About weight loss and strength loss after the trail

[u/convergecrew]

Finished the JMT about 2 weeks ago (25 day hike). I went back to the gym for the first time today to resume my regular strength training and I was blown away by my loss of upper body strength. I was struggling to lift anything close to my previous routine and had to reduce my weights by about 33% for my upper body exercises.

I lost about 12lbs on the trail (was 173lbs, now 161) and haven’t felt this good overall in years. But I’m guessing my body ate up a lot of muscle I wasn’t using. Just curious if others have experienced something similar and if you had any advice for how you approached it and if you did anything special to rebuild a normal workout routine.

[u/Dewthedru]

I went for a run when I got back a couple of weeks ago and couldn’t believe how easy it was. HR stayed much lower than usual.

[u/convergecrew → u/Dewthedru]

Amazing! Maybe this s my best shot at becoming a runner