Ways to work chest without stressing arms?

dankplantgrower

dankplantgrower

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 23, 2010
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Hi all, in June I was in jail and forced to jump up to 123 mandatory pushups a day from 0 on the outside, usually sets of 20-30 at a time separated by 45 mins or so. One day I went overboard with 200+ pushups total and strained the muscle underneath the left bicep, close to the armpit. Pushups became impossible and I had to move to a burpee routine sans pushups. When I got out of jail, i started a job unloading trucks which involved heavy lifting for 10 hours+ daily which probably didnt let my muscle heal as much as it should have.

Fast forward to the beginning of August/end of July where I completely stop working and pushups, probably a full month with no heavy lifting whatsoever. I go back to jail again last week, and get back into the routine. I was able to bust out 100 pushups or so the first couple days but the nagging strain under my bicep returned again. I feel like if I work out on it anymore I will injure it. Id really like to continue building my chest because it is visualy appealing and makes me more confident, however continuing my pushup regimen seems like it may damage my muscle.

How long should one rest when a muscle becomes strained? I had a full month off and the strain returned wit a relatively small amount of pushups.

Are there any exercises that can be done without weights that work your chest without stressing your arms? I tried switching up my pushup position, moving it outwards a little helped more than closer together, but still felt like it was straining.

Ay tips on chest development with pushups? Ive noticed doing pusups with my hands on 5 inch tall furniture blocks really gets so much more of the pec than vanilla pusups. Is there anything better? Thanks gentlemen.
 
Weights are your answer man, why not invest in a bench or even a gym membership?

But anything is going to use your arms a little, and if you have an injury in your arm its going to impede your chest's strength. If pushups are still hurting then you need to stop doing them so you can heal.
 
Im broke at the moment and up to my eyeballs in court fees, fines, and other nonsense. Preferably Id like to find a chest building workout with just body weight but if I cant. Would 20 lb dumbell "bench press" reps on an incline stress a hurt muscle? I could probably swing a pair of dumbells but it will be awhile before I can afford a whole bench set. And I was also worried if it would be a waste if I couldnt bench because of the muscle strain (could it be a tear? how long should I leave it alone to recover?)

Thanks to any and all replies, chheers liftedgift.
 
If you waited a month with no lifting, and it was still there then that needs to be looked at. Did you get any nurses to look at it in jail or anything? I've never had any serious tears or anything but I have tweaked/pulled certain muscles at times which I could tell were interfering with my ability and I always just stopped lifting for a couple of days and they went away.

depending on where you live, you can see if gyms in your area offer a 3 day- one week guest pass or something and just get on a bench to see if your arm will even take it or what. Then you can better gauge whats going on. Sounds like you went down on a pushup and aggravated the area where your shoulder/chest/bicep connect.
 
Did not see a nurse in jail. The jails here are so swamped medical requests can take weeks and exercise is forbidden anyway due to more serious injuries in case of riot.

Im now considering it could be something more serious like a tear. This has been present a long time now. If you get over your muscle strains in just a couple days, Im thinking I may have done a bit more damage than I thought. I cant afford a doctor checkup on that muscle to save my life though. Ive been eyeing multivitamins that supposedly promotoe muscle health but I have a nagging suspicion they wont be all that effective.

Thanks for anyone viewing this who might consider replying, because this ones really nagging at me.
 
Yeah we all heal differently. Make sure you are eating enough, I am much more injury prone while cutting in a calorie deficient than when eating a lot
 
I agree that if you are still injured after an a whole month it is most likely something more than a strain or sprain.

Just some advice if you arent used to working out. Just ease yourself into it, and what you eat is really more important than the workout itself.
 
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