Recovery;

My stitches come out on the 27th of december so that means i will be in this sling for christmas. I realized after coming out of my pharmaceutical daze that this operation was much more involved than previous procedures.
This time was more than an orthoscopic procedure, this time i was actually cut open and tendon as well as muscle had to be repaired. This requires more healing time and rehab which i will thoroughly research and apply to myself when the doctor gives me the go ahead to do so. I was also informed, by my surgeon, that if i begin rehab too early and re-injure the muscle, there is no other place to reanchor the muscle so i will be unable to fix any future left pec tears! So patience must and will be practiced, although it will not be easy for me, i need to do what's best for my body at the moment. The boredom, however, is getting to me and i am finding new ways to keep myself busy and try to enjoy this long overdue rest that my body needed.
I want to take a second to thank my wife for all of her compassion and love during this time. I really don't know what i would do without her. Nonetheless, counting the hours till my stitches come out and i can feel comfortable in the fact knowing i can begin cardio again and start to put the pieces back together.

Picture of anchors the doctor put in my arm!

Post OP;

Typing with one hand is very difficult at first, as is doing anything at the present moment! The operation was about two hours and i am in a sling, this time for a minimum of two weeks. This operation was a combination of fixing muscle and tendon so the rehab will be a bit more involved and the healing time will be extended as well. Dr. Chen at edison metuchen orthapedic associates also did my torn biceps tendon in 2007, so he was not surprised to see my dumb ass again! The pain is no where near the same as when i had my rotator cuff operated on in 2009, just a lot of soreness and aching, but very manageable. The hardest part for me will be staying home and doing nothing for the next twelve days, then i go to have the stitches removed and hopefully, i can start doing some cardio again. As for now i will take many,many walks around the block with my wife and busy myself with whatever i can to stop insanity from fully setting in!

Pictures of injury;First three days following;

Day one.

Day two.

Day three.

OUCH!!

This, thankfully, did not happen to me because of a great spotter, my training partner ryan. Keep this in mind when you bench, also it is hard to watch, I hope this poor guy was alright! The WORST Bench Press Fail -- EVER

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uv7IoVPUZPE&sns=fb

Reminder and Update;

This is me a few days after the injury, I am 5' 11", weighing close to 240. I keep this picture on my phone to remind me of what was and what will be again. This injury is just another obstacle to overcome and also a reminder to train a little smarter as I get older, but still train hard!

Surgery is scheduled for the 16th of december, that is this friday as of writing this and i cannot say i am looking forward to the surgery, but i can say i am looking forward to getting back to the gym as soon as possible and starting therapy. I will be down for a while but i will keep a positive attitude knowing that my drive and determination will get me back to where i was and then some! I will post some pics of the pics i took of my arm and chest right after the injury in a few days as time permits...

Inspiration;

Arnold's Six Rules of Success!

1. Trust yourself. Dig deep and ask "Who do YOU want to be?" 2. Break the rules. Not the law, but the "rules". 3. Don't be afraid to fail. You can't be paralyzed by fear of failure of you will never push yourself. 4. Don't listen to the naysayers. Pay no attention to the people who say "it can't be done." Again, listen to your heart not the outside world. 5. Work your butt off. To the question: "How many sit-ups do you do? "Mohammed Ali answered, "I don't count my sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting. When I feel pain, that's when I start counting, because that's when it really counts, that's what makes you a champion." 6. Give Back to the community and to the world! Reaching out and helping people will give you satisfaction!

Nutrex posted this on their facebook page this morning and i thought it was worth a look!!

Another Setback;

On november 28th, 2011 i was in the gym with my training partner and another partner, who is training for a bench press power meet next year, and after warming up i proceeded to add weights to the bar for my heaviest set of bench presses. After lowering the bar to my chest i began the ascend and about half way up the left side of my upper chest, the delt pec tie in, just let loose. My training partner, ryan, was at the ready while spotting me and grabbed the bar just as my left arm began to collpase and said he also felt something snap as he was wrestling the bar away from me back to the uprights. Kudos to ryan for being there and not letting a bad situation get any worse, it just makes good sense to have a trusted training partner handy when doing your heaviest sets! I raised my left arm and realized the pec muscle was not following in the normal fashion and knew that it was time for me to end the workout and head to the emergency room, which i did and was given a painkiller and told to contact my orthopedic surgeon as soon as possible.

The MRI is scheduled for this afternoon and i will follow up with the surgeon on monday morning to decide how to proceed from there. I have been told that if it is a tendon tear it can be fixed but if it is a muscle tear it cannot be fixed, so until the doctor sees the MRI, i do not know as of yet exactly what will take place.

I was not doing anything out of the ordinary i guess i am just getting old and all the years of heavy lifting are finally catching up with me. Over the course of the next few weeks, while i am home recuperating, i will have to plan a new strategy as far as lifting is concerned, to not lift as heavy and still lift hard enough to gain muscle. This will be hard for me as all i've ever known is lifting heavy and hard but i welcome all challenges and view this injury as just another obstacle to overcome on my way to achieving my goals!

Train hard and smart! I will keep you updated on my progress......