Pectoralis Major

In my previous post i talked about the fact that i (probably) pulled my teres minor/major, but i now think it is actually the Pectoralis Major, which is just the pectoris muscle. It is a big muscle so obviously you don't tear the entire thing, and i've only torn the small part of it that borders your armpit. I think this is because last week when we worked out my upper body i did not have time to properly warm up my upper body. My PT let me warm up on the LAT pulldown only with a low weight and that was it. So, result: not properly warmed up. I think that caused a tear. The same problem i usually have when i don't properly warm up with my legs. I think this is because i have lived a pretty stationary life and my muscles are usually in a more "condensed" state, which means that i have to warm them up properly not to injure myself before working out.

It is too bad that my PT does not take warming up as seriously as i do. I remember asking him last week if i should do a proper warm up and, as i said, he just let me "warm up" on the LAT pulldown with a low weight (which doesn't do anything, lets be honest). 

I Googled (as i do) and i found this website: https://sportsclinicnq.com.au/pectoralis-major-strain/

It said on it:

A pectoralis major strain typically occurs when the muscle is forcibly contracted whilst in a stretched position. This can occur during weight training when performing bench press exercises. When the bar is lowered, the pectoralis major muscle is stretched across the chest. In this position, overstretching of the muscle combined with the need to generate high muscle forces to lift and lower the bar may place too much stress on the muscle. The muscle subsequently tears. Collision sports and wrestling are other activities where this can occur.

It then follows with:

The first sensation you feel when the pectoralis major muscle is torn is sudden pain felt in the chest or more commonly, at the front of the armpit. 

Yep, that's me! But the worst thing is that it continues and says to CEASE ACTIVITY cause a FULL RUPTURE can occur. Lol. So i should've not been working out yesterday. That's kind of frightening.  When i checked other websites they basically said that if you have a full tear that you need surgery, and that a partial tear will take 2 weeks to heal. 

On another website:

The muscle normally helps to ‘break’ or slow down the motion, preventing the weight from falling on the chest. If this eccentric contraction (where the muscle lengthens in a controlled fashion) is uncoordinated, either because of muscle fatigue or weakness, the weight is allowed to slip to one side resulting in a sudden contraction of the Pec Major, leading to tear or rupture.

The risk of occurrence of this injury is increased when the elbows are allowed to drop lower than the body during this maneuver.

So i think it happened cause i was just too weak and did an exercise that my body shouldn't have been doing with a weight that was beyond my capabilities. It's weird that i have never had this issue on my own. I honestly feel like the way i was working out last year was already perfect. I did my own thing, moved at my own pace... and i feel with my PT i sometimes go too fast too soon. I also don't think that doing the upper body machines were smart to do. With most of them you start with 5kg!!! And you can't go lower than that. I remember when i first started squatting that it was literally body weight, followed up by a small 3kg dumbbell and then moving up slowly. 

The same also with doing upper body exercises. For a long time i did it with very low weights that basically didn't give me any resistance or made me grow muscle mass but it did make my body adapt to the exercises, so once i went up in weight i was good to go. I would usually also warm up with my very low weight dumbbells. When you are on these machines you cannot warm up with something light, if the lightest is already 5kg. Very frustrating.

I told my PT from the start that my upper body is super weak, and i have never really worked it out. I am also a small woman who is sedentary mainly. So i guess he didn't take all those things into consideration and just let me workout like that. I don't know... it feels kind of irresponsible. Especially seeing how i have never had this issue on my own... So now i can't work out with free weights for the coming weeks or what? 

Anyways, it's obvious i would do better by doing dumbbell exercises, but i digress. I'm gonna take my dog for a late night walk now and go to bed! 🙋🏻‍♀️