Well I finally did it, blown pec major

[GSXRvi6]

I ruptured my left pec major, I still have to do my follow up to get the full details of the repair but when it happened I knew.

I have a torn right minor that I let heal on it's own from years ago (mistake but didn't know any better) so when this one let go I knew instantly what had happened. Based on the bruising and swelling I knew it was the major this time.

I think stress and lack of sleep contributed to my injury, I just wasn't resting as well as I should have been so I don't think I was really recovering from my workouts like I should have been.

3 warm up sets of incline, then two working sets, no problems, hit my weight and reps with no pain. working sets were 8 - 10 reps 245
2 warm up set of flat, then on my second working set about half way up the bar just came down on me, I felt it let go, no pain, no warning, no struggling just pop pop and down it came. working sets were 6 - 10 230/260 respectively, no bouncing, no air humping good form nothing stupid.

When I ripped my pec minor bruising was instant, with this one the bruising was slower but MUCH more pronounced, blood even pooled at the bottom of my pec and I had a lot more swelling.

I didn't wait, I knew with a major I couldn't mess around as I don't want a deformed chest - even if I never touched a weight again I don't want a deformed chest.

I went to a surgeon not even 24 hours after the incident, she pegged me right off and said yep, right age, right demographic I see this one often (she's worked on other body builders here that are national level) - she said she'd never seen someone so quickly after an injury and she was amazed at my right pec tear since she doesn't see detached minors very often.

She looked me over as best she could, she couldn't examine much due to all of the swelling and the fact I couldn't be touched, she said based on the description, swelling and bruising it was a major tear and that she was putting me in for surgery on Friday but she still needed an MRI, if the MRI turned up good news we'd simply cancel the surgery.

Well the MRI didn't turn up good news and I did the surgery - she said she's never had one go this easy because she usually works on people long after the injury has occurred which makes it more difficult.

The way she explained it to me is she pulls back the delt, the big vein right there, the nerve, then cuts a channel into the bone, cleans up all the damaged tissue then stretches the remaining tendon back up to the channel and "buttons" it into the channel with steal anchors. She said it will never heal back to as strong as it can be naturally and that most these surgeries fail because people don't let it heal. She said she had a patient remove his sling and go back to the gym and popped it again almost right away.

When I came to in recovery I was shocked at how little pain I was in, I took two pills to make the nurse happy so they sent me home.

Then all that shit wore off.

This bastard hurts, way more than I expected it to. I have only been taking Tylenol because I do not like pain killers and it's been for the most part tolerable as long as I don't laugh or move or sneeze or anything like that. The pain is dropping back pretty fast day by day but up under my shoulder is sore as hell, my bicep hurts, and my chest is like - hard to explain, it's real tight and my shoulder is pulled forward a bit, I'm guessing from them cleaning up the damage and stretching the muscle back up.

My chest and arm are like green, and I have bruising all around the bottom of my pec, swelling is pretty significant, I have like a full blown tit on my left side and it's all black and blue.

I'm trying to move around, I went to the grocery store with the wife and just walked for like 30 minutes, that kicked my ass, I had to come home and sleep for an hour after that. I've been sleeping like 12 hours a night and I"m still tired.



I'll be on the bench for a while, then I'll have to slowly start back with just cardio and what I can work, calves etc. My understanding is I'm going to be off the weights for my chest for a year. The mental pain is far worse than the physical pain, not only is a rupture embarrassing it takes away my stress outlet, I can only take so much sitting around on my ass.

I'm also fearful of the future - how can I ever have confidence again.

For now I'm eating pizza and icecream enjoying my pouting time while I can, afterwards I'll have to totally re work my diet and come up with a gimp routine but here it is, the start of a long recovery.

I should have taken a couple weeks off and gotten my rest under control but I didn't and now here I am, forced to take time off.

[MuscleScience]

Stinks man, but I’m glad your surgery went well. And do take time to heal it up. It’s a marathon not a spring...lol

[guitarzan]

Good luck with your healing man

[Obs]

Absolutely let it heal entirely. If you can get your hands on good hgh I would run it.

[kelkel]

I feel your pain GSX. Very sorry to hear this.

[Clove1234]

That sucks, this kind of stuff scares me

[GSXRvi6]

Well about 9 weeks post op, the left side of my body is noticeably shrunken and I've lost 15lbs but my cloths are tighter :-(

I'm working on full range of motion and my gym has a new squat bar that lets me squat so legs are back on, did lateral raises with 5lbs dumb bells tonight - that's a huge step forward for me.

