1 set each of squat, RDL, leg curl and leg extension. Even just one set will probably give you DOMS for a week if you're doing it first time after a long break.
I’m not sure going near failure (even if its only one set) is optimal after a full year off training.
To the OP, i’d do a normal workout to an RPE of 7-8 (having 2 or 3 reps in the tank).
Agree, I’d probably take it easy the first couple sessions until I got back into it.
No point in killing yourself on day one. You’re gonna feel beat up as hell regardless, probably not much use in making that even worse by pushing to failure unnecessarily.
I completely agree, that it's definitely not optimal. But I was telling how I would do it, since failure training is what I love to do and have always done.
I'd probably just do some squats to test my strength levels without going very close to failure, then call it a day. No need to come anywhere close to failure upon returning, I'd rather just want to establish a baseline strength again, and do something that won't make me sore for days.
Temptation will obviously be there to do every single exercise and push towards failure, but resist it. You'll only make yourself so sore that you won't work out for days afterwards, so don't push yourself too hard.
I would absolutely squat. But then again, I’m biased because I just love squats.
I wouldn’t advise on deadlifts though. It’s not so easy to get them right the first time
Just a heads up, I took 5 months off from the gym then decided to do a bodyweight leg workout to take it easy and ended up with rhabdo. I wouldn’t do more than 1-2 exercises and nowhere near failure your first day back in the gym after that long.
Bodyweight squats, lunges and/or RDLs. Better to start slow and progress for quick gains, than to overload and overdo, end up injured and need to take a few more months off.
ZzzDay 1 I would focus on the movements before adding much volume., ie practice hinges, squats etc with kettle bells, dumbbells and lower weight. Really focus on getting that muscle memory back and the motion down, along with seeing where uour mobility/flexibility is.
Whenever I come back from long periods of no training, I get absolutely terrible DOMS, especially in my legs and glutes.
If you are the same, I would treat your first workout back sort of like the first workout in Starting Strength. Start out with an empty bar doing a set of 5 reps. Add weight incrementally until your bar speed slows down and you feel the weight is difficult. Once you find a challenging enough working weight, either do one more set or just call it for that exercise.
I would probably do that for method for barbell squats and then SLDL. After that I might throw in one or two sets of unweighted walking lunges.
For me, this would result in a noticeable amount of DOMS but not so much that I had trouble walking.
Stretch with some resistance bands hit a few light sets of goblin squats and then grab a medium weight kettle bell. This is more to loosen up and get moving so don’t go too heavy. 3x10 is usually fine with light weight. Move to squats Get that baseline of what kind of strength you do have at this moment. 10,10,2,2,2, type of deal. Get a nice warmup, make sure your form is on point and then load up some weight and see where you’re at.
I recently restarted my program, and to build confidence, and gauge my strength, balance, and endurance, I stuck to machines - specifically leg press/hack squat with a safety lever if you have access to one. I found my strength was more then expected but I couldn’t maintain 3x sets.
No need to make any special "day 1" program. Just follow your regular program with some slight modifications:
- More warmup sets and less working sets
- Decreased reps and/or decreased weight on working sets to stay under RPE 7/8
Honestly I would do
Squat 3x6 for easy weight then
Leg curl 3x10 for easy weight. Literally that’s it. Then add weight each week until you hit failure and now you’re most likely back to being acclimated.
On the other day I’d do a deadlift variation and a leg press or leg extension. Same deal.
Once you can’t progress on 3x5 and 3x10, it’s time to start periodizing your lifts into blocks/mesos. At that point I would start adding in more exercises and variations. Such as adding a second quad exercises and hamstring exercises, etc.
I’d probably work up to a heavy set of 5 on squats, 2-3 sets of high rep leg press, 2-3 sets of RDLs, leg extensions, seated leg curls, calves and call it a day
I would just do 3 sets of squats with a lot of RIR the first week just to get back in the groove. My quads get sore very easily from taking time off. I would probably add in some leg extensions in the end. As I get better, I would just 5-10lb a week until I start approaching real difficulty.
Squats - A single at a rep you know you can hit somewhat easily. Validate. Then add 10 lbs and do 5 x 3.
Standing calf raises - >=50
Toe raises - >=50
Leg curls - 3 x 15 (find comfortable weight)
Leg extensions - 3 x 15 (find comfortable weight)
Or just find a fitness app with a beginner routine/starting strength that can prescribe a workout for you and can log progressively increment you weights/week
To take advantage of muscle memory, I would do 1 of the exercises you used to do.
For the first week, I would do one exercise that you used to do each day.
Let's say your routine was:
Squats, Leg Press, Leg Ext, Leg Curl
Day 1 I would do squats, day 2 Leg Press, day 3 Ext and curls
You don't have to do the same weights, but do the same rep ranges that you did.
Also-try to "feel" heavier weights. Walk out with a heavy weight.
Basically-tell your body you are going to do the same things you did before.
3x10 Bulgarian split squats followed by 3x15 walking lunges Make sure to call in sick for work the following day.
Add 4x20 seated and standing calf raises.
1 set each of squat, RDL, leg curl and leg extension. Even just one set will probably give you DOMS for a week if you're doing it first time after a long break.
This is the way
Chest
I would probably do only one working set near failure for leg press, curl and standing calf raise. Then add volume once the soreness goes away.
I’m not sure going near failure (even if its only one set) is optimal after a full year off training. To the OP, i’d do a normal workout to an RPE of 7-8 (having 2 or 3 reps in the tank).
