Those who have had pec tears...

[BodybuildingUniverse]

just looking for recovery advice. Mine didnt require surgery (was only a partial tear) but I can only comfortably handle 95 pounds in the bench now (been about 45 days or so)

Just trying to rest it up and hope that one day I can get my confidence back up there. Still squatting and pulling heavy in the meantime...

 

[IrishPower]

pec tear

I think we have spoken in the past.

It depends on the severity of the tear. Believe it or not, sometimes tendon ruptures that require surgery are better because the muscle tissue is left largely intact.

muscle tears are NOT corrected surgically. they are left to heal themselves.

i can only give you advice on what i did following my surgery

surgery: ~aug, 2001
8-10 weeks of doing nothing

4 weeks of pushing broomstick and stretching and light light dumbell work.

10 weeks of westside speed routine and max effort work done to maybe 50% or so

back to full training but used loose poly on all weight > 315

meet 1 (june 2002) : 535 bench
meet 2 (august 2002) : 545 bench
meet 3: (august 2002) bad shirt day
meet 4: (november 2002) 606 bench (26 pounds over my best pre-rupture)


Go slow... Go steady. Work your other lifts. It REALLY, REALLY pays to be a 3-lift lifter when you suffer an injury like this.

Take care.

 

[latinus_spicticus]

I tore my pectoral in late september. The muscle was torn away from the sternum and I suffered a lot of fluid retention, brusing and pain that lasted for about 3 weeks. I was diagnosed by two different doctors and got 2 MRIs. Anyway, I didn't elect for surgery and instead did light stretching and high rep bench pressing (squatted and deadlifted heavy) for the first 6 weeks or so. After 8 weeks I was back to bench pressing normally and now I am 100%. No pain, no strength loss and the only difference is a change in muscle appearance when it is flexed.

Why can you only handle 95lbs? Is there still a lot of pain? What was your strength level before you were injured? I know that I didn't really feel confident about going above 135 until I forced myself to. I am not reccomending that you push yourself to the point of re-injury-- rest and conservative behavior may be the smarter route at this point. Holler back.

 

[BodybuildingUniverse]

yeah, still feeling pain (mostly in the stretch). Probably shouldnt be doing much of anything at all. Militaries are fine (been working them hard) and inclines are do-able, still at a light weight. My best meet lift was 385. I'll just keep on taking it slow, thanks for the feedback guys. Good to know you are back in your groove irish...

 

[jayde]

Mike Brookman was just posting a pic of his pec tear on my board. You can see his pic here:
http://www.powerpage.net/images/pec1.jpg

He's recoverec from it nicely. you can ask him how.
gabrielle
weightliftingdiscussion
http://www.weightliftingdiscussion.com/cgi-bin/wdb.cgi

 

[Scotsman]

I had what the doctor called a "superficial" tear. Only the top layer of muscle tore causing some skin tearing with it. I couldn't lift much more than 95lbs for a couple of weeks. Then like an idiot started training heavier thanks to massive amounts of pain killers and anti-inflammatories. It took about three months for me to realize I needed to lay off. So I took a month off from benching. After that it took about six months to get back to where I had been before. Now my problem is a mental block. Every time I start lifting really heavy again I get scared that it will happen again. So in short just stop benching and other chest activities for a while. Let the tear heal up a little then get back into it slowly. Hope this helps

Cheers,
Scotsman