My biggest physical issue right now is getting the shoulder joint moving again and focusing on not using my left pec just yet, day to day pain is completely gone.

[PJH111]

Sorry to hear that man, after awhile the healing process will make things at least a little better

[22-250]

GSXR - How's the healing coming along? Any progress from the 5lb lateral raises? What seems to be working for you? What doesn't?

How did you find a good surgeon who has worked on bodybuilders in the past? I'm in over 40... soon to be over 50 and need a surgeon on speed dial for just this kind of situation. Been getting more an more minor injuries lately, peroneal tendon, tennis elbow, brachioradialis, brachialis, flexor carpi, etc. All little stuff that is easily rehabbed. Its just a matter of time before a bicep or pec decides its had enough.

[22-250]

Anyone know who Calum von Moger's surgeon is?

[GSXRvi6]

GSXR - How's the healing coming along? Any progress from the 5lb lateral raises? What seems to be working for you? What doesn't?

How did you find a good surgeon who has worked on bodybuilders in the past? I'm in over 40... soon to be over 50 and need a surgeon on speed dial for just this kind of situation. Been getting more an more minor injuries lately, peroneal tendon, tennis elbow, brachioradialis, brachialis, flexor carpi, etc. All little stuff that is easily rehabbed. Its just a matter of time before a bicep or pec decides its had enough.

Sorry been away a while

How did I find them? Wife picked up the phone and started dialing numbers and talking to docs, she did all the foot work for me.

Lateral raises are up in the 30lbs range but my left shoulder isn't quite right, I don't know if it's just the result of being unbalanced and atrophy or if there is some damage down in there only time will tell. Everything hurt, even squats with a safety bar, as soon as I'd start to "turn up the power" my muscles would tense everywhere and it would hurt my pec.

I basically took a year off of anything serious and just tried to keep my body from turning into a blob. After I finished physical therapy to get full range of motion I started with 5lbs dumbbells on dumbbell press with the reps up in the 30 rep range. Over the period of a year I lowered the reps and upped the weight - slowly. Soon as I felt ANY pain I stopped, I had a rip in the muscle itself as well that couldn't be repaired and that lends to some pain.

First day of 2019 I did real flat bench for the first time since surgery, bar, 85, 115, 135 I stopped at 135 - it feels, weird. The balance is a little wonky from being off for a year and my muscles still aren't balanced they way they need to be. I can now push things like squats, curls etc without pain in my chest.

Pushing too hard would trigger like "super cramps" in my pec that would damn near put you on your knees, I still get them but it's fewer and farther in between. This probably due to nerve damage down the left side of my body that the surgeon told me may get aggravated by the surgery.

[Proximal]

May I recommend starting on machines & possibly staying with them due to a possibility of re-tearing your pec?

You can more easily control your ROM & you are taking balance out of the equation.

[GSXRvi6]

Digging up an old post - I've been lifting on and off. I've been maintaining a "higher than the average American" muscle mass but that's not saying much.

I'm pushing 3 years so at this point it's going to hold or it isn't. Firing up with a mild dose of test, deca , some CJC1295 with a little var sprinkled in for giggles. Huge focus on rest and hydration, I'm getting too old for more scars.

Hold my beer

[Test Monsterone]

Good to see you are slowly improving. In a way, COVID has been a blessing for me because I set up my own gym and I don’t have access to all the heavy dumbbells I used to use. Now, I pretty much stay benching 75 lb dumbbells. I supplement with other chest exercises, and I think my chest has even improved slightly.

I use a lot more bands now, and did so when rehabbing my shoulder injury from 2019. It got to the point I couldn’t throw a ball or even sleep on my right side. Now it’s a little uncomfortable in the beginning of a set, it gets better with time.

It makes me wonder how a guy like Mike O’hearn lifts such heavy weights in his 50s and he hasn’t had any major injuries. Here I am at 34 and my shoulder is messed up, my elbows hurt, my wrists hurt, even my fingers are a little sore.

Good luck with the rest of your recovery bro.

[Fluidic Kimbo]

My elbow went through a pane of glass 6 years ago and I had surgery to reattach two tendons in my forearm. Miraculously this injury does not affect my weightlifting or exercise at all -- I actually have improved range of motion in the fingers on my right hand (presumably because the tendons are now a little longer). Although I crashed my bike that same year and dislocated my right shoulder and fractured the top head of my humerus... but the only consequence is that I feel an ache sometimes when doing front dumbbell raises -- I might at some point see a chiro about it just so that it aches less when I'm 70.