Do muscles get more sensitive after a prolonged stop?

[Who Dares Win]

I managed to propertly train only from few days after basically a month long stop.

Awfully Im not as strong as before in terms of weight especially on the bench press where I lost about 20% of my results.

However despite being weaker in terms of strenght, my muscles seem much more responsive to training, I actually look as big as before if not more in the arms department (where I got a -10% performance btw).

A friend of mine suggested me that maybe I respond better to less training within a week yet I cant understand how someone can have the same muscle mass while being weaker.

Anyone can relate?

Ps. legs got big and hard as fvck despite I just run 15 minutes in the last 2 months and neglected direct training.

pps also endurance decreased, training biceps after back leads me to burn out much faster than before.

 

[Lynx nkaf]

hey!
Well done, I read a lot of positives here.

Do you see where you excelled?
Good going.

Match your protein intake to what you're accomplishing now.

 

[HankHill]

Depends on a lot of things, like age, muscle recovery time etc.

A friend of mine suggested me that maybe I respond better to less training within a week yet I cant understand how someone can have the same muscle mass while being weaker.

Anyone can relate?

I have/had the opposite problem recently where my strength kept increasing without any muscle mass gain. But it was also recompositioning. I'd much rather train with less weight and more reps to pump blood into the muscles and save my joints from the wear and tear. It also gives the visible effect more so than working out with heavy weights and doing low reps which builds strength. However, if you're a natty you gotta lift heavy and do more reps, that's why eventually people give up or just start taking steroids because the result-to-effort ratio is so much easier. At least this has been the case for me.

 

[Lookatu]

This is normal. It's because your muscles are going into atrophy more easily. That is also the reason why they recommend you stagger your workouts between heavy and light days. Bottom line is whether you're doing lighter weights with more reps or heavier weights with low reps, you're muscles need to go into atrophy.

Because I'm older, I do a more tame workout and it's worked out result wise very similar to when I was working out twice as hard. Keep in mind, I'm more in maintenance mode. If you actually wanna build crazy muscle mass, then you will need to put in the work. But do it in a smart way by understanding the science behind it.

 

[Lookatu]

I'd much rather train with less weight and more reps to pump blood into the muscles and save my joints from the wear and tear.

This is what I advocate for all the older guys. You can always build muscle into your 70's but you can't really do anything to improve joints. They will deteriorate with age and that's that. I don't believe in those hocus pocus joint juice supplements either. You just have to keep moving and not over tax them or you will sustain some injuries.

 

[Machine10033]

There are so many variables. Your central nervous system has a ton to do with strength and power. I was 230lbs over the winter and once I started my cut changed my rep ranges. I do a ton of 2-5 rep sets and continue to get stronger every week while losing weight. January my squat max was 330.... just yesterday I did 385 at 15 lbs lighter body weight. You can also look more muscular if your muscles are saturated with glycogen... which gets rapidly depleted when your training frequency increases. So by you lowering your frequency your muscles are hydrated and full. Your strength will come back.

 

[EyeOnThePrize]

I managed to propertly train only from few days after basically a month long stop.

Awfully Im not as strong as before in terms of weight especially on the bench press where I lost about 20% of my results.

However despite being weaker in terms of strenght, my muscles seem much more responsive to training, I actually look as big as before if not more in the arms department (where I got a -10% performance btw).

A friend of mine suggested me that maybe I respond better to less training within a week yet I cant understand how someone can have the same muscle mass while being weaker.

Anyone can relate?

Ps. legs got big and hard as fvck despite I just run 15 minutes in the last 2 months and neglected direct training.

pps also endurance decreased, training biceps after back leads me to burn out much faster than before.

You're describing the difference between muscle recruitment and hypertrophy. Once you recruit new muscle fibers they never go away, they only shrink with neglect and swell with work, but never cease to exist. This is why an athlete can take a long break then buff up in a couple weeks. The fibers are all still there and only a bit of work is necessary for hypertrophy.