It’s been 4 years since I strained a pec. Here’s how I did it and how you can avoid making the same mistakes I did
I WAS AN IDIOT LAST WEEK.
And it cost me completing my heaviest bench of this training block.
Normally I do my secondary bench session on Mondays and main bench work Thursdays.
Last weekend I was coaching at a competition and Monday came around so it was time to train heavy dips. I was mentally pretty fried so (while fatigued) decided to push the session to Tuesday instead of sticking with the plan. Managed to squeeze out a PR of 110×5 on pause dips.
Come Thursday, I’m warming up for bench and it’s definitely taking longer than usual to get loose. On my working sets, everything is also feeling heavier than it should.
Get to my last set and on rep 3 I feel it happen. That nasty tearing/popping feeling of straining a pec.
Luckily this was just a minor strain – no bruising or significant loss in ROM – but it was a good reminder that recovery with heavy weights and high stress training weeks really matters and what seems like it’s saving a day can really cost you a couple weeks.
I’ll be fine in about 10 days or so given the low severity of this strain BUT in hindsight given that my priority for the training cycle was to build up my bench and that dips are just a means to that end I really should have just accepted a weaker dip session and given myself a fighting chance at that heavy Thursday bench session.
Sometimes, it’s easier to keep objective about your lifter’s training than it is your own.
Have you made dumb mistakes like this in your training recently? Post them in the comments below if you’re not too embarrassed.
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