Jim
I’ve been doing 5/3/1 for almost 3 years, except for a few months while training at my friends crossfit facility last summer. While I was there we were doing 1-3 maxes almost weekly (dumb) leading me to completely tear my pec and have to get surgery to reattach it.
after 8 months of rehab, I’ve been back in the gym doing 5/3/1 for 4 months now. Things are going pretty good, been keeping my TM light for bench and military press and building up my reps. On bench day, I’ve been doing 5 sets of 10 military press for accessory, and on military day doing 5 x 10-15 push-ups.
bench and push-ups actually aren’t bothering my pec at all, it’s the military presses that are killing me. Any advice here? Should I cut out military press for my main lift day, or accessory work, or both? A
ny suggestions for exercise substitutions? Really would like to avoid having a cadaver tendon put in! (next step if I hurt it again)
Train what is trainable. It’s that simple.
Maybe do incline presses at an angle that doesn’t bother your pec? You have to weigh the risk vs reward here, as with all training movements. It’s not like you are being a candy ass, you have a mechanical injury to work around. Operative word here is around. OHP is great, but not at the price of reinjuring yourself again.
EDIT - for what it’s worth, I had my shoulder rebuilt 2 years ago next month and sadly it still bothers me from time to time. The first year sucked ass, but I persevered. It’s really been this last 6 months that things have been noticably been better. It’s a lot better than it was but I still have to go easy every now and then. Your body is different than it once was. You’ll have to learn how to throttle yourself and learn to know when to shut down or hold back, to keep making gains and not reinjure yourself. That’s my story anyways. In time I imagine you will improve and you’ll be able to resume certain things. But take away point here is you don’t “have” to press now.
I’ve torn both pecs and a bicep-muscle belly tears so no need for surgery. Do you have full mobility back? Have you tried any soft tissue modalities such as Graston or ART?
On a semi related note-Ever since I tore my left bicep, my left shoulder NEVER bothers me at all. It was seemingly like there was innate tension in my left pec/bicep area and since both have torn, that tension is gone. There are days I wish my right bicep would tear to compliment the right torn pec…
Does going overehead hurt your pec or is the restricted motion from the pec hurting something else?
[quote]Hospitaller wrote:
Jim
I’ve been doing 5/3/1 for almost 3 years, except for a few months while training at my friends crossfit facility last summer. While I was there we were doing 1-3 maxes almost weekly (dumb) leading me to completely tear my pec and have to get surgery to reattach it.
after 8 months of rehab, I’ve been back in the gym doing 5/3/1 for 4 months now. Things are going pretty good, been keeping my TM light for bench and military press and building up my reps. On bench day, I’ve been doing 5 sets of 10 military press for accessory, and on military day doing 5 x 10-15 push-ups.
bench and push-ups actually aren’t bothering my pec at all, it’s the military presses that are killing me. Any advice here? Should I cut out military press for my main lift day, or accessory work, or both? A
ny suggestions for exercise substitutions? Really would like to avoid having a cadaver tendon put in! (next step if I hurt it again)[/quote]
Train what is trainable - I have no idea what exercises you can or can’t do. Do the things you can do while you rehab. Just make sure they don’t fuck with your rehab.
[quote]blake b wrote:
I’ve torn both pecs and a bicep-muscle belly tears so no need for surgery. Do you have full mobility back? Have you tried any soft tissue modalities such as Graston or ART?
On a semi related note-Ever since I tore my left bicep, my left shoulder NEVER bothers me at all. It was seemingly like there was innate tension in my left pec/bicep area and since both have torn, that tension is gone. There are days I wish my right bicep would tear to compliment the right torn pec…
[/quote]
You probably have/had chronic biceps tendonitis in your both of shoulders. The tear resolved the pain in the left, this could be done surgically in your right with a biceps tenotomy or tenodesis. They are both fairly common procedures, and a tenotomy requires very little recovery. If I had the pain you describe I would consider it and be back lifting in a few weeks.
[quote]blake b wrote:
I’ve torn both pecs and a bicep-muscle belly tears so no need for surgery. Do you have full mobility back? Have you tried any soft tissue modalities such as Graston or ART?
On a semi related note-Ever since I tore my left bicep, my left shoulder NEVER bothers me at all. It was seemingly like there was innate tension in my left pec/bicep area and since both have torn, that tension is gone. There are days I wish my right bicep would tear to compliment the right torn pec…
[/quote]
You probably have/had chronic biceps tendonitis in your both of shoulders. The tear resolved the pain in the left, this could be done surgically in your right with a biceps tenotomy or tenodesis. They are both fairly common procedures, and a tenotomy requires very little recovery. If I had the pain you describe I would consider it and be back lifting in a few weeks.
Drop militaries for a few cycles and try getting some ART, especially on your shoulders/front delts and bicep pec-insertion. Some very gentle foam rolling or massage directly on your pecs won’t hurt either.