Anyone been out of the gym for a long period? (3+ months)

What was it like? Did you keep some gains? Did you lose all your strenght? How long did it take you to get back to the point you were before?

Who in their right minds would do that voluntarily ?

Took over a year off got fat and hadn't lost all my strength.

Took me 6 months to get to around 1/2/3/4.

When I first started lifting i was 125lbs. When I restarted again after time off I was about 180lbs

Got a little weaker but I was back to normal in about three weeks

When my girlfriend left me, I realized I hated my life, hate my job, etc.

Left the country and backpacked around Europe. Ended up working on a farm, eating only vegetarian meals.

Lost 12 kg and all my gains. I've been back to the gym since I got back, but I haven't gotten back to my ABCxABCx routine, and all the compound lifts I do seem really fucking hard on my body.

I had to move in with my dad since I got back, and I'm now looking for a good job. When I move out I'm gonna go back to my old routine and lean bulk like crazy.

was it worth it? im thinking of doing something similar

Yeah it was great, probably the best time of my life. The guys on the farm were bros, helped me get over my ex gf, told me to focus on myself. Also I got laid like crazy.

BUT, when I came back, I started feeling like shit, extremely depressed, feeling that my life is going nowhere, most suicidal I've ever been. Getting a decent job is bullshit, can't seem to get a break. Also I have no independence. Live with my dad and his wife in an industrial area, no car etc. After living with flatmates for 5 years, moving back in with family is shit.

Maybe I've got low T, I don't know. But everything feels like shit when I'm not working out/doing cardio. And the gains are coming slow, despite eating clean as fuck, staying away from alcohol, going to the gym 4 - 5 days a week. I look good in the mirror after the workout, but in photos I look like shit.

how does one backpack around europe?

how much money do you need, how often do you need to work

in regard to your trip, that's awesome to hear, i need some encouragement to just go for it. can i ask where exactly in europe you worked and how you went about it? I live in Aus and im not interested in working on a hot as fuck farm like i have here.

as for your current situation, I'm in a similar boat as you.
Can't work because of my shitty hip so im dependent on my parents (trip will have to wait till this shit is fixed too).
self-loathing, depressed shit.
having trouble getting over oneitis.
life is on track to no where.
we'll be happy one day.

I took flixbus around Europe, which is the cheapest mode of transport I believe.

And then just booked hostels using booking.com

After 10 bookings you start getting discounts.

I took about 2k. Food is cheap as fuck in everywhere apart from the UK. If you have a working visa/working holiday visa you can find easy work in hostels/bars, if you don't have a visa, you can volunteer on farms (wwoof.org) in exchange for food and accomodation. Shit is smooth as fuck.

I suggest you do it. I'm a kiwi, and I backpacked around all of central/southern and some Eastern Europe. Then I ended up in Germany, volunteered on a farm in Saxony, with an amazing little family. They opened their doors for me and showed me another way of living. The farm owner taught me how to drive manual, his wife taught me horticulture. We drank shit loads of beer every night. There was always friends and family coming and going, such a fun environment. Then I started fucking a swiss girl who also worked on the farm. Good times, you should just do it. But have a plan for when you come back. I'm depressed now, and in credit card debt.

>>The left one
HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just did it last semester. Got lazy af didn't feel like going so I didn't

Went back last week. Felt a little weaker on the first time but second I was already okay. Not a big deal. Feel pretty much the same

Stopped for 1 month because of fucked legs

Things that suck:
>Hard to get started
>Feels like a chore again for a week
>Lower numbers fuck with your ego and make you do stupid shit
>Lost progress
>Easier to gain weight

On the plus side you get it back a lot faster than getting there the first time.

I guess doing a 180 turn in life when it all goes down is the best you can do.
Personally, I didn't go backpacking but I went to the army for 2 years (also I DO live in europe so traveling would have made sense in the states but no money, duh)
These 2 years won't help me finding a job for sure. But it helped me overcome problems like my ex, drugs etc.
Get your mind clear as long as you're young and as long as you're able to form your personality.

thanks man, really encouraging to say the least.

good luck, hopefully you feel better soon

do hostels consistently have private storage?

Good luck to you too!

All the ones I stayed in did.

Yeah backpacking tends to do that to people
You go from being ontop of the world, nothing can hold you back, you have complete freedom
Then suddenly your back home working your 9 till 5 job, doing the same mundane shit once you get off work and to top it off the girl who was in to you has moved on... just like everyone else except you're still stuck in the past re-living the adventure
Yeah shit sucked after coming back from backpacking

Yo. I amputated some of one of my appendiges (don't ask) so was out for long than 3 months.

