Please help, I had heard popping noises in my right armpit area while bench pressing.

[Injured123]

So today I had went for a max bench of 385 ( got it ) then had winded down to 335 to workout with. I had did probably 5 sets before this so I was pretty well warmed up. On my 3rd rep of 335 going up my right pectoral muscle had a popping noise right where your chest touches your inner bicep. I am wondering what happened, most people say I had pulled a muscle and it is not torn. I can barely extend my arm in a dumbbell flying movement. It is very painful to expand my right arm away from chest.. Please help! I am now icing it and probably will take 2-3 weeks from doing any chest exercises...

[Pluto1998]

So today I had went for a max bench of 385 ( got it ) then had winded down to 335 to workout with. I had did probably 5 sets before this so I was pretty well warmed up. On my 3rd rep of 335 going up my right pectoral muscle had a popping noise right where your chest touches your inner bicep. I am wondering what happened, most people say I had pulled a muscle and it is not torn. I can barely extend my arm in a dumbbell flying movement. It is very painful to expand my right arm away from chest.. Please help! I am now icing it and probably will take 2-3 weeks from doing any chest exercises...

You were warmed up, but your muscles may have been fatigued from the previous sets of heavy benching.

This is why I try to avoid mixing heavy maxing and a normal workout of the same exercise in the same day. This is where periodization comes into play.

Your mostly likely injury is a tear or strain to your pectoral, or rotator cuff(subscapularis muscle), which are the mostly commonly injured during the bench press.

[Injured123]

hmm, it seems like a tear is much worse. How do I know if it is strained or torn? I think if it was torn I would see some kind of internal bleeding?

[PedoPanda]

It's strained.
If it was torn it would be in a lot of pain and you would get bruising around the area.

Stay away from the weights for a while until you are FULLY recovered or you will do more damage.

[Injured123]

Okay today I have noticed that there is some internal bleeding ( the area that was hurt is now darkish green/purple kind of ). It must be a tear?

[mslman71]

Okay today I have noticed that there is some internal bleeding ( the area that was hurt is now darkish green/purple kind of ). It must be a tear?

Yep, it is. You need to give this several weeks (4-6) to heal at minimum before putting any load on it. You can do some very very gentle passive stretching to minimize adhesions but don't lift on it. You don't want a full rupture (surgery only option at that point). Honestly I'd probably go have a doctor take a look at it to make sure it's just the pec and nothing more.


Are there any palpable voids in the muscle? (gaps, weird bumps, etc.)

[Injured123]

I can now see that the right side of chest has a slightly indented spot at the area near armpit....(where the pain is) it seems like the muscle disconnected from there. I am curious if it will return to its normal shape or is the muscle disconnected forever?

[mslman71]

I can now see that the right side of chest has a slightly indented spot at the area near armpit....(where the pain is) it seems like the muscle disconnected from there. I am curious if it will return to its normal shape or is the muscle disconnected forever?

It can be "disconnected" where the tendon inserts at the bone (avulsion) and the muscle itself can be torn. My money would be on a tear. If I were you I would go have a physician figure it out, and do it sooner rather than later. Sorry I did not follow up on this sooner, but again, have someone look at it.

http://www.pectear.com/photo_gallery/photo_gallery.htm

[PlantProtein]

Go see a doctor right away. You definitely have a torn pec, and you only a few more weeks to get this repaired. Insist on surgery, and see as many doctors as you need to until one of them agrees to mend you. Good luck.

[Injured123]

hey guys, my chest has been feeling alot better, all the bruising/swelling has gone away, and I have been able to rep out 175 on the bench . There is still a tiny aching when I go deep touching chest on the bench but it should be gone in another week or two. I should be back to full strength soon