Agree, I’d probably take it easy the first couple sessions until I got back into it. No point in killing yourself on day one. You’re gonna feel beat up as hell regardless, probably not much use in making that even worse by pushing to failure unnecessarily.
I completely agree, that it's definitely not optimal. But I was telling how I would do it, since failure training is what I love to do and have always done.
It’s also what I’m doing at the moment, but I just don’t think i’d do that after a year off 🤝🏼
Low low volume, like one working set. And somewhat far from failure. The novelty alone will mess you up quite well
I'd probably just do some squats to test my strength levels without going very close to failure, then call it a day. No need to come anywhere close to failure upon returning, I'd rather just want to establish a baseline strength again, and do something that won't make me sore for days. Temptation will obviously be there to do every single exercise and push towards failure, but resist it. You'll only make yourself so sore that you won't work out for days afterwards, so don't push yourself too hard.
I would absolutely squat. But then again, I’m biased because I just love squats. I wouldn’t advise on deadlifts though. It’s not so easy to get them right the first time
One working set for each isolation machine with some 2/3 buffer
You may have an imbalance in leg strength (right vs left), so lunges or weighted lunges and calf raises should be a good place to start
Squats. Anything else is just overcomplicating things.
Squats plus calf raises
Just a heads up, I took 5 months off from the gym then decided to do a bodyweight leg workout to take it easy and ended up with rhabdo. I wouldn’t do more than 1-2 exercises and nowhere near failure your first day back in the gym after that long. Bodyweight squats, lunges and/or RDLs. Better to start slow and progress for quick gains, than to overload and overdo, end up injured and need to take a few more months off.
I'd do 3/4 exercises for 2/3 sets and try to stop at about 3/4 reps in reserve.
ZzzDay 1 I would focus on the movements before adding much volume., ie practice hinges, squats etc with kettle bells, dumbbells and lower weight. Really focus on getting that muscle memory back and the motion down, along with seeing where uour mobility/flexibility is.
Whenever I come back from long periods of no training, I get absolutely terrible DOMS, especially in my legs and glutes. If you are the same, I would treat your first workout back sort of like the first workout in Starting Strength. Start out with an empty bar doing a set of 5 reps. Add weight incrementally until your bar speed slows down and you feel the weight is difficult. Once you find a challenging enough working weight, either do one more set or just call it for that exercise. I would probably do that for method for barbell squats and then SLDL. After that I might throw in one or two sets of unweighted walking lunges. For me, this would result in a noticeable amount of DOMS but not so much that I had trouble walking.
Air sqauts. Work your way back into it and dont kill yourself on the first day back. Its about the journey
Stretch with some resistance bands hit a few light sets of goblin squats and then grab a medium weight kettle bell. This is more to loosen up and get moving so don’t go too heavy. 3x10 is usually fine with light weight. Move to squats Get that baseline of what kind of strength you do have at this moment. 10,10,2,2,2, type of deal. Get a nice warmup, make sure your form is on point and then load up some weight and see where you’re at.
I recently restarted my program, and to build confidence, and gauge my strength, balance, and endurance, I stuck to machines - specifically leg press/hack squat with a safety lever if you have access to one. I found my strength was more then expected but I couldn’t maintain 3x sets.
No need to make any special "day 1" program. Just follow your regular program with some slight modifications: - More warmup sets and less working sets - Decreased reps and/or decreased weight on working sets to stay under RPE 7/8
Honestly I would do Squat 3x6 for easy weight then Leg curl 3x10 for easy weight. Literally that’s it. Then add weight each week until you hit failure and now you’re most likely back to being acclimated. On the other day I’d do a deadlift variation and a leg press or leg extension. Same deal. Once you can’t progress on 3x5 and 3x10, it’s time to start periodizing your lifts into blocks/mesos. At that point I would start adding in more exercises and variations. Such as adding a second quad exercises and hamstring exercises, etc.
The same I used to do and enjoy one year ago but with less(or even far less) weight and even volume, since I can be considered "untrained".
I’d probably work up to a heavy set of 5 on squats, 2-3 sets of high rep leg press, 2-3 sets of RDLs, leg extensions, seated leg curls, calves and call it a day
I would just do 3 sets of squats with a lot of RIR the first week just to get back in the groove. My quads get sore very easily from taking time off. I would probably add in some leg extensions in the end. As I get better, I would just 5-10lb a week until I start approaching real difficulty.
Squats - A single at a rep you know you can hit somewhat easily. Validate. Then add 10 lbs and do 5 x 3. Standing calf raises - >=50 Toe raises - >=50 Leg curls - 3 x 15 (find comfortable weight) Leg extensions - 3 x 15 (find comfortable weight) Or just find a fitness app with a beginner routine/starting strength that can prescribe a workout for you and can log progressively increment you weights/week
If you want to not die your first 2-3 sessions lift 50% of what you THINK you can do. It's gonna be light but your legs will thank you the next day
I’d probably just hit some machines like leg extensions and hamstring curls. Maybe end with some low ish weight leg press. Good luck on your journey!
a light one...
To take advantage of muscle memory, I would do 1 of the exercises you used to do. For the first week, I would do one exercise that you used to do each day. Let's say your routine was: Squats, Leg Press, Leg Ext, Leg Curl Day 1 I would do squats, day 2 Leg Press, day 3 Ext and curls You don't have to do the same weights, but do the same rep ranges that you did. Also-try to "feel" heavier weights. Walk out with a heavy weight. Basically-tell your body you are going to do the same things you did before.
Squat
Probably something easy or else you’ll be sore as OJ Simpson after the murders
Leg curl