I lost over 90% of my gains. It was shit going back until a week in when the noob gainz start to flow. Felt way better than doing nothing.

You will lose pretty much everything but gain it back faster, maybe from your body being permanently better at gaining but there is a good chance you just know how to do it.

It will be embarrassing at first but get back into it as soon as you can.

It sucks. Took 8 months off because reasons. Took me 3 months to get back (starting strength is a fucking dream when you know the form)

>to top it off the girl who was in to you has moved on

fucking this

I still think about her, she's happy as fuck, getting on with her life

I did it, but not by choice. Been in the process of moving for like 5 months, and after I got completely settled in the holidays were here so I thought, fuck it, I'll just be a NYR fag and enjoy myself this year. It was a pretty good time but I wish I hadn't done it. I kept my gains for the most part but I can't squat as much anymore, also I gained the 25 pounds back that I had lost over the course of 2016. Bench and dead is still the same though.

It happens to me all the time.
I lose like 25lbs on my OHP and like 50lbs on my squat. I'm a pretty active guy but playing sports while you're not lifting doesn't help you keep strength.
I always regain my strength very quickly though. Less than a month

you going into boot camp or somethin senpai?

1 full year off, pretty much no exercise apart from walking and even that was limited.

Had a pretty badly herniated disc, lost most of the range of motion in my leg and the nerve pain was unreal, ended up smoking weed almost every day after work to numb myself. Just an absolute shit year in general.


Before my injury best lifts were

>200kg squat
>130kg bench
>250kg deadlift


First week back in the gym after a year off was around

>120kg squat
>110kg bench
>180kg deadlift


3 months later I did a powerlifting meet and hit

>220kg squat
>150kg bench
>260kg deadlift


And have added over 30kg on all my lifts since then (a couple of years ago now).

Fucking sucks man. Realizing where you could've been strength wise,if you hadn't taken a long break is demotivating as fuck

opportunity cost, really.

I know when I finish college and get a job and be a dad I'll definitely spend time with my kid over lifting.

I stopped lifting and my diet went south when my Grandfather passed away 6 months ago. Just couldn't get under the bar. Was hovering around 1.5/2/2.5/3.5 5rm. Lost 30 pounds and about half of my strength in that time.

Slowly getting back into it.

i've been out for six weeks twice. First was for a hernia surgery and second for a concussion.

Basically just redid SS but progressed much faster. Back to normal in a month.

I regularly have to take off months at a time for health reasons. Last year, from January until mid-October, I lifted maybe 10 times total. Shit sucks because I lose a lot of gains quickly. During that 10 month span, for instance, my bench dropped 40%, and I could barely deadlift 155 lbs.

But muscle memory allows me to get back to previous strength levels in around a month, if I'm able to lift consistently for it. I've been at this for about 6 years now, can't even bench bodyweight, but I'm still going at it.

I decided to never step a foot in the gym again for the sole purpose of lifting for aesthetics.
I'll stick to fighting sports only.

When I was about 1 year into lifting I had a major recurrence of mono, required bed rest for 2 months no physical activity. Was depressed as fuck, paranoid that I was losing everything I worked for, bored all day with nothing to do but eat and watch netflix. I still kept my macro's in check though, ate my protein # every day to help what muscle loss I could.

First week back after a couple months off I was self concious at the gym, lifts were obviously down, didn't look as good, worried people would look at me and think I fell off the wagon or something. But after a 3 weeks or so I was lifting the same #'s and back on the journey.

Life happens. I just kept reminding myself that if I didn't get back on the train, what the hell was all that work and dieting I did for the last year for? Once you have enough invested, you wont let yourself go too far off track.

Pic related, from about that timeframe.

>I'm now looking for a good job. When I move out I'm gonna go back to my old routine
We are user, so hell, I'll ask... Why and how did you lost an appendige?

I did about 5 months in the gym, 2 months of Strong Lifts and 3 of GSLP. Took a year and a half off due to work and moving, went back, lost a lot. I was at about 3 x 5 @ 80 kg squats before I quit. When I came back on the first day I did 60 kg 3 x 5. I literally could barely walk for 4 or 5 days from the DOMS. Even standing up and sitting down were extremely painful lol.

cool bro

Almost at 2 plate bench
started at 125 skelly mode (5'9)
now I'm at 155 and cutting, broader shoulders, bigger delts, chest, lats, bis, tris, forearms
Feels good

Had about a three month break. Lost a a good bit of strength but I guess the infrastructure was still there so I got it all back in like a month.

>5'9
>155
>cutting