About 2 years ago I had a class 2 pec strain from a sport (not weightlifting but an acute event). A part of the pec ripped off my humerus and receded into my chest (leaving big bloody bruise in my bicep area and a big bump in my inner chest). Ortho said there is nothing to be done since it wasn’t fully torn, so I didn’t even get an official scan. That means I don’t know if it was tendon or muscle the ripped. The pain was in the anterior armpit area between my chest and arm.
I didn’t know about SS or the Starr method at the time and just worked out here and there on bro splits. My doc wasn’t actually pretty decent and did say I can continue working it out but just use light enough weight to not cause pain during the first 3 months and then after 3 months I can work through any pain. So I did keep it active and gained back my full strength within 6months-1 year.
Fast forward to now. Every few weeks the anterior armpit pain comes back for a week or two. It only comes back during the actual benching sets. I’m not sure if it effects my strength mechanically, but it does effect me slightly as I’m focusing on the pain during the lift, versus just focusing on lifting. (Not as much a problem anymore, since I’m on the bridge and lifting sub maximally through pain isn’t too hard). So it just goes in cycles. It comes back, I work through it, then goes away. ALL THE TIME.
#1. Does this sound like something I just need to keep working through as I have been?
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#2 Between years of bro lifting and having short muscular arms, my benching has always been my strongest lift by far. (~280 1rm Bench vs ~340 1rm squat). MY concern is that I figure I’m probably at a much higher risk of a pec tear during lifting than the average lifter. Do you agree? So would it be a smart idea for me to start focusing on my Overhead Press instead of Benching? The way I see that happening is from now on doing the Press in a 2:1 ratio versus doing benching in a 2:1 ratio that most programs use (like the bridge)? It sucks to have to do this, but I will if it means it lowers my risk of ripping it all over again.
Thanks in advance for the advice and the platform you guys provide
#1. Does this sound like something I just need to keep working through as I have been?
Yep. I don’t have a good explanation for why you have these episodic symptoms.
I figure I’m probably at a much higher risk of a pec tear during lifting than the average lifter. Do you agree?
With a history of a prior pec tear (which is what you actually had, not a strain), then yeah, you’re probably at higher risk.
So would it be a smart idea for me to start focusing on my Overhead Press instead of Benching? The way I see that happening is from now on doing the Press in a 2:1 ratio versus doing benching in a 2:1 ratio that most programs use (like the bridge)? It sucks to have to do this, but I will if it means it lowers my risk of ripping it all over again.
There’s no perfect answer to this. Pressing is “safer” from a pec tear standpoint compared to benching, so if you want to significantly reduce the risk, then yes, you could do that. However, I have no way of knowing what your absolute risk of recurrent tear is – in other words, let’s say your absolute risk for the rest of your life is 0.2%. In that case, is continuing to bench worth it to you? What if the risk was 2%? 5%? There’s going to be a threshold for everyone, and this is something of an individual decision. Highly competitive lifters will go back to training almost regardless of the risk (Eric Lilliebridge essentially injures himself during every meet prep and competition, for example, but keeps coming back). Others might say it’s not worth it to them. Only you can answer this for yourself.
I’m not a competitor and never plan to be. I am lifting to get strong, big, ego (if we are being honest!) and in the long term to stay healthy and hard to kill. If the lifetime risk is < 1% I would train on without a doubt, while at 25% liftetime risk I would definitely modify my training to focus more on pressing. So my threshold is somewhere in between.
Do you know of any actual rates of pec injury in serious lifters. Or do you atleast even have an eduacated guess? Googling it makes it seem like every serious lifter that benches and their mother gets a pec tear. But I know that can’t be the case. I had a hard time finding data. Especially that alot of threads seem to be about steroid enhanced lifters, which wouldn’t apply to me.
Any warning signs you would have a client of yours look out for if they are at a higher risk like I am? From my understanding it seems like it comes out of nowhere for most people. I’m just hoping those pains aren’t my body telling me I’m an idiot for pushing on as they are something getting strained or overworked.
I understand you might not have any good answers for my questions, but it was worth a try.
You are correct that, when these become a problem, it’s usually rather suddenly.
If it was me, I’d spend a good while training various pressing movements with gradually increasing volumes and generally lower intensities (shocking, I know); most of the tears I’ve seen/heard of have been under maximal or near-maximal loads. Although again, we don’t have tons of evidence or data behind this stuff.