my turn for help

my workout partner was in a car accident two yrs ago.this past yr he hasn't trained at all.he still lean,dense and has a good frame.he just lost his volume.i can't get him back in the gym no matter how much i try because he thinks it's goign to be an uphill struggle again.i preach to him about muscle memory ans starting up a cycle again.i've been training since i was 18 and haven't stopped in 7 yrs so i have little personal experience w/ detraining.i'm thinking a 3-6 month plan to get back to where he was before if he cycles right.anyone have an opinion or personal experience w/ this.

I've had a number of injuries through the years, including a herniated disk, a hernia, a torn biceps tendon, and shoulder surgeries. One quote I remember reading some years ago was that success in this sport is measured by the person's ability to come back from an injury, because almost everyone is going to experience at least one of some sort at some time. It's not the injury that may keep you down, but your ability or inability to recover. He went on to say how he uses injuries to change his ENTIRE program, and rethink and redo it better. The point was not to think about it as trying to get back to exactly you were before the injury, but to use your head to do it better. It's somewhat paradoxal, but injuries provide a great time to make some major adjustments, and not stick to the same old boring plan. I guess it's like death and a rebirth.

I used to always be like "benchpress . . . benchpress . . . how much can I benchpress . . ." Damn, the best day in my life seems to be the day that I decided to center my routine around inclines and upper chest. I started out weak, but at least I made significant gains in size and appearance for a change, instead of trying to bench "just 10 more pounds."

So, maybe ask your buddy what he would like to be like in a year, forgetting the old routine, and help him map out an intelligent approach to get there. I think the problem may be defining CLEAR goals, instead of just "let's go workout so you can compare yourself to the old you." Man, f**k the old you.

prob more than most of us,haha.i'll get hom out of this depression if it kills me.

I dont know what his injuries were so I dont want to suggest anything too specific but I think he should spend a good 3-4wks doing just warmup sets - if someone has a spectrum of weight that they lift on like 0-100% of their strength potential - I would suggest the 3-4wks at about 50% just to get the body used to moving again. then start adding weight as he is comfortable and start lifting around 75%, do this until that 75% becomes your new 50% then he's good to start really adding some weight and pushing hard with more weight and smaller sets (10-8-6-4) etc. - he should probably stay there for about 2-3months before going on cycle - I would really think that it will take anywhere from 4-6mons till he will be ready for a cycle -good luck bro