Coming back after stomach virus of death

[donk52]

11 days ago, I went to the gym and got the following lifts:

Squat: 260 3x5
Press: 135 3x5

The next day, I started coming down with a shit tier stomach virus. For the next 4 days, I was unable to keep anything but water in my stomach, so I couldn't eat anything. In the days following, I SLOWLY started to add back simple foods like bananas and potatos. By the time the stomach virus was finally over, I had lost almost 10 pounds of BW. Fuck.

So, I gave myself 3 days of normal eating before I went back to the gym, just so I'd have some fuel to get me going. I went earlier today.

Press: I thought 125 would be reasonable to start back up with. I got 2 reps. I went down to 120, and got 4 reps. I tried again, 2 reps.

Squats: I thought 225 would be more than reasonable. I got 2 reps.

I gave up on the big lifts after that and tried to do some other things to at least make some progress. But, I am really pissed off that I lost this much in a little more than a week. It just seems insane. The weight doesn't even feel heavy since my CNS is still used to it. It just doesnt go up.

Has anyone had a similar situation that they went through? Is this as bad as it seems, where I'm literally back where I was many months ago. Or, will the strength come back fast once I get a few workouts under my belt? Will I be able to add weight to the bar faster this time around?

Thanks. :/

[yellowmamba]

Has anyone had a similar situation that they went through? Is this as bad as it seems, where I'm literally back where I was many months ago. Or, will the strength come back fast once I get a few workouts under my belt? Will I be able to add weight to the bar faster this time around?

Thanks. :/

It's quite a big setback cos you pretty much didn't eat for a week. There is nothing you can do but just go down in weight and work your way back up. You probably won't be able to go up faster, I'd just take the patient approach as you probably lost a bit of muscle mass. Remember, every workout you fuck around and do other shit with, it's another workout you have to eventually do later on. Might as well just get on with it and work your way back up. Before you know it, you'll be back to where you were before.

On the other hand, if you are really fucking pissed about losing progress, then just switch your squat form to the HBBS. It'll feel fresh and you won't be so angry every workout lamenting your lost progress. It really does not matter how you back squat for novice, unless you put the bar right on your neck or on your erectors.

[DCM]

Around this time last year, I lost 4 kilos in bodyweight in the space of 24 hours thanks to the most horrendous virus I've ever experienced. I'd echo Yellowmamba's advice - there's no other choice really but to gradually work back up.

[yellowmamba]

In the meantime, given you now are weak and disgruntled, continue lowbar squatting but work on your flexibility. Do this until you can high bar squat ATG without lumbar rounding. Then switch to the real squat of man and ape.

Flexibility is underrated.