Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

I separated my right should's AC joint and had reconstruction surgery in 2006. Since then I have lifted and not had a problem.
This past year I made some of my best progressin bodybuilding and I ended up injuring myself, my right should bench pressing. I don't think I was warmed up enough but I have to wonder is that should a weak link due to the separated AC joint and am I just doomed?

When I had the surgery, my surgeon said it will not get in the way of anything I want to do and I believed him.

-Rich

Rich,

I had a Grade 2 AC Joint Separation in April. http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cyber ... cjoint.htm I've had a couple twinges in the general area due to occasional overtraining since then but not at the exact point of the injury, only around it. The twinges are a dead ringer for the spasms I experienced back while it was still healing.

I think everything around a traumatic injury seizes up for two reasons. One, in an immediate attempt to protect the weakened tissue from further damage and two, in a psychosomatic response to the trauma. Both are valuable. Unfortunately, after the physical part heals, the brain still remembers. It doesn't let go for a long time. Those muscles are on a hair trigger for a while, ready and willing to seize up again to shield the body from harm. It's like they've been primed.

To this day, my lower back will hurt whenever I encounter similar mental stress to the one I was dealing with back when I injured it. My back is fine now but my muscles still have a built-in scrapbook of worries. The reason that I know this is because no physical treatment cures the spasms but meditation and mental relaxation does.

I don't think you're doomed. I think you're freaking out a little bit because you've got some pain in a place where you know bad things can happen: your shoulder. Relax. Your body knows what to do. It knew how to heal itself from surgery, it knew how to build muscle in response to weight lifting since then, and it will know how to recover from this, too, whatever it turns out to be. Rest, get your mind off of it, focus on your legs for a while, give yourself space to equalize. If you're still worried, go to a doctor--if for no other reason than to ease your mind so you can chill and heal.

You're one powerful mofo or you wouldn't be in the weight room in the first place. No worries, mate.

Baby Herc

Thanks Baby.....I am just freaking out because I was at the top of my game when this happened and literaly I felt like the sky was the limit, Man, I never felt stronger and there seemed no stopping me, new personal bests were coming easy and then wham.....pain in the shoulder.

My only fear is that my boby is telling me I had taken that joint as far as it could go because it has forever been weakened from that injury. I hope that is not the case, but that is why I get so upset about it. That day when I injured it snowboarding, haunts me to this day....

-Rich

You've got every right to get upset if you want to. But you're not stuck at a ceiling, just resting on a ledge for a spell. You're climbing a mountain and this is just a resting ledge before the next pitch. You haven't lost a thing, you're still gaining. A lifting buddy of mine--huuuuuge guy--used to call his rest days "growing days" because he knew it was the times he wasn't lifting that his muscles were actually repairing and swelling. You already know that but what you might not know is that maybe somewhere in your shoulder there's something that needs a week or two extra to grow and repair. No problem, you can do that.

I think the brain advances a lot faster than the physical body and every once in a while you've got to give that fine bod of yours a chance to catch up. Even a Ferrari needs to down shift occasionally to avoid blowing up. I've read accounts of dozens of professional athletes who came to the place you're at right now and breezed right through it. The smart ones didn't force it and they're still going strong today.



I hear ya. The next time I got on my mountain bike after the accident was one freaky ride. My arms were actually shaking and I was hypervigilant the whole time. But the ride after that was better and the one after that was pretty much back to normal. It all works out. Very soon, you'll have moved on so far and done so many new things that you can't even remember much about that day on the snowboard. Too many new snowboarding adventures will have overwritten it. Get writing, baby! Post a pic of you on your snowboard!

Baby Herc

Well, this week I did two light to moderate full body workouts and now I am dealing with more shoulder pain.
I think I am only doing cardio and legs next week.

My Ortho doc told me to keep trying to go back in and I'd of bothers me to back off and take another week. It seems to ne taking a while. I might want an MRI.

It is extra depressing considering the new heights I was hitting. I was considering making a run at a natural bodybuilding competition.

Well, DUH!



Good plan, Kimosabe.



An MRI isn't going to make you heal any faster. Face it, killer, you just need to back off for a while. It's not the end of the world.



You make it sound like one little hiatus is the end of your entire bodybuilding career. It's nothin', man, just nothin' in comparison to the long run. Ask any serious, long-term lifter in here and he or she will tell you that it's never a straight shot to the top. There is a learning curve and there are occasional opportunities to test your patience and determination. But determination doesn't mean ignoring the obvious and plowing on, it means being determined not to let anything put out your inner fire. The real athletes keep burning inside even if the outside needs some time off. Chill, it'll work out.



Again, this isn't permanent, it's temporary. Unless, of course, you keep talkin' like it's permanent. Then it will be.

Everything I've said above, this is what you've got to keep saying to yourself: It's nothing. My fire is still lit. I will do what's necessary for my body to get back in balance and then I will wail on those weights. I will not be stupid and impatient, I will be smart and enduring. I am a freakin' god.

Baby Herc

Baby Hercules, I meant to say the full body workouts were light to moderate.....nothing too heavy at all. My shoulder feels fine today however which is encouraging.

I have a friend who says he had the same thing happen to him and he was out of commssion for only a week! What?

An MRI will help if it is a tear, this will kind of allow me to come up with a better plan, no? Wouldn't a tear require suregery?

I hate no knowing for how long to back off.

I have been backing off for about 7-8 weeks. I have only done a few light workouts here and there since.
It has been tough modifying my diet in the process because I am used to eating big to keep up with my progress and metabolism.

I hear on it being nothing in the long run, but two things. I feel like I am not getting any younger so I only have so many chances to make it work. Second, I keep wondering if that separated shoulder (surgery in 2006) is a weak point that will forever hinder my prograss and limit me.
I guess it is extra frustrating because I have lifted since I was 17 but have been taking extra serious the last year or so and it shows, so it really hit me hard when I injured myself. This is the first I ever considered competing.

I am impatient....can you tell?

I also deal with a lot of arm pain and liftring is one of the few things that helps.

Sent you a PM.

Baby Hercules