Fucking Pectoral tear!

[BigCracker]

Yesterday I did chest. I warmed up/stretched for a good 15 minutes. I did a lot of push ups and isometric chest contractions. I planned on doing about 5 sets of flat bench for starts. 1 x 135 for 10, 2 x 225 for 10-15, 1 x 315 for 10, and 1 x 405 for 8-10. This is a pretty normal start for me and my form is strict except I might bounce a little or used forced reps on my last couple repetitions of my last couple sets. Anyway, I got to the 5th rep with 315 and kinda lost my groove for a second on the way down. As soon as I started rep 6 I felt a rip in my outer left pec. I immediately let the bar rest on my chest. My bro was right there so he pulled it off of me. Thank god he just happened to be standing there cuz normally I don't use a spotter until I get to 400 +. Anyway, immediately I knew something wasn't right. There was swelling in my outer pec/armpit/inner bicep area and I no longer had range of motion to raise my arms overhead. Mainly I'm thankful that with my years of training experience I knew not to try and complete the rep as soon as I felt something strange. Only God knows how much worse off I'd be if I tried to complete it.

It's been 24 hrs now and I've been icing it and taking Aleve to reduce swelling. The swelling has subsided a bit, but the discoloration from the tear is starting to look nasty. On my outer left pec I have 4 inch by 4 inch black and blue bruise and another 2 inch long one inch wide bruise on my inner bicep near my armpit.

I know this is a serious injury, and I hear many guys need to go under the knife to fix it. I also read that if it's a partial tear it will heal up on it's own. I'm willing to accept the fact it will never be the same strength and may not cosmetically look the way it used to, but I'd like here from other guys that had this injury and recovered. I don't think I fully tore mine cuz I hear the pec muscle balls up if it's completely torn. I have a small indentation in my armpit area yet surrounding muscle groups feel fine. I can even still bounce my injured pec when I flex it-but it feels weak like it needs time to rest and heal. Any 411 would be great.

 

[mlong23]

Hope you are going to go and see a doctor. The only thing similar for me was a pretty bad pull/strain in the outer chest region. I can still feel it sometimes when lifting, but that is in no way a comparison to a tear.

Medical science has grown so much over the past few years, that even if you have to have surgery they should be able to fix it cosmetically to where it would look similiar. Don't know if you will ever be able to be as strong again, but I wouldn't think you would want to take that risk again.

Sorry again.

 

[BigCracker]

Thanks bro-but I didn't want this to be a pity party. My contest days are over and I'm really not concerned with my left pec being a little whack looking compared to my right pec. I'm cool with that. I just wanted to hear from others about their chest injuries so I could become familiar with rehabing it. I don't trust Drs-and most won't guarantee that my pec will be as good as new after some operation anyway. I'd rather spend the $$$ on GH and rehab it to 70% strength on my own as opposed to going under the knife, rehab/PT and only having it be 80% of what it was. It may not even be a tear? It's not very painful. I seperated my shoulder in high school and from what I remember my shoulder hurt way worse and made feel like way more of a cripple than I do now. The dr's told me back then that surgery was the only choice to rehab my shoulder-I just accepted it as fate. After gaining unwanted weight I started training again. I trained around my shoulder injury for about a year-a yr or so later I was in my mid 20's and benching 500+ . So you can see why I'm skeptical of Dr's telling me surgery is mandatory for recovery.

 

[chazk]

Thanks bro-but I didn't want this to ba a pity party. My contest days are over and I'm really not concerned with my left pec being a little whack looking compared to my right pec. I'm cool with that. I just wanted to hear from others about their chest injuries so I could become familiar with rehabing it. I don't trust Drs-and most won't guarantee that my pec will be as good as new after some operation anyway. I'd rather spend the $$$ on GH and rehab it to 70% strength on my own as opposed to going under the knife, rehab/PT and only having it be 80% of what it was. It may not even be a tear? It's not very painful. I seperated my shoulder in high school and from what I remember my shoulder hurt way worse and made feel like way more of a cripple than I do now. The dr's told me back then that surgery was the only choice to rehab my shoulder-I just accepted it as fate. After gaining unwanted weight I started training again. I trained around my shoulder injury for about a year-a yr or so later I was in my mid 20's and benching 500+ . So you can see why I'm skeptical of Dr's telling me surgery is mandatory for recovery.

man this is exactly the reason i stopped lifting any weight below the 8 rep range . I was on the incline bench with a 130lbs barbell in each hand i hand doing wide presses when I reached the top on my last rep of 5.the whole gym heard a giant crack as my shoulder came out of socket the weight hit the floor i fell over in pain then pulled it forward to reset it .The left arm went back in place took almost 4 months to heal to the point i could go semi heavy.
And to tell you the 100% truth its not the same and that was 7 years ago. I have in the back of my mind it could happen agian and I might fuck my self up so bad I cant work out anymore for the rest of my life and I'm only 29 now.Its not worth it man i dont wanna sound like a pussy but let it heal even if it takes 6 months .

