
• Westside for Skinny Bastards

donnbradman

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

There are many people better qualified to advise but I just wanted to congratulate you on turning things around and getting yourself back on track.

Thanks very much. I must add aswell that I am recovering from a couple of months of overtraining aswell

Alf Veedersane

donnbradman wrote: »

Thanks very much. I must add aswell that I am recovering from a couple of months of overtraining aswell

Just gotta bring it back to basics like you're starting out,though you've probably a decent base strength. But programs like TheGem suggested are a good place to go. Best of luck!

donnbradman

After playing two soccer games in the last few days and have noticed that my speed has severely depleted, alot more than I originally thought. Is it actually genuinely possible, even with proper training, that I can gain back this speed.

Alf Veedersane

donnbradman wrote: »

After playing two soccer games in the last few days and have noticed that my speed has severely depleted, alot more than I originally thought. Is it actually genuinely possible, even with proper training, that I can gain back this speed.

It may have been that you hadn't enough fuel on board or maybe you need to build back up the muscle in your legs, especially your quads and hamstrings. I found my speed improved during soccer games as I strengthened those.

donnbradman

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

It may have been that you hadn't enough fuel on board or maybe you need to build back up the muscle in your legs, especially your quads and hamstrings. I found my speed improved during soccer games as I strengthened those.

Would you recommend any exercises or should I just do some sprinting drills whilst gaining back some of my lost weight? I assume lunges with DB's would help?

Alf Veedersane

donnbradman wrote: »

Would you recommend any exercises or should I just do some sprinting drills whilst gaining back some of my lost weight? I assume lunges with DB's would help?

Lunges, squats, leg extensions, hamstring curls, Romanian deadlifts...anything to build them up basically. Was in a similar situation, weight loss-wise but for different reasons, and found all of the above helped. Helped me back to a form level I hadn't hit in years and a lot of it is down to outsprinting forwards AND not being muscled off the ball either.

ecoli

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Lunges, squats, leg extensions, hamstring curls, Romanian deadlifts...anything to build them up basically. Was in a similar situation, weight loss-wise but for different reasons, and found all of the above helped. Helped me back to a form level I hadn't hit in years and a lot of it is down to outsprinting forwards AND not being muscled off the ball either.

Would tend to avoid hamstring curls simply because it doesn't actually replicate the muscle function in relation to sporting activity (i.e hamstring has in a push off action in running as opposed to a pulling action)

Alf Veedersane

ecoli wrote: »

Would tend to avoid hamstring curls simply because it doesn't actually replicate the muscle function in relation to sporting activity (i.e hamstring has in a push off action in running as opposed to a pulling action)

I would have thought that making them stronger, regardless of motion, would be helpful. I'm not suggesting it's necessarily the best for replicating the mechanics of sprints and strengthening the relevant muscles. Just strengthening them.

ecoli

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

I would have thought that making them stronger, regardless of motion, would be helpful. I'm not suggesting it's necessarily the best for replicating the mechanics of sprints and strengthening the relevant muscles. Just strengthening them.

The problem is these concentric exercises make the muscles more efficient in shortened muscle position but sprinting is an eccentric contraction and as such curls can actually increase injury susceptibility as well as well as hamper speed.

Functional strength should always take precedence.

Alf Veedersane

ecoli wrote: »

The problem is these concentric exercises make the muscles more efficient in shortened muscle position but sprinting is an eccentric contraction and as such curls can actually increase injury susceptibility as well as well as hamper speed.

Functional strength should always take precedence.

Fairy nuff.

I just found it helped me but then it seems it could have been worked better.

donnbradman

ecoli wrote: »

The problem is these concentric exercises make the muscles more efficient in shortened muscle position but sprinting is an eccentric contraction and as such curls can actually increase injury susceptibility as well as well as hamper speed.

Functional strength should always take precedence.

Sound as a bell! Will do.

Alf Veedersane

Get some plyometrics inta ya too.

Will Heffernan

ecoli wrote: »

Would tend to avoid hamstring curls simply because it doesn't actually replicate the muscle function in relation to sporting activity (i.e hamstring has in a push off action in running as opposed to a pulling action)

If all they were doing were hamstring curls I could see your argument but based on what detailed above...I can certainly see hamstring curls being a part of a balanced training program.

The argument regarding hamstring curls not replicating sporting activity really isn't that important or relevant in this instance.

ecoli

Will Heffernan wrote: »

If all they were doing were hamstring curls I could see your argument but based on what detailed above...I can certainly see hamstring curls being a part of a balanced training program.

The argument regarding hamstring curls not replicating sporting activity really isn't that important or relevant in this instance.

Was going on similar thread started in another forum regarding the OPs loss of speed coupled with his sporting background (soccer, GAA and sprinting)

Will Heffernan

ecoli wrote: »

Was going on similar thread started in another forum regarding the OPs loss of speed coupled with his sporting background (soccer, GAA and sprinting)

I am not sure what that means? As in...I am not exactly sure what you are getting at or what the context is?

ecoli

Will Heffernan wrote: »

I am not sure what that means? As in...I am not exactly sure what you are getting at or what the context is?

My point was his concern regarding regaining of short burst sprint speed so I do feel sport specificity does play a role. Hamstring Curls no doubt have a part to play in many balanced programs but IMO feel there are more suitable exercises regarding the OPs rehabilitation.

Again this was just an observation made on a previous comment

Will Heffernan

ecoli wrote: »

My point was his concern regarding regaining of short burst sprint speed so I do feel sport specificity does play a role. Hamstring Curls no doubt have a part to play in many balanced programs but IMO feel there are more suitable exercises regarding the OPs rehabilitation.

Again this was just an observation made on a previous comment

Absolutely agreed.

I wasn't disagreeing with you per se it was just that your comment had set off a train of thought.

My point was just that there is a time and place for every tool and that occasionally people are anti isolation exercises and talk about compound exercises being more sport specific and I just think that's a false argument. Unless your sport is powerlifting or Olympic lifting then any weight training or any resistance training in general for that matter is just 'general' training and non of it is more sport specific that anything else...as I said...unless you are a powerlifter or Olympic lifter all the weight training you are doing is sport nonspecific in fact.

Alf Veedersane

ecoli wrote: »

My point was his concern regarding regaining of short burst sprint speed so I do feel sport specificity does play a role. Hamstring Curls no doubt have a part to play in many balanced programs but IMO feel there are more suitable exercises regarding the OPs rehabilitation.

Again this was just an observation made on a previous comment

Just to clarify, what I had suggested was just a handful of basic exercises to help strengthen the legs. The op wanted to regain strength after losing weight so i just mentioned those as a couple of examples of what could be done to strengthen. Not exclusively to strengthen hamstrings for sprints.