Anyone ever pull their pectoral tendon? I was doing bench last week, and I did one bad rep on my 3rd heavy set, and pulled the hell out of my pectoral tendon, ya know right in the armpit. I took a week off and hit it again today and on my 2nd heavy set I felt it act up again so I stopped after 2 reps. I know its not a full tear because it doesnt hurt that bad, there is no bruising and no asymmetry in my chest, I think its just a strain. Anyways Im gonna give it three weeks off and then come back light. Anyone ever do this? This is the first time I have ever pulled anything to this extent in 14 years of lifting.

7/6/2009 9:12:45 PM

i've done this twice, not fun. Was going heavy on the incline, heard a pop, and couldn't move my shoulder or arm for about 5 days. It'll probably start bruising next week. I took 3 weeks off with no lifting at all, (but did cardio) then came back light only lifting with pulleys and dumb bells for the next few weeks. Took me almost 2 months for it to get all the way better.

7/6/2009 9:41:49 PM

see i dont think mine is this serious. i have not heard a pop, had any serious bruising yet, and the pain is not too severe when im not lifting and i have full movement. I hope i can get back to hitting it hard in about a month



[Edited on July 6, 2009 at 9:48 PM. Reason : .]

7/6/2009 9:45:58 PM

hopefully not then. i'd still do some less stressful lifting if you are going to lift at all the next 2 weeks

7/6/2009 9:54:28 PM

im taking a full 3 off, then light weights n see how it goes, then hopefully work my way back up

7/6/2009 9:57:55 PM

i'd just be very careful going back. Don't do too much too soon. I pulled a lat in high school. What could have been a few weeks of no lifting ended up being a couple of months b/c I didn't let it heal well enough and ended up re-injuring it/hurting it worse.

7/6/2009 11:38:32 PM

yeah, i think today was a mistake to go back into it, but it felt fine before I hit it. It started messing up on my first set of 315 after my warmup set, but I was stubborn and kept going. On set 2 of 325 it started hurting really bad but i cranked out 2 reps and said fuck it. I should not have lifted today but now Im going to wait a full 3 then go back to light weights. I hate that Im gonna lose strength but its better than messing it up seriously. I dont think its a very serious strain, because the pain is minimal when not exercising, there is no bruising or asymmetry and i can fully move my arm. Hopefully a few weeks off n easing into this will fix this issue.

7/6/2009 11:46:49 PM

What do you think caused the injury ?
Too much weight?
Not enough warming up ?
Bad form ?

I've never had any serious injuries other than a little rotary cuff problem due to bad form. I'm always worrying these days that I might mess up something serious though especially now that I'm older.

7/7/2009 7:37:20 AM

I think it was bad form on one rep last week. I got a bad spot and lift off and I felt something not right. I also think i need to start stretching more though

7/7/2009 5:21:53 PM

Did the exact same thing in college. Just took a couple weeks off of lifting anything that had to deal with that tendon/muscle (which was a lot)...did a lot of legs, core stuff, and cardio. Also came back and quit lifting heavy weights. Unless you're doing it for competition, I don't see any reason why you need to be doing 1/2/3/4/5 rep lifts. Unless its an ego thing...which if it is...time to grow up.

7/7/2009 5:25:39 PM

I'd recommend a physical therapist (They're free at state if you have student health insurance). I had some muscle tearing that kept me out of the gym for a few months.

7/7/2009 6:03:32 PM

Yeah Im not a student and I dont think its too serious, I think some time off will be all I need. I am confident I can return from this full force in maybe a month.

Quote :

"Also came back and quit lifting heavy weights. Unless you're doing it for competition, I don't see any reason why you need to be doing 1/2/3/4/5 rep lifts. Unless its an ego thing...which if it is...time to grow up."

unless of course you enjoy lifting heavy, building mass, and doing lower reps. I hardly think its immature

7/7/2009 8:44:20 PM

Quote :

"Also came back and quit lifting heavy weights. Unless you're doing it for competition, I don't see any reason why you need to be doing 1/2/3/4/5 rep lifts. Unless its an ego thing...which if it is...time to grow up."

^ I agree, some people actually like to have a strength and mass. Hell, some even need it to perform work on the job easier...I know I do and have in the past. It's much easier to do vigorous work when you are fairly strong.

7/14/2009 9:59:58 PM

^What exactly is "fairly strong"?? And what job do you perform where it benefits you to do benches and squats and 1/3/5 reps??

I'm not judging...I've lifted like that and it was a nice boost to my ego to be 160lbs and benching almost twice my body weight and squating 3-times it. But I was also 19-21 years old. The older I get the more I realize that its pretty much useless (of course there are certain circumstances). I also realize that the older I get the more likely I am to fuck something up (like the OP has apparently done) if I continued to do heavy weights. I still push myself hard in the gym and am pretty damn strong for someone my size...but I don't lift anything that I can't lift 10 reps (save squats every now and then...but I think I'm done doing that now too).

If you do it for your job or you do some kind of physical competitions...then more power to you. But other than that...I don't see the point.

