Quick question... I've been sick this whole week so I haven't been lifting at all. I'll probably still take off a couple of days because I feel pretty crappy but I'm wondering when I do start lifting again, what percentage of what I was lifting before should I start at? Obviously, I should do what I'm comfortable with but it would be nice to have some sort of starting point so I'm not experimenting the entire time.

If you've only taken a week off, and I'm assuming you've been lifting for more than a few months, you should be ok at the weight you were lifting. You might feel weaker and maybe do less reps. You might feel more sore the next day, but as long as you know your limits - what it feels like when you're over doing it - you should be fine.

I hope you feel better soon.

Thanks, yep, it'll be just a couple days over a week once I start up again and I've been working out seriously since, well, last summer. I've only done heavy lifting since march but before that I was doing other weight exercises (water aerobics with weights/30 Day shred with weights etc). I like the idea of just doing as many reps as I'm able. That would take a lot of the guess work out of it.

Yeah, but, if you can't do 8 reps, lower the weight. It's not a bad idea to purposely do less weight and more reps, either. You'll still be sore = you'll still get a good lift in.

Thanks for the help. I ended up waiting 10 days because my body ended up taking for ever to get over this. Anyways, I was able to do the workout just as before and actually probably could've gone up in weights. I even ran a mile afterwards. Oh, and now I've lost an inch off of my waist.