Unknown injury (rhabdo-esque), how to adjust workout program?

[Gyis]

Somewhere in June this year I started lifting. I've always been pretty, uh... weak, so I started out simple, pushups, pullups, that sort of thing. I ate well and quickly improved, so I stepped it up a notch and started doing Scooby's intermediate workout. Nevermind your personal opinion on that site (I've browsed this forum often enough to know there's some controversy :P), I like it for several reasons.

Push day
Dumbbell press
Dumbbell fly
Alt. dumb. press
Side raise
Dumb. fr. press

Pull day
Pullups (+ negatives)
Barbell row
Chinups (+ negatives)
Dumbbell curl
Hammer curl

(And a leg day and rest day, but those are not relevant to the thread)

And again, I improved even more. Where at first I couldn't even do a single chin-up, eventually I could do 3 chin-ups and 1 pull-up. Then in september I had to go back to uni again, so to be safe I put the lifting on hold. The break took longer than I had planned and it was only 2 weeks ago I started lifting again.

I started out with the same workout plan I linked earlier, which maybe wasn't such a great plan. The push day went fine. Obviously I couldn't lift as much as I could two months before, but that was to be expected. The next day I did pull-ups, barbell rows, chin-ups, dumbbell and hammer curls. I was surprised to find out I could still do a couple of pullups, though after the rows I couldn't do any more chin-ups. Again, to be expected, but I wasn't happy with my performance so I made a big mistake: I did too many negatives. Or at least I'm assuming I did -too- many, because it resulted in an injury. At the time I didn't notice I pushed myself too hard, and the next day I was doing fine as well, except for the immense though unsurprising soreness.

The day after that though... I couldn't straighten my left arm, only bend it like 45 degrees, and though my right arm was better I couldn't straighten it entirely either. The next day I found out my left arm was swollen as ****, especially around the elbow and a big part of the forearm. After doing some research it sounded awfully similar to rhabdo but my pee was looking fine and the day after I found out it was swollen the pain was mostly gone too (though my arm was still swollen and I couldn't straighten it entirely). I decided to stop working out entirely for a while, and now, two weeks later, my arms are fine again.

So yesterday I started working out again, obviously taking it easy to be safe. The push day went fine, I didn't really notice any regression. The pull day (today) though... I can't do a single pull/chin-up anymore, and even negatives caused me trouble. I managed to do 5 - 5 - 4 negative pullups, but after that only 4 - 4 - 3 negative chin-ups. The last rep of the last set I couldn't hold myself up so I decided to stop.

I did try some curls after that but that was a disaster as well, and after the first set my left bicep felt strange so I got scared and stopped entirely.

So, yeah... Loss of strength is to be expected after 2 months of doing nothing, but I lost -a lot- of strength as far as biceps, forearms and I guess maybe lats go. I don't know what my injury was exactly, but though my arms feel normal again it is obviously still affecting me.

My own fault, obviously, but what should I do now? Don't do any exercises at all? Slowly build it up? I think I'll continue with the push workout at least, and core and legs, but I'm not sure what to do with the pull day. Maybe do even less negatives? Only chin-ups or only pull-ups? Only rows? Only curls? Or a combination or something?

I don't know how long it's gonna take to fully regain my strength but from what I've read it can take quite a long time. I just want to make sure I do as much, but not TOO much, as I can to help my recovery.

Thanks in advance!

[Mdenatale]

It may not be what you want to hear, but I suggest you get on a fullbody routine that doesn't focus so much volume on one body part or motion. Your Pull day has a chit ton of volume on your biceps. No wonder you couldn't straighten your arm. The Push day is a similar story. A full body routine will probably only have 1 or two exercises per body part/motion. In general new lifters will do much better with a high frequency low volume routine.

Check out Fieirce 5: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=162916931

[Gyis]

It may not be what you want to hear, but I suggest you get on a fullbody routine that doesn't focus so much volume on one body part or motion. Your Pull day has a chit ton of volume on your biceps. No wonder you couldn't straighten your arm. The Push day is a similar story. A full body routine will probably only have 1 or two exercises per body part/motion. In general new lifters will do much better with a high frequency low volume routine.

Check out Fieirce 5: -link-

No, yeah, I can understand my post gave off this vibe that I didn't want my routine to be criticised, but that really isn't the case. My mistake.

Anyway, just to be clear, I have used that routine before my two month break too, and I was pretty happy with it. Used it for a month or more (after doing 1.5 months of some very basic full body stuff), and like I said, I went from being able to do no pullups to like 3. Never had any trouble with not being able to straighten my arms either.

That being said, if my pull day is too much for my biceps then that's a fair concern, certainly now that I seem to have destroyed them after that injury, and the fact I didn't get injured before is hardly proof it was a good idea. And it certainly isn't only the two month break that caused that much loss of muscle, because when I started again I did still manage to do one or two pullups. Now I can do none and only a handful of negatives.

I'll look into an alternative full body routine but it does need to be one I can do at home, with only a pullup bar, a set of dumbbells and a small barbell. It's not ideal and I know a gym has its advantages, but my choice to do it at home has everything to do with time, convenience and motivation.

As far as high frequency/low volume goes, would less weight and more reps help? I can't do high reps doing pullups even when doing negatives (as I can apparently only do like 3x5 with my bodyweight now...), but that might be an idea for curls.

[Mdenatale]

Simply adding reps and dropping the weight isn't going to make anything better. Even with equipment limitations you should use a proven routine as a template. When I first started out my home gym was very limited. I took a proven routine and adapted to what I had available.

[scullin]

Simply adding reps and dropping the weight isn't going to make anything better. Even with equipment limitations you should use a proven routine as a template. When I first started out my home gym was very limited. I took a proven routine and adapted to what I had available.

lol yeah I have a bar, two adjustable dumbells, a bench, chinup bar, and a squat rack. That's pretty much all I use 90% of the time for the past several years.