Chest Injury After Bench

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

im on my second week of the westside workout from the recent article. the exersize i was doing at the time was barbell bench for 5.

i was working up toward my 5rep max and had about 245 when on my right peck i felt two quick pops right where the peck connects to the shoulder.

everything still looked in tacked but it hurt. i dont think it was a muscle tear because there was no internal bleeding and its up to high. the next day i have full ROM but some pain and little strength when i push my arm in the direction of a bb bench. the pain is only in the armpit and not on the main peck and feels to be the tendons.

i was wondering what the possibilities of severity are with my conditions and if its a good idea to get it looked at. also what are good ways to get it back into shape so i loose little gym time.

thanks for the help.

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you should really do see a doctor dude you could seriously hurt yourself for ages destroying any gains you have made
btw if it waqs a pec tear you would be on the floor like a baby cause it fuckin hurts

3

i’ve torn plenty of muscles over the years. i"ve had some really good bleed outs as well. i would give it a day or so and then go back and hit the gym. i’ve torn my pec twice and was back in the gym a couple days later. the key is to limit the range of motion and slowly increase it over time. i would typically do high board presses or pin presses and then slowly lower them over the next few weeks.

personally, i think the worse thing you can do is to do nothing. i find that i recover faster if i get back in there and just play it safe and don’t do anything that makes it worse.

then again… i’m not very smart.

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[quote]maraudermeat wrote:
i’ve torn plenty of muscles over the years. i"ve had some really good bleed outs as well. i would give it a day or so and then go back and hit the gym. i’ve torn my pec twice and was back in the gym a couple days later. the key is to limit the range of motion and slowly increase it over time. i would typically do high board presses or pin presses and then slowly lower them over the next few weeks.

personally, i think the worse thing you can do is to do nothing. i find that i recover faster if i get back in there and just play it safe and don’t do anything that makes it worse.

then again… i’m not very smart. [/quote]

Bullshit, you’re one of the most experienced guys on this board.

What he said. And when you gradually work to full range, you can make heavy use of chains and reverse bands to take some of the load off your chest at the bottom while still handling fairly heavy weights at the top.

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[quote]maraudermeat wrote:
i’ve torn plenty of muscles over the years. i"ve had some really good bleed outs as well. i would give it a day or so and then go back and hit the gym. i’ve torn my pec twice and was back in the gym a couple days later. the key is to limit the range of motion and slowly increase it over time. i would typically do high board presses or pin presses and then slowly lower them over the next few weeks.

personally, i think the worse thing you can do is to do nothing. i find that i recover faster if i get back in there and just play it safe and don’t do anything that makes it worse.

then again… i’m not very smart. [/quote]

Tears or pulls? Doesn’t a pec tear require surgery? and you were back in the gym benching a few days later.

I don’t know if I would recommend the average person to go back to benching a few days after surgery.

OP it sounds more like a pull then a complete tear a little rehab or try what maraudermeat said and you’ll be fine.

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how does shit like this happen anyway…the tears n stuff?
I always thought people who used steroids were more prone to injuries like these because their muscles + strength would grow faster than the tendon strength would grow and therefore things go downhill when underheavy weight etc.

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[quote]Airtruth wrote:
maraudermeat wrote:
i’ve torn plenty of muscles over the years. i"ve had some really good bleed outs as well. i would give it a day or so and then go back and hit the gym. i’ve torn my pec twice and was back in the gym a couple days later. the key is to limit the range of motion and slowly increase it over time. i would typically do high board presses or pin presses and then slowly lower them over the next few weeks.

personally, i think the worse thing you can do is to do nothing. i find that i recover faster if i get back in there and just play it safe and don’t do anything that makes it worse.

then again… i’m not very smart.

Tears or pulls? Doesn’t a pec tear require surgery? and you were back in the gym benching a few days later.

I don’t know if I would recommend the average person to go back to benching a few days after surgery.

OP it sounds more like a pull then a complete tear a little rehab or try what maraudermeat said and you’ll be fine.[/quote]

i’ve had both pulls and tears. for tears it all depends on where it tears. luckily all my tears have been in the body of the muscle, not at an insertion. if it tears at an insertion, the muscle will ball up in an area. even then it doesn’t necessarily need surgery if you can live with the way it looks. i’ve known people to have pec tears and bicep tears at the insertion points and didn’t get them repaired.

i should have been more specific. i was back in the gym but not necessarily doing bench variations. i think it’s important to get that muscle moving again through a limite range of motion to keep the scar tissue from forming. once that happens your range of motion can be perminantely limited.

just do what doesn’t hurt and slowly work back into it. limit the range of motion and slowly work back to it. it’s amazing how fast the body can recover. usually its the mind that takes longer to recover from an injury.

