Background: grew up playing competitive rugby, ran the London Marathon in 1999, worked out for many years after that doing heavy compound exercises 3-4 days per week plus cardio. I was in great shape until jaw surgery in 2007 followed almost immediately by a lower back injury. Weeks out of the gym turned into months, and months turned into years as "life got in the way". Totally my fault. Bad diet, stress, fell in with the wrong woman () and so on. One excuse after another that led to me becoming a very out of shape 263lbs at 6' 6" tall.

I got married in December 2016 (not to the wrong woman LOL) and really started to take stock of my life. I want to be a much better example to my stepdaughter, and to be around for a long time to enjoy life with my family. To that end I joined a gym 3 weeks ago. I took it easy for the first couple of weeks, started out at 20 minutes of moderate intensity cardio on the elliptical and added a minute every day. Amazing how fast cardio conditioning comes back as by the end of week two I was able to do 30 minutes at a higher intensity (heart rate up to the 170 area) but didn't feel as gassed as I did on the first day back. On Saturday I was able to do 45 minutes while still maintaining 160-170 BPM.

This week I decided I was ok to reintroduce weights. I had no idea how weak I'd become over the 10 years of bad habits! I couldn't get through benching 135lbs for 3 x 8 which is ridiculous. That would barely have been a warm-up weight back in the day. In fact so far it's been the same with all of the major compound exercises, my strength has been cut by at least 35% - 40% or worse.

Not a poor me thread by any stretch of the imagination, more of an expression of surprise at how badly strength can decline when the body is neglected. Also putting it out there in public as motivation to do better and NEVER let myself go like that again. It will be a long road back given that I'm about to turn 43, but I'm determined to get there one workout at a time 

I know the feeling. Ruptured a disc a little over a year ago and didn't squat or deadlift until recently. Crippling pain for about a week after getting back in the rack. And no real weight on the bar to show for it.

Hopefully it comes back quicker than it came the first time. Newby gains all over again. I hope.

Newby gains would be nice! It sucks to know that I'm weaker than I've been in almost a quarter century 

Good luck with your recovery and journey back to strength.

I bet it comes back pretty quick. After that long you will see some quick gains, at least at first. I know I am.

I have to deal with the shame of letting myself turn into the guy from the "don't skip leg day" meme, but at least I'm moving forward again, albeit very slowly.

You'll get it back quickly my friend and we've all been there. The main thing is you started back and that's where most fail. Good job and listen to CT Fletcher when you think about quitting. He'll have you ready for just one more set !!!!!

Next time you see a doctor (you did go for a physical before you started back to the gym, right?) have him do the blood draw for a testosterone level check for baseline level.
1.) It's good info to have.
2.) If you're actually low now, you can gauge whether working out is stimulating natural production as you progress.
3.) If your natural production doesn't progress, giving yourself booster shots may be what you require to help stave off issues with decreasing bone density and other low-T related issues.
4.) If you're actually low and natural production doesn't progress, injecting T will help you put on the muscle you work for, which will help put you at a fitness level you can maintain a schedule to keep.  I'm not saying you need to juice and get yuuge, I'm saying that normal results will keep you motivated for life  rather than throwing in the towel  if you get no results.  Low T levels can cause all sorts of problems in your normal life quite unrelated to going to the gym or even just keeping active.

All good advice, thank-you.

Yes, I had a physical before I went back. I touched base with him afterwards as well to make sure the pulse rate of 170+ during cardio wasn't too much (long family history of heart problems). Cholesterol was a touch on the high side which was no great surprise given the crappy diet and lack of exercise. Pretty sure that will come down with the lifestyle changes. T was at the lower end of the range (438) so we'll keep an eye on that. It was lower than that 3 years ago - low 300s - and I was on a regimen of injections, Arimidex, and HCG for a while. It got unaffordable so I weaned myself off it. I was surprised that my level now, 18 months after my last injection, is higher than it was before the treatment. Weird as I was worried that it would have crashed. Hopefully it will improve even more with better eating and heavy lifting in a 5x5 type program.

The big change for me has been adding liquid Vitamin D3 at the relatively high level of 10,000 iU per day. When I was last tested, I was horribly deficient. I mean almost off the bottom of the range low. I certainly have a lot more energy now that my levels are towards the top of the range, and I guess it might be helping with the T level too.

I have a follow-up scheduled for July, so it will be interesting to see how things have progressed by then.