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We have all, at one time or another had an injury that made workouts difficult. Some of us take time off to heal and others push through it. I am, for the most part a push through it guy based on whatever the issue is and how much pain there may or may not be. Mostly I find another exercise for the same muscle group that is not as stressful to the injured area or do same motion just very light weight and high rep. I am not sure what the correct answer is but that's how I roll. My current issue is not such an easy answer.
Back in September I blew through all sorts of plateaus and everything was firing on all cylinders. By mid October I noticed my Bench was starting to fall off a bit and I blamed it on a lack of sleep (maybe), bad nutrition (doubtful but it was a reason to throw around my head). It had to be something, maybe even just a couple of bad days (I am on a 3 on 1 off routine) that kept falling on Chest shoulder bicep day. What i started noticing was that as I pressed the weight up near the end of what my previous workout peak was, my left arm would easily get the full extension but my right arm was trailing. It wasn't a BAM right in your face type of thing, it occurred slowly as my workouts went on. Then I began noticing the same thing happening with my shoulder presses (DB or BB didnt matter. The right arm was not driving like the left). I finally realized there was a serious problem when I went out Bow hunting for the first time during the 18 season during the last week of October. I had a stud of a buck come in and at 15 yards I drew my bow to get ready to claim some venison. I could not pull my bow back. It was as if my right arm was not there. I do not do face pulls when working out and I would have probably realized there was a problem if that was currently an exercise I was doing at the time.
Its important to say that there was absolutely NO PAIN ever from the beginning of this.
Okay so now I knew there was a problem. I saw my doctor and he wanted Xrays and EMG. Nothing other than Carpal Tunnel which I knew I had. Finally he got me in for an MRI. The MRI showed something about narrowing in some channel at C4/C5 or C5/C6. They said this is probably pushing on a nerve going into my right arm. He immediately wanted me to see a neuro-surgeon which I declined asking for Phys Therapy instead and maybe some traction could help. He agreed and I start that the end of this month.
I am still training on a 3 on 1 off. I can kill legs and Tri's. Chest, shoulders, and even biceps are affected. There is a noticeable loss of muscle where my right posterior deltoid should be. Basically the doc said atrophy began once that nerve stopped stimulating the muscle. Although I haven't started Phys therapy yet I feel some strength coming back to my right side. I have at this point accepted the lowered strength and just work at that level to keep an even load on the muscle groups I am hitting. Hoping that I will keep both sides using the same loads to maintain some symmetry of strength as I recover. Still hitting it and amazed there is NO PAIN.
Would I do better using strictly dumbells for all my presses/curls using different weight loads on each side to maintain my strength on the left and then try to bring the right back up to par with the left? Or should I just do more work on the right with DB in addition to a BB workout?
Or would you recommend I stop all together? Thanks.
Back in September I blew through all sorts of plateaus and everything was firing on all cylinders. By mid October I noticed my Bench was starting to fall off a bit and I blamed it on a lack of sleep (maybe), bad nutrition (doubtful but it was a reason to throw around my head). It had to be something, maybe even just a couple of bad days (I am on a 3 on 1 off routine) that kept falling on Chest shoulder bicep day. What i started noticing was that as I pressed the weight up near the end of what my previous workout peak was, my left arm would easily get the full extension but my right arm was trailing. It wasn't a BAM right in your face type of thing, it occurred slowly as my workouts went on. Then I began noticing the same thing happening with my shoulder presses (DB or BB didnt matter. The right arm was not driving like the left). I finally realized there was a serious problem when I went out Bow hunting for the first time during the 18 season during the last week of October. I had a stud of a buck come in and at 15 yards I drew my bow to get ready to claim some venison. I could not pull my bow back. It was as if my right arm was not there. I do not do face pulls when working out and I would have probably realized there was a problem if that was currently an exercise I was doing at the time.
Its important to say that there was absolutely NO PAIN ever from the beginning of this.
Okay so now I knew there was a problem. I saw my doctor and he wanted Xrays and EMG. Nothing other than Carpal Tunnel which I knew I had. Finally he got me in for an MRI. The MRI showed something about narrowing in some channel at C4/C5 or C5/C6. They said this is probably pushing on a nerve going into my right arm. He immediately wanted me to see a neuro-surgeon which I declined asking for Phys Therapy instead and maybe some traction could help. He agreed and I start that the end of this month.
I am still training on a 3 on 1 off. I can kill legs and Tri's. Chest, shoulders, and even biceps are affected. There is a noticeable loss of muscle where my right posterior deltoid should be. Basically the doc said atrophy began once that nerve stopped stimulating the muscle. Although I haven't started Phys therapy yet I feel some strength coming back to my right side. I have at this point accepted the lowered strength and just work at that level to keep an even load on the muscle groups I am hitting. Hoping that I will keep both sides using the same loads to maintain some symmetry of strength as I recover. Still hitting it and amazed there is NO PAIN.
Would I do better using strictly dumbells for all my presses/curls using different weight loads on each side to maintain my strength on the left and then try to bring the right back up to par with the left? Or should I just do more work on the right with DB in addition to a BB workout?
Or would you recommend I stop all together? Thanks.