Returning to Bodybuilding After Defeating Cancer

[Nick779]

Hi guys, I have had a rough past few years. I was diagnosed with lung cancer a few years ago. I have finally beaten the cancer and have been cancer free for several months. I am ready to get back into bodybuilding.

My old stats:
5 ft 8 215 lbs ~9% bodyfat (on drugs)

My stats now:
5 ft 8 165 lbs ~14% bodyfat

I have atrophied considerably over the years of treatment and I went in the gym yesterday for the first time and struggled benching 115 lbs for 8-10 reps. I want to regain my lost size as fast as possible naturally. What program or training split would you recommend for me to put on mass quickly? I was thinking of restarting completely fresh with a novice strength training (3x5 full body) 3x a week such as Starting Strength. What are your thoughts? Is a 4-5 day typical bodybuilding split better for achieving my goals? I want to one day compete again but I dont know how soon that will happen.

 

[kawilt]

That's great that you've gotten back in to it.They found a tumor on my kidney a couple of years ago, couldn't take it out because it was inside the kidney so they took the damn kidney out, then they found a tumor on my spine that was multiple Myeloma and I was on chemo for a year. It's taken me about a year to slowly start putting my size back with the help of a low dosage of test and bold. I told my doctors what I was doing and they don't seem concerned with the steroids. I was pissed that I lost all that weight and size and just started working out like I did before, of course with lighter weights and less reps. It's taken about a year, but I've gained back about half of what I lost so far. You'll do fine, just put your mind to it, don't let it beat you. I'm sure some of the guy's on this site can give you some suggestions on what program might work best for you. Good luck

 

[DieYoungStrong]

You guys are my heroes. Seriously!!!

Welcome back to the iron. You're a couple if tough sob's!

 

[DieYoungStrong]

Btw I might get flamed for this on a bodybuilding forum, but starting strength is a great program to run for a few months while you get back into the swing of training and build your strength back.

However, once your linear progression really stops (after 2-3 deloads), its time to move on.

 

[cornedbeefhash]

Great work guys! This is very inspirational.

 

[CensoredBoardsSuck]

Btw I might get flamed for this on a bodybuilding forum, but starting strength is a great program to run for a few months while you get back into the swing of training and build your strength back.

However, once your linear progression really stops (after 2-3 deloads), its time to move on.

Not by me. It works! Starting Strength is the best beginner's program I've ever seen. The program gives damn impressive results to beginners that haven't yet learned how to train and eat properly. Everything is already done for you - you just have to show up at the gym and train and the results will come fast. I suggest it to every beginner that asks me for help. I'd also recommend it to anyone coming back after a long layoff.

I think it's still useful for intermediates too, although once past that point, Rips programs are geared more toward power lifters but there's still a lot of useful advice for bodybuilders.

 

[cornedbeefhash]

Not by me. It works! Starting Strength is the best beginner's program I've ever seen. The program gives damn impressive results to beginners that haven't yet learned how to train and eat properly. Everything is already done for you - you just have to show up at the gym and train and the results will come fast. I suggest it to every beginner that asks me for help. I'd also recommend it to anyone coming back after a long layoff.

I think it's still useful for intermediates too, although once past that point, Rips programs are geared more toward power lifters but there's still a lot of useful advice for bodybuilders.

I love Starting Strength too. It's a great starting point and helps beginners get results! I go back to the program from time to time. It's great after any layoffs from the gym.