Coming back after brief hospitalization - starting weights?

[olddognewtricks]

So I had a little mishap last week that put me in the hospital for 4 days with acute kidney failure. There doesn't appear to have been any permanent damage (other than the mild renal impairment I've had for the last 15 years): my creatinine is back where it was before the incident. I'm still pretty anemic, however (and I live at 5400ft). I've been out for 3 days. It has been 9 days since I lifted and it'll probably be 2-3 more before I restart.

I assume the strategy here is "drop some weight, do a short LP to get back where I was, and then continue as before". Is that correct? If so, how much weight should I think about dropping? Is there some sort of rule of thumb for this (10%? 15%?) or is this something I should just determine experimentally?

Geezer (60). 5'9", 178lb.

Still doing 3 sets of 5:

Squat 230
DL 255
Bench 154
Press 119
PCs chiefly for amusement

[I_iz_a_fatass]

I'd suggest hitting it as if you're starting for the first time - work up the weights until the bar slows.

[Mark E. Hurling]

It depends on how well you feel in recovery from your incident. If you feel strong and not too woozy from it, I'd suggest a 10% reduction and accept what reps and sets you can do when you give it a try. If you can't hit the reps and sets, drop some more. But make that decision a day or so after you lift for the first time to gauge how wasted (or not!) you feel post workout.

[Troy May]

You can always use the travelers protocol, start with empty bar and work up to what feels like an ok weight, back off a couple of percent from there and do your work sets. Increase from those weights on an LP. Most of the time you'll be within 20% or more of your last workout if it's been less than a month.

[Bestafter60]

I agree with Hurling. I've had to come back several times this year due to one injury and two big "life events". I was off longer, as much as 3 weeks. I found 10-15% was plenty. I had moderate DOMS in the first week. Squats left me with leg cramps the first time back and forced me to stop. I pushed through them the next time and they quickly went away. Return to full strength was a matter of 2-3 weeks tops. No way to speak to the effect of kidney failure, and here I get to be way modern and say "YMMV"!

[olddognewtricks]

Thanks to everyone for the advice and recommendations. I opted for a 15% reduction. And it was bloody bloody hard. I made my reps, but it was definitely slow and grindy. I rested a little longer than usual between work sets, because my red cell count and hemoglobin are abut 30% below where they usually are, but I made it. Presses really sucked (but what else is new?).

[Troy May]

Thanks to everyone for the advice and recommendations. I opted for a 15% reduction. And it was bloody bloody hard. I made my reps, but it was definitely slow and grindy. I rested a little longer than usual between work sets, because my red cell count and hemoglobin are abut 30% below where they usually are, but I made it. Presses really sucked (but what else is new?).

What counts is that you're under the bar again. Keep plugging away and enjoy the process (except the press of course that just takes bloody determination).

[olddognewtricks]

Just a quick update after 5 weeks.

Squat: 190 -> 235
D/L: 220 -> 250
Press: 110 -> 115
Bench: 135 -> 146

Recovery (both between sessions and during a session) is definitely an issue. I really can't squat and D/L in the same session (well, not and have any gas left for the D/L), so I've basically been doing squat + bench or press 2x week, with a standalone D/L once a week. I'm not sure that's giving me enough volume to progress much on bench/press, but as long as things are moving in the right direction I'm okay. It's pretty slow going though.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Are you still active in MA? If so, juggling the energy/recovery dichotomy can be tricky. Although it looks like you are doing fine so far.

[olddognewtricks]

Are you still active in MA? If so, juggling the energy/recovery dichotomy can be tricky. Although it looks like you are doing fine so far.

I've scaled back, but that's probably going to change ;-). I think I'm still pretty anemic (I haven't had a CBC since I left the hospital). Because I have some chronic kidney insufficiency (the acute failure was the icing on the cake, but my function has completely recovered back to where it was before I was hospitalized), I don't make much EPO so it's going to take me awhile to get back to a "normal" level.

I'm really sucking wind after a set of squats (taking about 10 minutes between sets now). I'd still like to get the BP and OHP numbers up.