Training and rest question

[Generic MALE]

I have pretty much made up my mind but want to run it by some animals just to see what you would say.

I am older - 41 (42 next month). Fairly good shape. 6'1, 210 LBS, ~9-10% bf. I have not had any injuries in years. I have been training at high intensity for the last 6 months. I have set several personal records : PR in bench, PR in straight leg deads. Plus many of my auxillary exercises have gone up - was able to do 10 reps of pull ups with 90 LBS harnessed to me.

But it was this last exercise that was too much. A few weeks ago I was doing weighted pull ups and felt a tearing behind my left shoulder with bad pain. I am pretty darn sure it was my teres minor (of the rotator cuff). 2 days after the incident I had a bruise about 2" X 7 " running along the area - hematoma from a tear. The shoulder is popping and hurts during everything - overhead presses, bench etc.

I also have some other minor injuries - pulled erector spinae around the thoracolumbar junction (t 12/L1) and my right hip is very sore from cardio etc. My left elbow hurts along the antecubital fossa, but seems to be neurologic not musculoskeletal (ulnar nerve)

I am just thinking of taking a full month off to rest. Then coming back full steam. I have tried training around it. I went back to pull ups way too soon - began doing them a week after the tear, while there was still a hematoma present. I hate to take a break, but just about every main musculoskeletal region has some sort of ache or tweak.

It scares me at my age that I will get lazy and blow up to be about 38% bf in one month. I am scared of losing gains - it seems they are hard to make at my age anymore. But I think a total break for 4 weeks is the best idea.

 

[Generic MALE]

I would consider active rehab but school starts again tomorrow for me - so my weeks will be 80 hours or so starting tomorrow (its been great to have a little break and only have to work 30 hours per week). SO it would be nice to just focus on school as it starts. Also my injuries seems to cover such a large area of my body : elbows, shoulders, back and legs.

As well, complete rotator cuff tears are one of the, if not the, most common injury to men in my age group. Rotator cuff injuries are kind of unusual in that a simple tindinitis can develop into a tear. tindonitis of the knee for example rarely results in a tear, but rotator tendinitis, often results in fraying of the tendon and then it snaps completely. I am wanting to rest it so this does not happen. But I am kind of scared that with the amount of bruising that happened I did tear the muscle completely - I hate going to doctors.

I would continue with cardio and do stretching.

 

[rvboy]

I can totally relate to you Generic, I have been overtraining harshly for the last 8 months or so. Training for two proffessional NHB fights, cardio, weightlifting, and working 6 days a week will eventually do that to you. That accompanied by an inflammation in my right shoulder brought on the neck injury we were discussing. My advice for you would be instead of complete inactivity for one month, why not try 6 weeks of light weightlifting, kind of like a flushing/rehab program for your body. Back off on all lifts and concentrate on just the pump. Make it a positive for yourself. I think with your experience, a one month layoff may be too difficult to deal with mentally.

Just my .02 cents

rvboy

 

[surfkook]

on the shoulder front, i jacked up my rotator recently (bicep tendon). I would say see an O.S. about that, especially if there was such dramatic bruising. I tried to work around my shoulder deal for a couple weeks, the injury lingered the whole time, and I simply prolonged the inevitable. Am now doing no upper-body except stretching and rear-delt movements as instructed by my P.T., and on the slow road to recovery (which beats the hell out of the fast road to surgery which is what working through a shoulder injury seems to put you on)

Read some of the other shoulder posts here, those helped me face the facts that the smart move was to take a break.....

 

[Ogrelleh]

I would just stop doing weights altogether and just walk for an hour at least a day to keep the bf% down.
I don't think you're going to lose very much muscle at all in a month's time. It takes years for significant atrophy to occur.
There's a good chance you'll come back much stronger than you were before.
Good luck.

 

[Generic MALE]

Thanks Ogrellah, but the way some people claim to gain weight looking at food, I lose size just thinking of a break. After I wrote that post I seriously lost 4 inches from my arm girth. Seriously. I am not lying.

Actually I went to my primary care physician yesterday about this. he set up an appointment for me to go to PT for 3 weeks and if it is not better then to a orthopedist and an MRI. I asked him if a ultrasound would be as good as an MRI. He did not think so, but it was my impression that a US would be as good. I am going to ask my brother since he is an ortho surgeon (but he is in another state).

I have gone to lighter training and feel a bit better. I am doing everything as before but much lighter. I am actually working up to some fairly heavy pain free sets by the end - its more like doing a 70-80% work out, but doing many many many more warm up sets. I do like 7 light sets, then feel so good I do a couple of moderately heavy ones. My shoulder has felt better after each session- although it stiffens up when I sleep.

I don't know we will see.

 

[onerepmaximum]

Personally, I think if you are training with an injury like that, you are taking away any chance it has to heal. I know that may not be the answer that you are wanting to hear, but I think it's the right one. If you have a scab and keep picking it off, it takes a whole lot longer to heal, if it ever does. You're not gonna lose too much if anything if you have to take some time off. I think that's in our heads (fear or getting small). Do yourself a favor and give it time to heal. Maybe when you get back into the swing of things, you could try to cycle you workouts so you're not always doing such high intensity. Just my thoughts.