I need help with this , is very annoying!

[sandman_007]

coincidently there is a post right now about someone who tore their pec doing incline presses.

OKAY, so LAST SUNDAY i was doing incline presses and i felt something kind of unusual- No, it was not a teared pec thank god, but it could have been (see my old post here, look in my hestory). But it could have been a prelude to a torn pec. Regardless, i knew enough to stop

Fast foward to today and i attempted to do flat bench presses- and i got that same strange feeling in my right pec. I could not train chest again today either! i trained biceps, abs, and did some shoulders since i couldn't train chest. This is getting quite annoying. The pain was not as bad as when i did something last Sunday but again, it was noticable enough that i could not do the exercise i normally do WITHOUT PAIN, so again, i didn't do it

What can you guys recommend so i can do bench presses again? Since it's been 12 days since i've seriously done the exercise, and couldn't do it today, i'm getting quite fustrated. i want to train my chest but cannot as it does not feel right. i thought that after 6 days it would be better, it is slightly but still bothers me enough so that i cannot do it.

i'm still lucky i didn't screw anything up last week- like tear the muscle or i would be out of the gym for a good while!

 

[sandman_007]

here is my post last sunday that i made:

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i started a set of incline presses and didn't warm up enough, and went too fast on the reps (than i normally do). Instead of warming up like i usually do by doing two sets at 135, two sets at 185, and one set at 205 (before proceeding to 240-260 for 3 working sets) i only did one set of 135 and 185, then jumped to 220. My right pec started to hurt badly, and i had to rack the weight- and unfortunately had to stop the exercise without doing it. But i could tell that if i proceeded any further, i ran a risk of injuring myself, tearing my pec, etc, so unfortunately i had to proceed to non chest exercises.

Remember, if you ever get unusual pain, stop the exercise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm glad i did (but learned a lesson to always warm up properly no matter what!)

 

[BOOEY]

You took the first step by not continuing to exercise your chest. Now the next step: Go see a specialist

 

[Tom Treutlein]

If money or insurance isn't an issue, sure, go see someone about it. Preferably someone who has dealt with lifters before, maybe a sports doctor.

However, you may also feel comfortable knowing two things. One, your strength will return promptly, even if you have to take some necessary time away - upwards of a month, even. Second, as long as you're eating enough, you're not going to lose any of that muscle any time soon. The only thing you may notice is a slightly "deflated" look, or lack of pump, due to no glycogen being taken into the muscle, since it's not being trained. This, too, will dissipate as soon as you hit the lift again.

That being said, try again in a couple days with just the bar. Make sure you use proper bench form. Read the bench press stick at the top of the powerlifting forum to make sure you know proper form, don't just assume you do unless you've been told it by someone experienced before - preferably someone outside the gym, on the not-so-off chance they're uninformed. If you still feel pain, even with the bar for a warmup set, then you may want to severely consider seeing someone.

However, if you find it easy, work up with 5-10 lb. jumps, and stop at a weight you feel is still light (let's say, 50% of your normal working weight). Don't exert yourself to see if you can lift as much as you were last time. Just work up slowly over a few weeks. I'm sure you'll be just fine.

 

[sandman_007]

Thanks. well, considering that i can feel it is dissapaiting in pain (albeit slightly) i have a feeling if i just do a complete layoff for a 3-4 days (really hard to do psychologically though) will help me a lot since i won't be irritating it at all. last sunday for example it was bothering me when i lifted my right arm (raising my hand) and today it bothers me much less- i'll give it a few days of complete rest to heal completely. these things do happen from time to time unfortunately

 

[Tom Treutlein]

I've had similar problems in my elbows, knees, and back. Went away in a short time. Must've been an overuse injury.

 

[sandman_007]

I've had similar problems in my elbows, knees, and back. Went away in a short time. Must've been an overuse injury.

it wasn't that. i bothered something in my pec last sunday doing inclines. i didn't perform as many warm up sets as i am used to doing, i am pretty sure that was the culprit

 

[Tom Treutlein]

Oh, I meant it was an overuse injury for myself. I should've clarified. As I posted, I thought there might be some misinterpretation.