Latisimus Dorsi tears??

[FlexBailey]

Anybody know anthing or have any experience tearing your lats??

I was in the gym last night finishing up hams doing stiff legged deadlifts as I always do. I went up to 315 pounds(as I always do) usually squeezing out about 8 reps..but on this night as soon as I lowered the bar something pulled in my upper lat. Right in the area that basically connects to your armpit. It hurt enough for me to call it a night. I'm a little stiff this morning as it's still sore in that area. There's no bruising or vicious pain..just a slight degree or discomfort.
Now first thing I thought of was a tear but that's VERY rare for the lat muscle. I'm hoping it's just a pull but with my luck..

 

[TEST0STER0NE]

Why do you say it is rare to have a lat tear? Without proper form and weight on Deads. and or Back motions it is easy to tear your lats. Judging by your description I would think the tear is minimal, if there is no appearent bruising or loss of muscle size. I would say stay off it for a good 3-4 weeks, becasue once it's there it is easy to cause more injury.
~~~~>Test.

 

[FlexBailey]

It's rare because i have never in 10 years known anyone to tear a lat muscle or even heard of it.

 

[RoNiN]

Hey Flex , sorry to hear about the tear. I had a minor lower back tear 3 years ago doing heavy deadlifts and I just did some good stretching and light weight for a couple of weeks to slowly work my way back up to where I was. In a couple of months I was doing the same weight successfully.

I would just be careful , stiff-leg deadlifts are a tough movement and you can easily injure yourself , I have already strained a tendon between my lat and my shoulder from them. Not only that I have aggrivated my lower back a couple of times going over 300lbs on that movement. I like going heavy but it isn't worth injuring yourself over.

Now I don't go as heavy , on my light week I'll did 225 for 15 slow reps and on the heavy weeks i'll do stiff leg deadlifts after all my other leg movements and hamstring movements so I won't be able to get over 300 which should prevent injury.

You can also switch to hammer streangth stiff leg dead's for a while which should be easier on the body.

BTW: Sounds like you have your streangth back , how is the chest? and everything else.... are you getting ready to start dieting yet? What off season weight are you at ? Are you still with the sust and eq?

Cheers,

Ronin

 

[FlexBailey]

Hey Ronin, long time no see..
I actually just started dieting yesterday for the ottawa show which is April 6th now. I'm up to 245 pounds and will probably target in for about 205-210 ripped. I'm just finishing a small d-bol only cycle whihc I had to cut short because of the show being bumped up.
I'll be there just as long as I don't have any serious injuries..like this potentially freaking one!
How goes it with you?

 

[TEST0STER0NE]

>"It's rare because i have never in 10 years known anyone to tear a lat muscle or even heard of it."

Hey Flex , sorry to hear about the tear. I had a minor lower back tear 3 years ago doing heavy deadlifts and I just did some good stretching and light weight for a couple of weeks to slowly work my way back up to where I was. In a couple of months I was doing the same weight successfully.

And there you have it, someone has! It's more common than you think. Be sure to strectch before any heavy workouts, sometimes, overtraining can be at fault. Just trying to help you out here, take it or leave it
~~~~>Test.

 

[RoNiN]

Yeah your right about that show moving to April suddenly , that's CBBF for you. They guy who I know that was planning to compete as a heavy in that show is pulling out because it isn't enough time. I suspect it will be easy for you because most guys will either pass it for a later show or not diet enough , either way it looks like a cake walk for you.

I suspected you would start dieting now , I certainly would if I was doing it now.

I'm surprised your only doing D , I would expect total cranking to get yourself ready... but then again I don't think you need to worry too much.

As for me , I'm loving the off season which is the first time this year I'm not in a rush to start dieting again. I'm about 200 at 10-11% body fat and starting to make serious progress now in my 7th week of off season training.

The weights are back to where they were at my strongest and now they are going up , I'm starting to gain some size in the legs and shoulders and back.

My goal is essentially to gain about 2 quality lbs a month for the next 15 months and get to about 230 before dieting for the national qualifier. I hope to come in as a light heavy.

Other then that just doing everything I can to improve and stay injury free , the tendon is getting better and my joints are not as bad as they used to be mainly because my training is alot smarter and more careful.

 

[FlexBailey]

No, I appreciate it Test..If a lat tear is fairly common as other tears it must not be a serious problem or i'm sure we'd here alot more about it.

 

[FlexBailey]

To me as long as I come in the way me and my trainer think i'll be coming in i'm not too concerened who shows up. Right now i'm a little bummed cause of this injury but hopefully it won't keep me away from the show.
Sounds like you're on the right track..will you be attendending the ottawa show?

 

[TEST0STER0NE]

Well all tears can be serious depending on the serverity. But yeah tears with no bruisning are pretty common as you climb the ladder. Now a complete disattachment of the ligament and muscle from the bone, that would be severe and rare, as well as very visible. I have torn many a muscle including lats. disattached bi's and many other tears with quite a bit of bruising, and that is not even so rare among the top. Let me know if I can help you out with anything else.
~~~~>Test.

 

[RoNiN]

Well Flex Test is right , you don't make it to top without going through some tough times. Every top pro has had at least a half dozen minor injuries if they are lucky.

And Test believe me Flex knows the difference between minor and major injuries , I can recall a couple of close calls right Flex?

As for the show , you know I'm going to be there , I have been to every Ottawa show since 1999 and 2002 is no exception. Without my friend being there I have only you to cheer for so it makes my life easier.

I was hopeing that I could talk to the promoter into getting me to give out the trophy to the winner since it could start a tradition or something.

Don't worry about the tear , just be careful and take the heavy training seriously because the last thing you want to do is ruin yourself for a future show. I found once I started to take stretching and warm ups as well as form more seriously the injuries started to go away.

 

[TEST0STER0NE]

You could also trying swimming, may help heal a bit faster. But yeah lay off it, cause if it get's worse it'll only take longer to heal. Thanks for the heads up RoNiN.
~~~~>Test.

 

[FlexBailey]

Yeah I think it's one of those injuries, that because it's in somewhat a secure place that i'll probably think it's better until I atually go to hit back or especially lat pulldowns or something that really stretches it. I'm supposed to be doing back on thursday but I don't think so. I can flex it still and hit a back or front lat spread with no pain but if I do a reaching kind of motion and flex it I can feel some pain around the whole area which is about the size of my hand.
Like I said i'm only really stressed about the show and making it there..I know this will heal up but will it in time? I guess we'll have to wait and see..
If I do make the show I have a feeling it's going to be sold out cause I have probably 100 people(no joke) here wanting and talking about coming to see me compete..so it'll be quite interesting to say the least.
Yeah that's a good idea about letting the previous years winner to present the overall trophy..makes complete sense to me. It's too bad these promoters don't put that much thought into it.