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[quote]rasturai wrote:
how does shit like this happen anyway…the tears n stuff?
I always thought people who used steroids were more prone to injuries like these because their muscles + strength would grow faster than the tendon strength would grow and therefore things go downhill when underheavy weight etc.[/quote]

it can happen to anyone at anytime. it’s just part of the game. if you are really pushing yourself then its gonna happen. with me, though, most of my injuries have come from stupidity. the first time i tore my pec i was doing 4 board press. i was feeling great so instead of warming up like normal, i jumped from 315 to 585. as i was lowering the weight, i felt it and heard it tear.

the second time i tore my pec, i had cut water to get down to 259 to compete in a SPF meet. i decided at the last minute to do a local meet two weeks before the big meet to just see where i was at. i should have known i was screwed because on my first set of warmups, both my calves locked up. i continued to warmup. on my second attempt with 520 i was bringing it down and again, it tore. when i got up from the bench a guy in the back came up to me and asked if my tshirt had ripped. i said -“no… that was my pec”… to really engrain my stupidity i went on to deadlift. warmups went okay but on my second attempt with 640,as i was passing my knees the oblique on the same side as my pec started to rip. i could feel it tearing like if you were tearing a piece of fabric.

i was almost at lockout, so i tried to continue pulling. i felt another area of the oblique start to tear. my grip finally went and i dropped the weight. all in all, i tore my pec and oblique in three different places. i was black and blue from my collar bones all the way down into my groin.

the worst tear i had was an adductor. i initially tore it by doing heavy stepups onto a bench. i was already fatigued from doing heavy squats. it wasn’t bad and i kinda forgot about it. two weeks later i needed to test my squat for an upcoming meet. my warmups went well but when i got to 495 i started to feel an ache in the adductor. the idiot that i am, i kept pushing. went for 585, hurt like hell, then went to my second attempt-675. as i was sitting into the hole it started to tear and the further i dropped the more i could feel it tear. luckily i was in the cage and had the pins set.

it bled out for two days. when it finally stopped bleeding, my entire leg all the way around was black and blue. at one point i had my cell phone in my jeans pocket in my truck. when i took my pants off, i had the perfect imprint of the phone in the blood under my skin. that injury took an entire year to heal. it still bothers me if i don’t keep it stretched out.

the moral of the story…warmup properly, stay hydrated and LISTEN to your body. if it doesn’t feel quit right, don’t push it. there’s always next time.

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Thats how this happened. i was short on time so after a couple a one plate i went straight to two plates and did five quick ones, and thats when i felt like something wasnt right in my peck. but i was like oh well and threw on some more weight and thats when it poped.

i learned no matter how short on time, always warm up properly. thank God it wasnt worse.

its feeling better today. i went to the gym and was able to do all the timed sets with no problem. and the last two nights i was doing pushups and foam rolling to keep it stretched and to get the blood flowing. i plan on getting back under the bar in a few days and keep i light then work back up.

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shit maurader that’s soem crazy ass stories man haha your scarin me!

I’ve done 315 bench press before for fun, no warmup. Just cause friends wouldnt believe it, or didn’t think I could do it warmuped up.
Fuck that though, I always warmup now but when I think bout it, that was so dumb of me!

I have another post in this forum bout ebnchin heavy and nothing popped or teared or anything. But I feel like where the shoulder/chest is it’s a little tender to push on it. So I’m guessing I was pushin it too hard and just like a pulled muscle or somethin.

But I was gonna bench 360 tomrorow for a heavy day but after these posts I’m just gonna save it, and work with 225 or so for some reps, perhaps some high rep close grips too. Just to keep strength up, but it doesn’t feel 100% yet so I rather not push it. Thanks for the posts guys.

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When you start using new maxes, is when it gets tricky. Automatically using less weight, or taking time off isn’t always the answer. Try going heavy in different lifts, say the floor press, or a dumbell press with the hands facing each other, of course moving your chest workout to the next day won’t have a major effect but it’s just something to think about.

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[quote]Airtruth wrote:
When you start using new maxes, is when it gets tricky. Automatically using less weight, or taking time off isn’t always the answer. Try going heavy in different lifts, say the floor press, or a dumbell press with the hands facing each other, of course moving your chest workout to the next day won’t have a major effect but it’s just something to think about.[/quote]

Thats kinda what i decided to do. since i have the ability to push in other directions im going to move to military for my heavy push to let the peck rest. ill see how it goes next monday.

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yeah, I know you commented on my forum airtruth…i’m tryin everythin! lol thanks mang.