Is it just as easy to tear a muscle doing light weight/high reps?

[Tommy Gunn]

Is it just as easy to tear a muscle doing light weight/high reps as opposed to heavy weight/low reps?

As some of you know I completely tore my pectoralis muscle in late March and had it surgically repaired May 9. My Doctor said that when I go back to lifting in August I should never do heavy weight on the bench press ever again. He said I'm more likely to retair this if I do heavy weight/low reps (>6). He recomended I do light weight/high reps (12-15) that way it has less of a chance at retairing and he said that rep scheme is good at building muscle, increasing muscular endurance, and would be good for strengthening my surgically repaired pectoralis muscle/tendon.

My question is, is my Doctor wrong? Is it just as easy to tear a muscle doing light weight/high reps as opposed to heavy weight/low reps?

One more question, can I build big strong muscles doing reps of 12-15 for all my lifts? Or do I have to go heavy (>6 reps) to acheive this?

[Tommy Gunn]

Anyone have an opinion on this?

[Duck of Death]

....Your doctor is correct.

[Tommy Gunn]

Is that your opinion or is that a fact? I'm not saying you're wrong Duck, I just want to know.

And what about my second question: can I build big strong muscles doing reps of 12-15 or do I have to go heavy (6-10 reps) to acheive this?

[sonar1234]

Tommy Gunn this sucks real bad bro but sometimes life doesnt go has we want it, i injured my lower back squatting, and doing deadlifts, this lead to bad posture and i saw some very incompetent doctors that got me worst.

Its been 5 years now and i have tried many times lifting again heavy and doing various sports with no luck, pain came back.

I add build a pertty good body steroid free was 220 pounds but add to come to the conclusion that i would never lift heavy again.

I am now 184 pounds, lost a good amount of muscles but am on my way to a better recovery finally.

I found myself another way to get in shape i now do bootcamp training, its great i also use the resistance bands and can say i worked all my muscles to complete sorness without re-inuring myself.

Heavy weights put a lot of pressure on the muscles, joints and i am pertty sure has much has it sucks that your doctor is right.

This is just my 2 cents of course, i would not risk it for sure if i where you and have to get another operation.

Goodluck to you.

When i stopped lifting i was really discouraged cause it was my dream to get big like the big guys, but after doing this bootcamp and losing weight lot of it cause i add acumulated lots of fat over the past years since i couldnt do shit, i feel a lot better now and am getting the kind of body i always wanted, smaller for sure but with good muscle definition.

[boxingbean]

hmm...iusually start a warmup with light reps to avoid tearing or pulling sumthin...hmm

[Tommy Gunn]

I'm talking about working sets, not warm ups.

[fridgeman]

I would say your Dr is pretty correct.
The muscle will heal alright over time but its the tendon that causes problems.
If the tendon has torn off the bone completley and been surgically re-attached it will never be as strong as before the injury. Tendons don't have their own blood supply and are not as plyable as muscles so it will never be able to fuse to the bone as good as it previously was.

When lifting lighter weights there is less strain on the tendons so it is harder to injure the tendon/muscle

[Tommy Gunn]

So fridgeman, you're telling me doing light weight/high reps is good for preventing injuries in the tendon...but that it also has NOTHING TO DO with actually healing and strengthening the tendons? So basically even after my surgery and ruptured pec tendon heals, it will never be as strong again and will always be more susceptible to tearing again? I hope that's not the case or I'm screwed the next time I get into an altercation with someone.

I always heard that doing light weight/high reps was good for healing (adding blood flow) and strengthening the tendons. But you're saying this isn't true. I apologize if I enterpreted that wrong, but is that what you're saying?

Has anyone else heard that light weight/high reps was good for healing (adding blood flow) and strengthening the tendons? When I get back into training, over the course of the next few months I was hoping I can somehow stregthen this tendon to where it wouldn't easily tear again. Is this possible?

[tcw]

There are tendon "strengthening" excercises that you can do. Go to this site....

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/drobson18.htm

let us know what you think....

t

[Tommy Gunn]

Thanks tcw but that doesn't really say anyting about sets and reps in that article. I'm sure the exercises they listed DO strengthen the tendons, but what would the best rep scheme be?

And also, how much rest should you take between sets when trying to strengthen the tendons? Is 2 minutes about right?