I am a 35 y/o and have been a serious lifter for 20 years.
Last year at 34 was the strongest I’ve ever been in my life. I was routinely benching 225 for 20+ reps and had never felt better. Anyways I had to take 3 weeks off last September and a few weeks back into it I started getting cramps on my outter pecs on chest day as I’d begin to warm up. Whether it was swinging my arms, benching the bar, warming up with 135- my outter pecs would cramp up. The first time it happened it scared the hell out of me and I called it a day. 10 days later they weren’t so bad and I benched anyways and they disappeared as I got into my working weight.
Fast forward a year and it’s still happening. It’s been happening on and off for a year now. Some days they are bad enough to scare me out of lifting because I don’t want to tear a pec but on days when they aren’t bad I cautiously lift through them. They are NEVER an issue after I lift. It’s always the day before or the day of my chest workout.
I’ve never touched gear, my hydration and electrolytes are always on point, I supplement magnesium, potassium, I stretch all the time, I get deep tissue and ART at least every 3 weeks- and absolutely nothing has resolved it. I got an MRI and structurally there is nothing there and my physical and message therapists can only give me a shoulder shrug.
Has anybody ever experienced anything like this? Thanks so much in advance!
I’ve been having weird spasms in my pecs too lately. Oddly enough, I never get them while benching; I get them when doing exercises that stretch the pecs, such as barbell rows, when the bar is touching the abdomen; it’s a bit scary and annoying, but I’ve been basically ignoring it for months and never got injured from it. It seems to be getting better. I’m not saying that it’s not the sign of something dangerous going on (I have no idea if it is or it isn’t), but thus far, it hasn’t caused me any issue and I lift heavy and max out sometimes. Just my experience.
Where in your pecs do they spasm? Mine are in the outter most corner which I guess is why it spooks me. I don’t want to think I’m good to go and then tear a pec.
It’s around here, where the lower pec gets into the sternum:
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After benching 3 times per week with about 15 sets/week for several months in a row I’ve been forced to stop training for a few days, and I’ve noticed that these spasms are going away, so maybe they had something to do with lack of sufficient recovery? I dunno.
AKTFitness & David Carrasco - typically cramping in this context is related to fatigue. Not usually anything to be too concerned about but may necessitate programming alterations.
Thank you for the advice, Michael. I think you are right, since these spasms are going away the moment I take a few days off. Maybe I need to include a more rest days in my routine, or lower the volume a bit, or something like that.