Thanks for everyone's support. I will add that in my opinion, I think it had a lot to do with the superdrol I was taking. All of week three had my muscles feeling very tight. Couple that with a higher risk exercise like flat barbell bench and tearing my muscle doesn't sound too out there.

I'll add that I've never had a problem with flat bench in 9 years..Half that time benching low to mid 300's with a natural max of 405x2. Form has always been perfect.. :clit:

^^^^ dude... your scaring me....

shit... thank GOD it wasnt a level 3 man...! all the best in your recovery...

I was wondering if you think your fascia stretching played roll in your injury? Could it have contributed in any way to a possible weakness in the muscle you were previously unaware of? :33:

No, a muscle tear is from a hard contraction, not fascia stretch. I also don't believe that had anything to do with it either because I've been doing the loaded stretches for over a year without incident. I do see your line of thinking.

I am almost 100% certain that it was the superdrol that was the underlining factor. If anyone considers using SD, I recommend that they stay away from high risk exercises like the flat bench, and also to keep your same progression in weights...(ie. don't make big jumps in weight).

In other news, I went to the doctor's the other day and he wasn't especially helpful. He took a quick look at it and said that it was a light tear where the tendon turns into muscle..Kinda like saying the grey area in between black (tendon) and white (muscle).. He specifically said that I can resume weight lifting, but to exclude any chest pressing so it can heal. He also said to start stretching it out once a day so there won't be a lot of scar tissue.

I wish I could've got an mri done, but he said it wasn't that bad of an injury..I was lucky. He said that the bruising will last for a few months more, but within 2-3 months max I'll be good to go to start building back up my chest.

well, all the best in your recovery and i'm GLAD that its not too serious....

2-3 months in comparison to a lifetime sounds much better....

all the best 0311....

My plan now is to start HST (15 RM) excluding chest of course on Monday. I know two weeks total out of the gym was the best route to take. Now I'm gonna have to take it slow and build back up to where I was just before the injury. I picked HST (15, 10) because it uses light weights and also due to my two week deconditioning. After 4 weeks of that, I'm going to move into DC Training. At least with the same split, same exercises, and only a few exercises RP'ed. At this time it'll have been 6 weeks without any chest pressing. So, I'm going to start off with light dumbbell work and go from there. Maybe something like incline dumbbell, starting off with 40 lb dumbbells, stopping just short of failure..Then the next time doing 45 x 22 reps (or something), ect...Once I get up there in weight, I'll reset with a slight decline and 40 lb dumbbells to failure, and go from there..IMO, this is a super way to keep it light while conditioning my chest for future heavy weights during my official DC blast. :hbang:

The above plan I specifically designed to keep me from moving really heavy weight. It's the only solution I can think of that will prevent me from going insane with the heavy shit. :fest30: I'm pretty positive everyone here knows how I am. :hbang:

yeah we sure do :D

Another update. First day back to the gym today in over two weeks. I'll note that Vicodin certainly helped decondition my muscles fo' sho'. :D

I'm glad I picked HST to get back in the gym with because of the lighter weight selection and added frequency. It was tough, but my pec felt great throughout. I did some dumbbell shoulder presses and felt terrific. I plan to finish out 4 weeks (2 weeks 15's, 2 weeks 10's) before I re-evaluate my pec and figure out where to go from there.

So are you purple and black yet?

Not anymore. Now I just have a quarter sized black patch just to the side of my nipple. Other than that, everything else cleared up rather quickly. I guess it was a good idea taking 2 weeks completely off from the gym vs. only one. My strength is still surprisingly here. :fest30: