Overcoming Injury

Overcoming Injury

I will never forget the sound that happened when I tore my pec tendon clean off. It sounded like a pair of jeans being torn. I looked around for things that could've made that noise, but soon I realized it was something on me. By the time I stood up, my chest was very tight and I couldn't move my arm very well. Luckily I wasn’t hurt very bad. I was bench pressing, by myself a weight that was manageable for me at the time (305lbs). I said I would do 3 easy reps and rack it. Did the three surprisingly easy and went the fourth rep and that’s when it happened. I was lucky to have set the safety arms on the rack up just prior to the set. At that time, I was becoming very strong, had very good conditioning, and was making a ton of progress. Everything was heading in the right direction and now in the blink of an eye, I felt crushed that it could be done before I ever started. I want to note, if you have an injury you should get it looked at by a doctor and then find a great physical therapist to help with the recovery process. This will help a lot overcoming the injury. There was a lot I would differently for my own recovery, but I didn’t know any better and over time I was able to bench press 700lbs in competition. That number I never thought was possible.

After getting an MRI and meeting with the doctor, we moved on with surgery. It wasn't until I went for a follow up that I found out they hadn’t repaired the pec tendon. They said that it was too shredded and too retracted to be reattached to the bone. This was terrible news to me. I now had to recover from being cut open and I now had a hole in my chest. For around 2.5 years, I would try bench pressing and training upper body with little to no success. I still didn’t know great technique and even though I knew how to train, my formula wasn’t working for what I needed. Then I started training with Josh Gutridge. I was bench pressing off a 2 board one day and struggling mentally because I could feel and hear scar tissue breaking apart. I told him I didn’t think I could do it because there was too much going on in the shoulder. Finally he got frustrated and said “It’s already torn, it’s gone. It’s not going to get worse.” Then it clicked with me mentally. He was right. You can’t injure something that’s not there (you can damage supporting joints and muscles). That was what I needed to hear at that time and it worked for me. For most, it might be a breaking point. Having someone who could see the path I couldn’t yet see was a huge step forward. I felt like I was given back the ability to bench press. We began work from there. My first meet with his help, I bench pressed 250lbs at 242lbs bodyweight. 

Main Priorities 

For the first time in my training, I began focusing on mainly hypertrophy of the muscles around the pec area. I needed to build my upper back, lats, and arms. This would help take over to support weight and more pressing abilities. Here are the main exercises I used for each of those.

Upper Back : Facepulls, Dumbbell Shrugs, Prone Rows (pulling high)

Lats : Lat Pulldowns, Chest Supported Row, 1 Arm Dumbbell Row

Triceps : Board Press (various heights), Dumbbell Rollbacks, Elbows Out Dumbbell Extensions

I would focus on one of these from each list every upper body training session. With direct focus on those muscles, I noticed increased hypertrophy and also began to feel more stable while bench pressing. This isn’t a fool proof list, but it’s what helped me a lot. 

Bench Press

The first thing with my bench press was the technique itself. I don’t think many people realize how poor their technique is because they never talk to people that are better than they are. We started from the ground up, literally. How to set my feet and how that carried throughout the entire body into a better press. How to set the upper back and use the lat muscles to take the bar out (this is maybe one of the most helpful things and will instantly put pounds on your press. When we started, we used a lot of boards to help build up more arms and my confidence in the movement. We would add chains to the bar and use that weight so my arms were getting taxed, but I wasn’t feeling weight in the bottom yet where I had little strength or confidence. An example of this progression would be like this:

Week 1- 3 Board Bench with 2 chains per side - 3x5 up to heavy 5

Week 2-3 Board Bench with 3 chains per side- 3x3 up to heavy 3

Week 3- 2 Board Bench with 2 chains per side- 3x5 up to heavy 5

Week 4- 2 Board Bench with 3 Chains per side- 3x3 up to heavy 3

Week 5- 1 Board Bench with 2 chains per side- 3x5 up to heavy 5

Week 6- 1 Board Bench with 3 chains per side- 3x3 up to heavy 3

There were moments where Josh would add 20-30lbs after and simply say “Do 1 rep”. Looking back now, this was all for confidence and not so much the training itself. It was needed. The one rep was never difficult, but always built momentum. 

We didn’t worry about full range of motion as I had full motion and was doing dumbbell bench press variations each training session. 

Supportive Equipment

I wish I would've used supportive equipment (slingshots,bench press shirts etc) sooner after injury. The compression in the bottom took all my worries away with the press motion. I understand not many people want to wear a bench press shirt, but something like a slingshot can help just to take some pressure off the injured area. I would recommend beginning with a lighter material as it will give you the support without potentially creating a different movement with too much overload. 

Bodyweight Exercises

This is a list of exercises that helped me tremendously once I stopped avoiding them. Simply after the injury, they were difficult to perform and I purposely didn’t put them in my program. Once I begin getting better at these exercises, everything felt better and strength took off. 

Push Ups - For me, it was easier to bench press over 500lbs than it was to do 10 bodyweight push ups. When my wife suggested I get better at them, my shoulders and elbows started feeling better and my press took a jump. Starting out, begin with hands elevated and work all the way to where your feet are elevated with added weight.

Pull Ups - There is a direct correlation with how my shoulders and elbows feel and the amount of pull ups I can do. When I couldn’t perform a single rep, my shoulders and elbows hurt all the time. Now, they’re something I have no problem with and shoulders feel better than ever. 

Dips - Another great exercise that I avoided. This is tougher than the push ups as it places more stress on the shoulder, but it greatly improved my press and made the whole shoulder girdle feel better as I progressed. 

Inverted Rows - Just simply pulling your body up at a 45 degree angle. Control and use the muscles of the upper back. 

This injury was maybe the best thing to happen to me. It taught me that I needed to pay attention to what I was doing and also how to work through something very difficult. After a while, I forgot I had the injury because I had no pain, wasn’t changing anything, and wasn’t using it as an excuse why I couldn't do well. There are people who will use their injury as an excuse forever. This will allow them to justify getting lower results than normal. The best athletes I have been around never made one excuse or used their injury as a crutch. Rather they became more driven and searched further for answers to be better than they were prior to the injury. Until this happens, the injury has mentally and physically defeated the athlete. Find your group that will help shift your mindset and you will overcome any obstacle. 

Nick Showman

Showtime Strength & Performance