Amused
Elite Member
What I felt last week:
Monday was chest day for me. After doing my flat and incline dumbell sets, I went to do my barbell sets.
I popped 2 plates and a 5 on each side (235 lbs) for my lifts and started my set. I pumped out 7, and went for an 8th rep (which I can normally do)... but failure came sooner than expected.
So I did what I normally do when I reach failure without a spot... I set the bar on my chest gently and called for a spot from some fellows at the bench next to me. As soon as I did, I felt a very painful snap in my chest just to the left of center and just below my pec. I panicked thinking I had broken a rib.
As soon at the bar was up, I stood up and tried to breathe deeply. Wow, I thought... no pain. I felt around the area and pressed on the ribs, and still, no pain.
We have a doctor working out at the gym who does sets with me occationally. I asked him to check it out and he said nothing was broken, but I probably bruised a rib when the bar rolled off one rib and in between two ribs. So I finished my workout with no pain, but feeling a little twinge in that spot the rest of the day.
Yesterday was back day. I do high rows with my chest against a pad for one of my exercises. And I felt a dull pain in my left chest while doing them that only got worse with each rep. Apparently, the bruise is worse than I thought. So I'll not be doing any exercises with my chest against a pad for a few weeks now, I guess.
Anyhow, the moral to this story is: Use a spot when lifting heavy. My chest never complained when I set lower weights on it... but I guess now that I'm up to 235+ lbs on the bench it's not possible anymore.
You cannot imagine the fear I felt when I felt something snap in my chest.
Flash forward to today:
Well, last night, I hurt myself jumping up out of bed. Apparently that rib IS cracked or broken, and motion of jerking myself up out of bed did something to really aggravate it.
Today was chest day, and it was a bit painful. A very light day indeed. But I know there is nothing to be done for a cracked or broken rib except wait it out for as long as 11 weeks.
This sucks. I hope I wont have to stick to light workouts for that long. I'll go heavy when I can and let the pain dictate how far I should go.
USE A SPOT!!!
Update:
Well, I made an appointment with a Dr tomorrow.
I tried to do my back day today, and my chest just got WAY to aggravated to continue... even with light weights. In fact, it started aching so bad, I skipped my cardio too.
Looks like I may be out of the game for 4-8 weeks or longer. DAMMIT!
Update #2: (9/3)
I went to the doctor today and the x-rays shows a small crack in my left rib, fourth (or fifth, I can't remember) from the bottom. He said at least three weeks with no lifting. But he OKed low impact cardio. 🙁
Cliff note:
I cracked a rib last Monday when I was bench pressing without a spotter, and it didn't really hurt until last night/today.
Monday was chest day for me. After doing my flat and incline dumbell sets, I went to do my barbell sets.
I popped 2 plates and a 5 on each side (235 lbs) for my lifts and started my set. I pumped out 7, and went for an 8th rep (which I can normally do)... but failure came sooner than expected.
So I did what I normally do when I reach failure without a spot... I set the bar on my chest gently and called for a spot from some fellows at the bench next to me. As soon as I did, I felt a very painful snap in my chest just to the left of center and just below my pec. I panicked thinking I had broken a rib.
As soon at the bar was up, I stood up and tried to breathe deeply. Wow, I thought... no pain. I felt around the area and pressed on the ribs, and still, no pain.
We have a doctor working out at the gym who does sets with me occationally. I asked him to check it out and he said nothing was broken, but I probably bruised a rib when the bar rolled off one rib and in between two ribs. So I finished my workout with no pain, but feeling a little twinge in that spot the rest of the day.
Yesterday was back day. I do high rows with my chest against a pad for one of my exercises. And I felt a dull pain in my left chest while doing them that only got worse with each rep. Apparently, the bruise is worse than I thought. So I'll not be doing any exercises with my chest against a pad for a few weeks now, I guess.
Anyhow, the moral to this story is: Use a spot when lifting heavy. My chest never complained when I set lower weights on it... but I guess now that I'm up to 235+ lbs on the bench it's not possible anymore.
You cannot imagine the fear I felt when I felt something snap in my chest.
Flash forward to today:
Well, last night, I hurt myself jumping up out of bed. Apparently that rib IS cracked or broken, and motion of jerking myself up out of bed did something to really aggravate it.
Today was chest day, and it was a bit painful. A very light day indeed. But I know there is nothing to be done for a cracked or broken rib except wait it out for as long as 11 weeks.
This sucks. I hope I wont have to stick to light workouts for that long. I'll go heavy when I can and let the pain dictate how far I should go.
USE A SPOT!!!
Update:
Well, I made an appointment with a Dr tomorrow.
I tried to do my back day today, and my chest just got WAY to aggravated to continue... even with light weights. In fact, it started aching so bad, I skipped my cardio too.
Looks like I may be out of the game for 4-8 weeks or longer. DAMMIT!
Update #2: (9/3)
I went to the doctor today and the x-rays shows a small crack in my left rib, fourth (or fifth, I can't remember) from the bottom. He said at least three weeks with no lifting. But he OKed low impact cardio. 🙁
Cliff note:
I cracked a rib last Monday when I was bench pressing without a spotter, and it didn't really hurt until last night/today.
