chest.. swollen?

**dwak** · Posted On: 9/26/2008 12:42pm

On monday I worked out my chest, it wasn't going very well, I'm not sure why, usually I start feeling it right away, on monday i just kept going and didn't feel a thing, no pump, no sore no nothing, so I finish up my workout head to class, hang with some friends then go to BJJ that evening.
on tuesday I wake up and my chest hurts like hell, its incredibly sore and i definitely don't have a full range of motion, by tuesday afternoon my chest has swollen or something, i'm not sure what but it got a lot bigger in the course of about 12 hours, from when i woke up, to when one of my friends noticed it was bigger.
wake up wednsday and it hurts to take a step, cause it jars my chest everytime, so I skip working out very hard and just do some extra back exercises instead by wensday afternoon its become asymetrical, my left pec has shrunk back to about normal size, maybe a bit bigger, and my right one is about 3x the size of the left, and the right one has definitely started feeling very... booblike, go to bjj that evening, either no one can tell through my Gi or they don't want to say anything, but it hurts like hell, and while my range of motion is a lot better than on tuesday its still not quite complete
on thursday, I have my full range of motion back, but it hurts like hell to move my arms very far, though it doesn't hurt to walk anymore, and my right pec is still swollen
today, both pecs still hurt, and the right one is about twice the size of the left, didn't work out today(yet, i'm toying with the idea of going and just going really light on my chest, or skipping the chest and just do legs)
so... has anyone ever expericenced anything like this or know whats going on? any ideas on whether or not lifting should be avoided and if so for how long?

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 9/26/2008 12:56pm

>> On monday I worked out my chest, i

What the hell do you mean by this? Be specific and detailed goddamit!!! :biblethum

We can't give a proper answer if you don't give a proper question with enough details to understand what's going on.

Other than that, refrain from chest exercise, ice the swollen area for 10-15 minutes several times a day, and massage with icy hot 1 hour after icying (this is described in several links in the sticky thread. Unless you have a medical reason not to take ibuprofen, take 2 pills every 4 while you are awake.

Do the icying and the ibuprofen at the prescribed intervals for several days until the pain goes away. Do it as prescribed (no "buts", "what-ifs", "can-i-do-this-instead") or don't do it at all. If the pain still remains the same after several days, go see a doctor.

How long should you avoid chest workouts? I dunno, I don't know what you did to your chest since you didn't provide specifics regarding your workouts, workouts prior to that one, and any physical condition that you might have.

*** why people think they can get answers to questions devoid of details? ***

**dwak** · Posted On: 9/26/2008 1:16pm

monday i did dumbell flat bench 3x12(50lbs 1st set, 50 2cd set, 45 3rd set) flyes 3x12(35) incline bench 3x10(110, 110, 105) and decline dumbells 4x10(40s)
normally I'd either do flat barbell 4x10(180,180, 175, 170) incline dumbell 3x10(35s) flyes 3x12(35s) and decline(with 40lb dumbells) to failure or flat barbell 4x8(185,185, 180, 175) incline flyes 3x8(30s) flat flyes 3x12(35s) decline to failure and pushups til I fail. I usually alternated, theres no physical condition i have that i can imagine would at all affect this
meantime i'll grab a bag of frozen peas, steal my brothers icyhot, and see if we have any ibprofen

Edit: Unless possibly my being hypermobile could be related, I guess thats possible, though i usually try to make sure i keep everything where its supposed to be when i'm lifting

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 9/26/2008 1:51pm

Originally Posted by dwak

[EDITED FOR CLARITY AND IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY!!!ELEVEN~!!!!!!!]

monday i did

dumbell flat bench 3x12(50lbs 1st set, 50 2cd set, 45 3rd set)
flyes 3x12(35)
incline bench 3x10(110, 110, 105) and
decline dumbells 4x10(40s)

normally I'd either do

flat barbell 4x10(180,180, 175, 170)
incline dumbell 3x10(35s)
flyes 3x12(35s) and
decline(with 40lb dumbells) to failure

or

flat barbell 4x8(185,185, 180, 175)
incline flyes 3x8(30s)
flat flyes 3x12(35s)
decline to failure and pushups til I fail.

I usually alternated, theres no physical condition i have that i can imagine would at all affect this meantime i'll grab a bag of frozen peas, steal my brothers icyhot, and see if we have any ibprofen

Edit: Unless possibly my being hypermobile could be related, I guess thats possible, though i usually try to make sure i keep everything where its supposed to be when i'm lifting

Do you do anything on your upper besides chest exercises? Any form of pulls? Barbell, v-handle rows, chin ups, pull ups, face pulls?

You are basically doing over a hundred reps of pushing exercises in total per workout session. How long have you been weight training? And where did you get this routine and how long have you been doing it?

**Quija** · Posted On: 9/26/2008 8:58pm

I'd advise some time to heal, you keep working it when it's injured. Moving it around a bit is ok but I'd stop the focused workout and sparring altogether for at least a week. You wont lose much progress, if any, with 1 weeks rest.

