Making My 'Comeback' With Beyond 5/3/1

Training 5/3/1
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well, hello everyone. Anyone miss me? I’ve been on the shelf since July - completely tore my right pectoral muscle. Needed surgery to reattach it, developed a massive hematoma after surgery, which required a SECOND surgery! Needless to say, it’s been a long depressing road since then…

Anyway, I followed 5/3/1 for over 2 years with awesome results, NO injuries, which for an over 35 lifter, is pretty damn good. Last spring, an old friend of mine opened a cross fit place, but being an ex-strongman, his programming wasn’t typical CrossFit - his place does heavy strength work every day, followed by a 10-20 minute met con. Perfect…or so I thought.

His trainer (a great guy) had us lifting 1, 2, or 3 rep maxes on all 4 big lifts, multiple times per week… week after week. at first, it was great. Worked my into the top spot on all the big 4 lifts on the whiteboard (which certainly stoked my 38 year old ego). But didn’t take long for injuries to start accumulating. First, a fractured fibula, then, as soon as that healed - the pec tear!

I learned a hard lesson. For an older lifter, the 5/3/1 principles are pure GOLD! I LOVE this new 5/3/1 program from the article today!! I won’t be cleared for full lifting until January, but when I am, I will start this program to a “T”, and I think I will even give the supplement regiment a go.

Maybe I will even document my progress for the fun of it!!!

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[quote]Hospitaller wrote:
completely tore my right pectoral muscle. Needed surgery to reattach it[/quote]
How long ago was that and how has your recovery been? Do you think you will ever bench more than you did before the pec tear?

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surgery to repair the pec was July 23rd, 2nd surgery for hematoma was 3 days later. Recovery has been slow and frustrating. The surgeon that did the work is one of the Raven’s ortho docs. He told me if I listen to him and DO NOT lift until he tells me to, then the pec will be almost 100% back. He said if I am stupid and try to do something too soon, then I could ruin it, and the surgery would be for nothing. Needless to say, I am doing exactly what he tells me

I am optimistic that my bench will get back to where it was before the injury