7/15/2009 2:57:51 AM

Quote :

"I'm not judging...I've lifted like that and it was a nice boost to my ego to be 160lbs and benching almost twice my body weight and squating 3-times it"

we didn't realize that you were an elite lifter in your day. too bad at 25 you are all washed up and can no longer squat near 500 lbs. you should have entered a powerlifting competition, because at 19 years old you were stronger than most people in your weight class with many years of training and competing.

didn't you know that louie simmons squatted over 800 over 50? i thought a world class lifter such as yourself would know that. but seeing how you don't weigh in at over two bucks, it's hard to take you seriously anyway.

7/15/2009 8:23:26 AM

^^ weightlifting is a hobby for a lot of people (as opposed to just a way to stay fit). You could make your same point about bodybuilding. Benching 300+ isn't much more useful to the average person than having a six-pack. Although, I can think of more situations where strength and power would be more practical than good looking abs. Being able to run 10 miles isn't that useful for most either.

A person can get and stay physically fit/in good health with just calisthenics, some cardio and decent eating habits. Nobody really needs more than that for general health and fitness. Yet people train to achieve each of the goals I mentioned above. I guess they're all immature?

yes, there can be more risk to lifting heavy than bodybuilding or endurance training. Regardless of the type of training though, there's always some risk and even more if training to or close to failure. And there are plenty of hobbies out there that involve some risk. If you know what you're doing though and approach them properly (with some maturity), that risk is limited.

It's not like he has a wife and kid and is putting his life at risk just for shits and giggles. That would be immature. This is just a hobby he should approach with caution.

7/15/2009 11:23:21 AM

Quote :

"But I was also 19-21 years old. The older I get the more I realize that its pretty much useless (of course there are certain circumstances). I also realize that the older I get the more likely I am to fuck something up (like the OP has apparently done) if I continued to do heavy weights. I still push myself hard in the gym and am pretty damn strong for someone my size"

how can you be pretty damn strong if you only lift in the 10 rep range? what a laughable attempt to pass yourself off as someone who is strong. what's conjugate periodization? laughable!

considering that you won't reach the peak of your strength until your thirties and forties, i would say lift away......oh, i forgot, you were an elite powerlifter/weightlifter/bodybuilder/strongman/sandow at 19 years old. much stronger than strongmen in your weightclass training for decades.



[Edited on July 15, 2009 at 12:46 PM. Reason : .]

7/15/2009 12:29:08 PM

LOOK AT ME I AM MAXIMUS YOU ARE JUST A PUNY LITTLE GIRLY MAN

you do know that's how you come off right?

7/15/2009 3:49:44 PM

nothing ever changes. would you expect me to mellow with age?

7/15/2009 3:56:10 PM

Quote :

" how can you be pretty damn strong if you only lift in the 10 rep range?"

Who said I can only lift in the 10 rep range?? Its just what I choose to do. The weight I can do 10 reps in now isn't too far behind what I was lifting 3 or 4 years ago.

Quote :

"we didn't realize that you were an elite lifter in your day."

Never said I was. But you can keep making up shit from my posts. You seem to perform very well at reading comprehension.

Quote :

"too bad at 25 you are all washed up and can no longer squat near 500 lbs."

I don't want to. I can run just as fast and jump just as high now as I could when I was in college. Which is all that matters in my life when all I use my physical abilities is for recreational sports and maybe the occasional heavy lifting of furniture.

Quote :

"but seeing how you don't weigh in at over two bucks, it's hard to take you seriously anyway."

Sorry I'm not fat.

7/15/2009 4:04:50 PM

so what you're saying is that if you're over 200 lbs, you're fat? haha, classic small guy motif.

the worst part of your previous post was that you didn't even realize the mocking. if you were squatting 3 times your bodyweight at 160 and 19 years, you would be winning all sorts of contests. my friend, you are either delusional, a liar, or have the strongest glutes ever.

short and light. not exactly the type who we should be taking workout advice from, eh?

here are some "fat" guys who weighed over 200









[Edited on July 15, 2009 at 4:28 PM. Reason : .]

7/15/2009 4:17:43 PM

Quote :

"so what you're saying is that if you're over 200 lbs, you're fat? haha, classic small guy motif. "

No, retard. I was mocking you mocking me being under 200. And I would actually be fat if I was over 200 lbs, seeing that I'm 5'7".

I have an exceptionally strong lower body. Runs in my family. Dad has tree trunks...as does my sister a former national rugby player and national competitor in Crossfit competitions. Not too much bragging...I've just got good genes. When I was 155-160, I was hovering around the 440-470 range squatting.

7/15/2009 5:02:55 PM

zero caps i'm sure

[Edited on July 15, 2009 at 6:51 PM. Reason : .]

7/15/2009 6:47:05 PM

so I took three weeks off for a minor pectoral strain. Today I started back on bench light. I warmed up with 255 10x with no pain, then 265 10x with no pain, then 275 8x with very minor pain that in no way stopped me, then I did 285 4x but the pain started to come back so I stopped. So, I guess three weeks off was not enough. Im gonna try 5 this time and then start back lighter i guess. Hopefully that will be enough this time

[Edited on July 27, 2009 at 5:05 PM. Reason : .]

7/27/2009 5:04:55 PM

Some schools of thought say work through the pain and it will heal.

[Edited on July 27, 2009 at 5:55 PM. Reason : ...]

7/27/2009 5:38:37 PM

yeah and i believe in that school. but i also know the difference between pain i can work through and pain that indicates something is wrong and i need to stop. This unfortunately is pain that means i need to stop

7/27/2009 5:54:30 PM