Breaking In, Advanced lifter, long layoff plus injury?

[Waittz]

I'm confused about how I should go about the Breakin in phase. Scoff all you want at my self proclaimed "advanced" status but i think i qualify. I have been consistantly lifting since 14, havnt taken any breaks aside from sports seasons in high school, initial injury and now, my first real lay off. The problem is I have had a pretty bad layoff, not just from lifting but physical activity itself. I reinjured my sternoclavicular joint, namely the tendons, and my coller bone is still pushed into my chest a good 5 mm(and has been for about 2 years), in which case i could do nothing about due to its dangerous location, all i could do was nothing, to make things worse about halfway through recovery I had my wisdom teeth taken out. I plan to start lifting again about the 5th of june, by then i should have no serious problems with the strains and inflamation. So how long and often should I do the break in. Keep in mind due to my injury i really cant do any heavy presses with a barbell going anywhere near the joint for a while(and in the case of bench presses, for just about the rest of my life, hows that for beeing forced to not care about how much I can bench Lou hahaha). Would the standard 2 weeks apply hear or am i looking at a whole month. I figure my muscle memory is pretty good, but im just scared about gettin into bench pressing and deadlifting again(the strain on the joint). Hell up untill a week ago just breathing hurt.

[JoshDunn]

With injuries like these you need to think of yourself as injured for a while not an advanced lifter.

Maybe try some bodyweight stuff for awhile. Alwyn has a DVD and Craig Ballentyne has 6months of grueling routines.

Doing too much too soon will mean that you will more then likely always be prone to this type of injury.

[Waittz]

the problem is not lifting and not using the muscles around the area will cause more bad than good according to my doc. He not only cleared me to lift but to start as soon as possible. Apparntly lifting and the muscles in my upper body are kinda what has held me together all this time. In his own words besides discomfort, which i really cant do anything about, the only dangers in lifting right now are in any exercises with a barbell comming near my coller bone. Immagine a barbell loaded with 250 lbs landing on my chest and the joint breaks again, the bone goes in a few more mm, slicing arteries and whatnot in its path. So my question is less really about the injury, and more about the layoff which is comming up to about a month now. The injury is just kinda making me look for alternatives to benching, push presses, front squats, really anything where i put my chest in jeopardy.

[Lou Schuler]

Steve, sorry to hear about your injury. I've read posts of yours in which you mentioned it, but I didn't realize until now just how severe it was.

I think you're okay if you go straight from the Break-In Program to Fat Loss I -- there's a logical continuation. Even if you do each program for two weeks, that gives you four weeks to restore some of your muscle endurance, range of motion, and general conditioning level.

Then you should be able to go to the Hypertrophy programs with little worry about whether you're ready for them.

With the collarbone, I can certainly see the need to train around that. But the exercises you mentioned are easy to train around. If you can do DB benches, or even Hammer Strength chest presses, you'll probably do exactly what your body needs in terms of strengthening the muscles around the SC joint without putting direct stress on it.

Speaking as an interested observer, as opposed to a medical professional, I would avoid anything that involves deliberate lateral flexion/adduction of the shoulder joint, including flies and crossovers. Even on DB BPs, I'd press the weights straight up from the shoulders, rather than up and in toward each other.

I'd also avoid barbell shoulder presses.

Another exercise I'd have questions about at this stage would be heavy barbell deadlifts, just because of the forces exerted by your scapulae. I know they'd be pulling the SC joint out, rather than in (forgive my non-scientific language here; I'm just guessing at all this anyway), but I wonder if the strain would be too much for the first 4-6 months of your training program post-injury.

Anyway, good luck with the rehab!

[Waittz]

well today was my first day back, did day 1 of the break in and everything felt great. Thanks for the info Lou, ill keep it in mind as progress.