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-   -   Pec Tear w/ PICS! (https://www.bodybuilding.net/open-conversation/pec-tear-w-pics-1852.html)

Dr X 04-03-2006 07:36 PM

Sounds good. you did the right thing. Great recover, a testament to your good health.

Darkhorse 04-05-2006 10:35 PM

I pray this don't happen to anyone here, but if it does, here's some things I am/been doing to heal...As well as some mistakes I made. I've been leap-frogging from forum to forum and haven't found a thing about this whole process so I'll post a quick something here for future reference...

The tear

The Good:

- After it happened, I re-racked the weight.
- I applied an ice pack in 20 minute intervals while watching tv.

The Bad:

- I did a few heavy sets of JS Rows before I iced the site. :D Bad idea. The reason being because when a muscle tears, it bleeds. Your goal is to try and minimize/stop the bleeding. If this happens to you, immediately go home and ice it ASAP. This mistep IMO attributed to my insane amount of swelling.

...And the Ugly:

- After a few hours of icing the area, I decided to use a heating pad thinking it would help. Unfortunately, according to my doc, the heating pad encourages the swelling/bleeding. So in essence, the icing prevented/minimized bleeding, then the heating pad encouraged bleeding. :swordfight: In my defense, I didn't know at the time it was a tear, so I naturally figured it would help. The doc said that ice should be applied as much of the day as possible (in intervals) for at the very least 3-5 days. After about a week, the heating pad can come into the picture.

Recovery AWAY from the gym

The doc basically said that I had a minor pec tear and should stay out of the gym for a few weeks, and not do chest pressing for at least 1-2 months. So what I did was take 2 complete weeks away from the gym. In that time I kept protein high while trying to keep carbs low since I wasn't doing anything beyond eating Vicodin and playing some xbox.

After the two weeks off, I decided on doing HST training because of the higher reps and lower [initial] weight. This gives me a 2 week mesocycle of 15 reps, and another 2 week meso with 10 reps. In my opinion, three full body workouts with a very high rep range is ideal after a prolonged layoff nursing an injury however minor. Of course this excludes any chest pressing of any kind. The following is my selections for the 15 rep mesocycle. I put in some extra isolations even though it's in no way "optimal".. Reason being, I'm trying to increase my overall fitness level and conditioning, not focusing on gaining mass. If I was, it would be only compounds and 40 lbs heavier at the very least. :clit:

15 Rep Mesocycle: 1 set per exercise

Workout A

Leg Press (Not the easy sled you could load a piano on! The one w/ ROM)
Leg Extensions
Pullthroughs
Shoulder Press (db, seated)
Side Laterals
Cable Pressdowns (Picked these over skullcrushers because it minimized pecs)
Pulldowns
Cable Rows
Calves

Workout B

Hack Press Machine (Very difficult. Allows A2G baby)
Leg Extensions
Leg Curls (seated)
Shoulder Press (same)
High Pulls
Rev. Grip Pressdowns (1 handed, again to minimize pec recruitment)
Hammer Pulldowns (Underhanded)
Cable Rows (Wider grip)
Calves

Monday: A
Wednesday: B
Friday: A

Monday: B
Wednesday: A
Friday: B

The actual weight selection was common sense. Legs can take a pounding, same with back. Shoulder db presses are lighter than I obviously could go. Full ROM. I turn my hands inboard almost resting the db's on my shoulders every rep. Deliberately slow, both up and down.

ChinPieceDave667 04-06-2006 09:33 AM

glad to see your doing what you can to stay in the gym and stay on the healing path. Good luck man and as always keep us posted.

EricT 04-06-2006 09:49 AM

Honestly, I think an injury thread with different info on WHAT to do and WHAT not to do would be a good idea for a sticky. And I mean as many medical sources as possible. I don't think most people have a clue how to handle these types of injuries. What your doc told you fits exactly with the info I found after you got hurt.

Darkhorse 04-08-2006 05:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChinPieceDave667
glad to see your doing what you can to stay in the gym and stay on the healing path. Good luck man and as always keep us posted.

Thanks a lot Dave...And everyone else :hbang:

Eric, that's a great idea. I tried for an entire night shift searching and came up with the same 'ol shit. Either we could continue this one, or maybe you could start another. Either way, doing what we do is very dangerous no matter which way you slice it. Having a wealth of info like this could've probably both shaved a week off for recovery and given me a better positive attitude to know that I won't be out for 6-12 months, but more like 1-2. :240:

EricT 04-08-2006 08:06 AM

Hmmmm....how bout I cut and paste from this one and then add what I can find...to the training section? The idea being that people can get right to the pertinent info. I'll add the usual warning of course not to use the thread in place of a doctor's visit.

Darkhorse 04-17-2006 01:19 AM

Damn, I just wrote a huge post and before I posted I got logged out!

Now I don't feel like rewriting everything so here's the Revised I..

It's been a full month of recovery since the tear and my chest looks and feels great. The last two weeks of 15's IMO really helped speed the recovery and elliminate the remaining bruising. For my next two week mesocycle, I'm doing some light chest pressing staying on machines for 15-20 reps. I picked incline hammer press and incline smythe..Mainly for their fixed plane of motion.

Here's my next two weeks: HST 10 RM [15-20 chest/calves]

Workout A

A2G Squats
Leg Curls
Leg Extensions
Hammer Inclines
Shoulder Press (db)
Skullcrushers
Pulldowns (Reverse grip)
Cable Rows (Wide grip)
Calves

Workout B

Deadlifts
Leg Curls
Leg Extensions
Incline Smythe
Shoulder Press (db)
Reverse Grip Pressdowns
Pulldowns (Wide grip, front)
Incline Curls

Darkhorse 04-18-2006 01:38 AM

I know I didn't write it down in the above post, but at the end of my workout I incorperated some light cable crossovers (low pulley) for a hard 15 reps [3-2-3 tempo]. This IMO really helps condition my pecs without using my [stronger for now] supporting cast. The crossover starts low, flexing in an upward motion to put emphasis on my mid/upper pecs. Rehabilitation and conditioning are all cables are good for...(I had to add that)..

Darkhorse 06-14-2006 05:30 PM

Well, it's been almost three months since I've touched a barbell for flat or inclines aside from the infamous smith machine. Today was the first time I did both just to get a feel for it. I felt terrific, no hint of any problems whatsoever. Of course my weights decreased greatly, but I'll get it back rather quickly. My flat bench went from doing sets of 5 with 355 down to about 275 for a set of 5. I just ramped up the weight lifting really slowly. Not too bad considering it's been so long since, and not to mention the first month of recovery had NO chest pressing at all really. Incline barbell I worked up to a set of 5 with 245. Motivating to see I haven't lost TOO much.

Just wanted to follow up.

_Wolf_ 06-14-2006 07:32 PM

^^^congrats sir......

Anuj


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