I will put my 2 cents worth in here, im no doctor but have a bunch of experience with injuries. In fact, over the last twenty years, i would hazard to guess that I have had more injuries than most other 10 lifters put together. A couple of decades of competitive wrestling, scottish highland games, powerlifting, and olympic lifting done both without a coach most of the time, and hell bent for leather to improve at ANY cost will do that to you. multiple torn ligaments in both knees, several shoulder dislocations, torn rotator cuffs in both shoulders, completely torn pec, broken and smashed toes, that is just a small start to the list.
First thing is, most injuries heal if you leave them alone. Thats a fact.
If you train hard enough for long enough, you are likely to undergoe some sort of injury, thats also a fact. And with or without surgery, once you injure something, it is unlikely to ever be quite the same. another unfortunate fact.
But heres the thing. 95% of the stupid stuff we do to ourselves in the weightroom can be trained around if we are smart. And 95% of the time, in the end it doesnt really effect the outcome of our training much if we are smart.
If you have the cash or the insurance get it checked out, never hurts. I never did. never had money or insurance, so I had to train around stuff. sometimes I did it smart, sometimes i did it stupid. For instance, the morning after I completely tore my right pec in half, tore the pec at about 10pm at night and trained again at 8am the next morning, I snatched 308lbs. It hurt, but I was determined to not let the injury interfere with my training cycle so I just ignored the injury and went on training. That was stupid. On the other hand, I also at one point squatted 606lbs for a set of 11 (supposed to do 10 but the video later showed I had lost count) with no belt, no wraps, high bar completely ass to ground and close stance even though I had a couple of torn knee ligaments and severe tendonitis and calcification of the left patellar tendon. I did that by being smart, using exercises like the reverse hyper and the good morning and various other things to build the squat without actually having to squat heavy all the time and aggravate my knees. you get the picture.
my advice is to STOP immedietly doing the flat bench. You are not going to lose muscle by stopping benching. Sure you will get temporarily less "skilled" at the bench press, but nothing that wont come back quickly with a little practice. If it hurts, dont do it. switch for a couple of weeks to inclines and military press, exercises that evidently dont hurt. After a couple of weeks maybe try some light benches. see if they hurt.
who knows, you might never be able to bench heavy all the time again. you might still be able to move the bench poundage up though. Kind of like my squat, you might be able to do dumbell benches, military or push press, and inclines heavy, practice light benching every week, and once a month or so do a heavy set of 5 or something and continue to get stronger.
play it by ear and be smart. once the inflammation goes down from whatever is wrong, all may be well and you may have no further problems. these things have a mind of their own and you are basically along for the ride. Be smart, train around it, and youll get to the the end of the line just fine.
Another couple of quick notes. I went for about 3-4 years without being able to raise my right arm above shoulder level because of pain, pain caused by injuries to the shoulder in high school wrestling. I honestly probably couldnt have done a shoulder lateral with more than a 15lb dumbell. this was roughly from the time i was 17 years old to the time i was 21 years old. each rep I ever did on the bench press was very, very painfull. but at the beginning of this period i bench pressed between 275 and 300lbs. at the end of this period i did a 400lb bench press in competition without a powerlifting "bench shirt". At about 25 or 26 years old i bench pressed 512lbs, with completely pain free shoulders, completely lifetime natural and also with no powerlifting "bench shirt". this was done in competition so there was a pause on the chest. At the age of 32 I military pressed 392lbs very strictly very easily also with no shoulder pain. At that age I also did a 440lb push press, also with healthy shoulders. I just mention this to give you hope. I was an idiot and overcame what was most likely a much worse injury than you have. Your getting some good advice and should do much better.
and i promise this time, last thing. this is to those who would say that training balls to the wall and getting injured here and there along the way is stupid and you will regret it. bullshit.
for one thing, at 36 years old, even without training seriously or steadily (honestly without training much at all for the past 3 years) I can still walk up to 400lbs and deadlift it for a set of 20 with no warmup. stupid yeah, but it impresses the newbies and mullets. I can still do things most people cant. I still weigh about 270lbs on a 6'2" frame and still look at least kind of "big". Not like I used to look, but again, at least enough to impress the "newbies" and mullets. I go thru life in better shape than those who have never trained. I am in better shape than those who have never trained, and can physically do things they cant.
Do I have some aches and pains? yeah. but listen to those who have never trained and never done anything. all the complaining about back pain and whatever else their atrophied bodies have going wrong makes me a bit sick. I have a lot less wrong with me than your average couch potatoe who never actually used his body.
Might I pay for what I have done at some point 20 years in the future? Sure I might. but I tell you what, it was worth it. I pushed my limits. I might not have gotten quite to the point I wanted to, but damn I got all I could out of my body, and I believe that with all my heart. It was a fun ride. It was a great ride. It was worth it. Physically at least, I LIVED!!! who wants to go thru life and tell the grandchildren, "yeah, if i had wanted to, I could have benn great". Ill never say that. I knew what I wanted and I gave it my best shot. gave it all I had. I will grow old KNOWING what I had in me, never wondering.
Ill get off my soapbox now. I guess this thread struck a coard in me.
Be smart and youll laugh about this in 5 years, if you remember it at all.
Glenn
coolcolj said:
good, you have the right amount of shoulder mobility
how do you go with the impingement test?
do your thumbs point straight ahead when you stand completely relaxed after a deep breath?
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