 

[BigCracker]

man this is exactly the reason i stopped lifting any weight below the 8 rep range . I was on the incline bench with a 130lbs barbell in each hand i hand doing wide presses when I reached the top on my last rep of 5.the whole gym heard a giant crack as my shoulder came out of socket the weight hit the floor i fell over in pain then pulled it forward to reset it .The left arm went back in place took almost 4 months to heal to the point i could go semi heavy.
And to tell you the 100% truth its not the same and that was 7 years ago. I have in the back of my mind it could happen agian and I might fuck my self up so bad I cant work out anymore for the rest of my life and I'm only 29 now.Its not worth it man i dont wanna sound like a pussy but let it heal even if it takes 6 months .

Thanks bro. I don't have much fear. I know I'm getting up there in years and it's pretty much a miracle I've never sustained a serious BB injury. I'm pretty good at training around injuries like tendinitis-I kinda like it cause I devote more time training detail muscles like calves/forearms-the muscles people see daily when I wear a t-shirt and Jean shorts. Plus at 300 #'s w/ a 36 inch waist I'll never be a pencilneck even if I never train heavy again. I'm not thrilled about losing size, but I'll never be small.

If anything I'll turn this injury into motivation to get my bf% lower and keep it there. I get more tuna when I'm smaller anyway.

 

[macrophage69alpha]

It's been 24 hrs now and I've been icing it and taking Aleve to reduce swelling. The swelling has subsided a bit, but the discoloration from the tear is starting to look nasty. On my outer left pec I have 4 inch by 4 inch black and blue bruise and another 2 inch long one inch wide bruise on my inner bicep near my armpit.

these are indications of a serious tear. You may be able to recover without surgery but at the very least you should have a physical therapist, preferably a sports medicine doctor look at it. At least get an opinion.

even mild tears are a big deal, the kind of bruising and swelling you describe indicate a serious tear. Though agree that surgery is not always the best option especially with good drug therapy.... you should however still have someone look at it, preferably a specialist

 

[BigCracker]

these are indications of a serious tear. You may be able to recover without surgery but at the very least you should have a physical therapist, preferably a sports medicine doctor look at it. At least get an opinion.

even mild tears are a big deal, the kind of bruising and swelling you describe indicate a serious tear. Though agree that surgery is not always the best option especially with good drug therapy.... you should however still have someone look at it, preferably a specialist

I know it's fucked up, what's a specialist going to be able to tell me that I don't already know? The last thing I need to hear is I need an operation. That will automatically put me on the defensive. The last Dr that told me that I needed surgery robbed me of 2 yrs of my life and a wrestling scholarship by telling me I'd never participate in sports again unless I went under the knife immediately. My parents didn't have the $$$ to spend on my operation so I accepted what the all-knowing Dr said as fate. I'd like that fucker to see me now and my room full of BB trophies. His prognosis for my recovery was way off or inspired by his own greed. Either way he's probably a piece of shit that nobody should trust.

Besides, most Dr's will just refer me to Physical Therapists - some that I wouldn't trust to wash my dog, let alone help rehab my injury. If it's not something I'm going to die from, I'd rather use "The Force" to fix it on my own.

Anyway, thanks for the input macro just the same. It's much appreciated.

 

[dsh89]

Damn bro I feel ya. I tore the outer pec/bicep about 5 years ago doing heavy flies. Over rotated the dumbell on the downward side and felt a pop. I have not been the same since. I went to a sports medicine clinic and the fucking doctor told me that I would only need surgery if I were an Olympic athlete. Well, he did not tell me that my left pec would always look bigger while being weaker. I only use dumbells now to do bench press, and can bang out 2 more reps each set with my right. I have lost strength on my bench and military press on the left side, and have to compensate more with that left shoulder. Plus, now it is easier for it to tear again which has happened once to me. You need rehab and rest. If I had it to do over again, I think I would want the surgery. Just my experience.

 

[dsh89]

Oh yeah my bruise grew to the size that it stretched from my left elbow all the way down to the middle of my ribs on that left side. I can still lift heavy, but boy do I feel it. Cosmetically, it really doesn't look that different. Dunno, I think that I still would have liked to have had the surgery.

 

[DieselGunz]

damn bro rest and get better that sounds bad