**Emevas** · Posted On: 9/26/2008 9:10pm

Off topic, but Ouija, what makes your style American boxing? Is it somehow completely devoid of it's european influence?

**dwak** · Posted On: 9/26/2008 9:12pm

Originally Posted by Teh El Macho

Do you do anything on your upper besides chest exercises? Any form of pulls? Barbell, v-handle rows, chin ups, pull ups, face pulls?

You are basically doing over a hundred reps of pushing exercises in total per workout session. How long have you been weight training? And where did you get this routine and how long have you been doing it?

on that day i don't pull at all, i split legs/chest one day, then shoulders/back/tri/bis the next, when i do pull ups, seated, upright and one arm rows, and a variation of pull downs

I've been weight training on and off for about 8 years, I pretty much made this work out up on my own based on what seemed to me to fatique me the best about 2 years ago, I started using it again about 3 months ago when i started lifting again after about 3 months off

**Quija** · Posted On: 9/26/2008 10:01pm

Originally Posted by Emevas

Off topic, but Ouija, what makes your style American boxing? Is it somehow completely devoid of it's european influence?

No, it's not devoid, its just that throughout the 1900s different techniques prevailed in different parts of the world for boxing. They are almost stereotypes aside from the fact that until recently they were mostly true.

European-Great offense/Technical skill, kinda stiff when it comes to upper body movement.

Mexico/South of U.S, brawlers, they can be skilled defensively and offensively but it seems most mexican fighters can and will take a hit to give a hit.

Americans, Can be evasive and defensive enough to be called boring, but are very hard to hit and good counter-punchers.

Being from one of these regions does not make you this type of fighter, but these types of styles did prosper in these areas. So I say American Boxing. I could say defensive boxing or bob n weaving or something, but I like American Boxing.

This is my opinion, this is why I call it american boxing. I want to stress that I dont think this is a racial thing, it's regional evolution of the sport through eras when co-mingling among nations was not common. (WW1, 2, etc) It's all coming together now, Wladmir Klitschko is getting some defense, Sam Peter learned to move his head in the second Toney fight, and Lennox Lewis just lived and trained everywhere it seemed.

To demonstrate what I consider my favorite style of boxing:
My favorite fighter of the most recent generation was Chris Byrd.
I also like James Toney. Both are on the edge of being called "last generation" though.

**Teh El Macho** · Posted On: 9/27/2008 6:27am

Originally Posted by dwak

on that day i don't pull at all, i split legs/chest one day, then shoulders/back/tri/bis the next, when i do pull ups, seated, upright and one arm rows, and a variation of pull downs

I've been weight training on and off for about 8 years,

That's kind of what I suspected. For one thing you are doing close to the same number of "pulling" effort compared to "pushing" (when "pulling" should be twice as much as "pushing"). This could (and will) cause issues over time.

The other is that you have been doing this for years. Injuries in general, and chest/shoulder injuries in particular, don't occur overnight. They develop over a long period of time, and then, when *least expected*, snap! they flare. I say *least expected* because the warning signs are there, but we usually fail to realize what they mean.

Just when I first joined bullshido, my chest and shoulders were screaming murder for a couple of years after almost a decade of lifting. It takes a while to heal to the point one can be more-or-less pain free.

Also...

Originally Posted by dwak

I pretty much made this work out up on my own based on what seemed to me to fatique me the best about 2 years ago, I started using it again about 3 months ago when i started lifting again after about 3 months off

That's a horrible way to do things dude. You don't judge an routine that targets your muscles by how much it fatigues you. The only type of workouts that should be judge by fatigue are those for developing cardiovascular or anaerobic capacity. Not for muscular strength/size development. That **** is only going to make you sore. Do it frequently for long enough and it will cause scar tissue, inflamation and crap like that.

My suggestions, off the top of my head:

1. avoid any form of weighted pressing, dips and pec flying for 3-6 months.

2. increase your external and internal shoulder rotator mobility (this is different from simple shoulder/chest flexibility).

3. increase your external and internal shoulder strength.

4. as soon as pain goes down, do push ups on a medicine ball everyday, or better yet, on two balance/core disks (like this product. I thank these balance disk for most of my improvements on shoulder pain. The instability of doing push ups like this helps recruit the antagonistic muscles (which is important for developing muscular balance.)

5. If you have a pair of rings at home, do dips on them. This is different from doing dips on a stationary dip thing. Same reason as #4.

6. Get a "perfect push ups" thing. I used to make fun of those, but man, that **** does wonders to your shoulder health.

7. Do "mid back blasters" (described at the bottom of this article) and face pulls/voyer shrugs on a regular basis. Mid-back blasters, 2-3 sets of 15-20 reps. Face pulls, 2-3 sets of 7-10 reps.

I'll come back later and give you a couple of links on more stuff that you can use.