Regaining lost strength and muscles

Question

I have always been strong, broad shouldered and musculus, mostly genetic I think. Though now in my forties, I have less mass than a few years ago.

If I want to regain, can or should I train differently than somebody trying to gain "new" strength and mass? Especially, can I progress with more reps pr set, less sets or working less hard? (further from failure)?

(I understand regain in generally easy, because you still have the cells/nucli, though what I have read is mostly about young athletes and bodybuilders losing strength and mass over a short time)

Answer 1

No, the "formula" for gaining muscle mass is pretty much the same for all people regardless of age. You should take into consideration, however, that to achieve the end result that you want, it will require more effort than it would require from somebody in their mid-twenties.

Everything is going to progress as planned as long as you adhere to muscle-mass-gaining workout routine and a favourable diet for your plan with a high intake of protein.

*Important: It is a scientifically proven fact that, even after ceasing working out for a long time, muscle memory stays whereas muscle mass and strength don't. Namely, if you have been training in the past the patterns of moving heavy weights still exist.

That can be a great ally or an equally great enemy, as you can advance faster by using your muscle memory, but also injure yourself if you lift more than your body can currently take.

As a big fan and advocate of bodybuilding.com I post in my answer this guide for reference.

Answer 2

I'm going to give a very much anecdotal answer here because I don't think you'll find any research at all on this, though it'd be great if we had some. (If someone does have some, send it over!)

The distinction between short-term and longterm is critical here. However, what constitutes what? I don't know! But I'll give some scenarios.

I'm a personal trainer who works with everyday people. Average age has probably been around the mid 40s. (We often forget the average adult age in the U.S. is 38!)

I've gotten a lot of clients who say something to the tune of "I used to be very active in my 20s." Or "I played sports growing up."

In my experience, when it's been something like 10-20 years (or more) since the person was active, you ignore it. It's true some of them and you'll be able to tell "Oh, they're picking this up quickly." Or "This is definitely easier for them than most."

But it's not like the common muscle memory scenario we're all familiar with. The 20 year old who has been lifting for a long time, takes a few months off, and then in a few weeks is basically back at full strength.

In fact, with the older crowd who tells me they were once very active, I'm more inclined to hold them back. I've had some who say, start doing push-ups, and then all of a sudden get mentally transformed to thinking they're 25 years old again, only to be greatly disappointed when they can't pump out 20 in a row anymore. That is, I worry about them trying to do too much, too soon, and getting hurt.

A skill these people often never attained was knowing their body at their older age. They don't know how much longer it will take them to recover, how much more sore they'll be, how much less their joints will like something.

Of course, I've given you two extremes. A few months off vs decades off. What about a year off? Or two years? Well, you can certainly be more aggressive than 20 years off, but it's hard to quantify it.

No matter what, I always make people's first one or two workouts back a 50% day. Where after the workout, I want them to leave thinking "Yeah, I could go do all that again." Then we pretty much go by the eyeball and how-do-you-feel test from there.