hello, I’ve successfully followed the pain management guidance from Austin for various back/leg/groin issues in the past (including a herniated disc), but I was hoping to confirm my current situation is no different.
I was doing a back-down set on bench when I felt a sort of unzipping in my right pec. I continued to do two more reps, but the unzipping continued and I quit. no bruising/swelling and it’s only tender around the insertion point/armpit. daily life is not impacted.
I can do full range of motion with minimal discomfort until I’m at about 50-55% intensity, where I’m limited to 2-3 reps before I feel a build up of tension in the area. I did a set of 5 to see if I was just psyching myself out and felt another small pop.
since I’m not in any sort of major pain, I’m guessing an MRI is overkill and I should just manage load? managing the fear of causing a full tear is the hardest part.
Hi, thanks for sharing and I’m glad you’ve experienced success in the past with some of the pain management guidance. Hopefully we can continue to help you out.
I agree that an MRI at this point is probably overkill and that managing load will be important, but managing this entire situation might require some flexible planning and guidance day to day, week to week. When was the initial event where you described the “unzipping” on the back down set?
it was nine days ago. started with some inclined push-ups, progressed to bar, etc, but think i should be taking it even slower. ohp doesn’t seem to be impacted, but any form of bench or push-up is rough. i have a duffalo/buffalo bar that i may try out, as well, to see if i can load that easier.
My general recommendation would be to use symptoms as a guide, keeping the movements and loads within tolerance for now and increasing slowly week to week. The trick with any strain-related case like yours, is to keep progressing steadily, even as you start to feel good, just to make sure you’re building that load tolerance incrementally. You can also reduce ROM on the bench and push-ups as well, i.e. spoto, board press, pause push-ups, and just like the load, steadily increase week to week. That all being said, if you feel like you got a good handle of the movements and load, carry on, but if you feel like you need more structure and guidance due to any reason(s) it would probably make more sense to either sign up for a consult or we can hopefully guide you to some local in your area, if you haven’t sought care yet.
Another question: Are you following any specific program right now?
thanks, Mike. I’ll take it slowly. 3x10 with the bar yesterday at 3-0-3 tempo and plan to add 5kg each session (3-4x week), all things permitting.
I used to get coaching from Jordan, stopped due to having a kid, and recently got back into training. I ran the program he had laid out for me back then for four months, but am now trying out juggernaut’s AI coaching.
That sounds like a perfect plan, I would give that a go. Oh nice, yeah I would continue with the rest of the training as tolerated and stick to that bench plan. Adding in some light dumbbell benching might be a good idea too.