Pec strain? Wat do

[ridge_forrester]

Yesterday, doing parallel bar dips I suddenly felt a dull pain in my left pec.

Afterwards, I couldn't even bench 2kg dumbbells without pain.

Today, no bruising or noticed any swelling.

After some stretching (no pain from full-range stretching) and massage I worked up to 10kg full-range flyes. Also about 30% of my bench for a bunch of reps.

No pain from anything now, but pec felt tight. So I stopped it there.

Things seem to be improving well, but I'm worried about making things worse when I get to srs weights again.

Questions:
What should I do - keep the weights low and slowly increase when no more tightness or pain?
How can I prevent it from happening again?
Edit: I was pretty well hydrated, but i guess i could've been recovered more. I'd already done a 4rm bench that session, plus a some good volume with no issues though.

[ridge_forrester]

Might as well chronicle my recovery while I'm at it.

Day 2

Heat rub
Rubber ball massage on the affected area

Bench:
30x20
40x20 no issue
50x12 pec started to tighten again, stopped it there

Cable flyes, full rom
3kg x 30
6kg x 30

Baby steps, but a slight improvement over yesterday.

[Heisman2]

General rule of thumb is to rest 1-2 days and then work on range of motion exercises and then with weight as tolerated, stopping where there is pain. You didn't rest at all but haven't had any set back so that is fine. You're doing the right things. The main piece is going to be time. It's very unlikely for you to significantly worsen it while lifting as long as you work up slowly in weight and stop when you feel pain. You're probably looking at a 1-2 week recovery from your description, but I cannot guarantee that.

In regards to not having it happen again, that is tougher. Sometimes freak things occur. Do you use a particularly deep range of motion or do you think anything else weird happened on that set?

[ridge_forrester]

Thanks man, I'll get you on recharge.

In regards to not having it happen again, that is tougher. Sometimes freak things occur. Do you use a particularly deep range of motion or do you think anything else weird happened on that set?

Must've just been a freak thing. I was a bit sore from my previous workout, so I can only imagine that must've been it. I have been trying to increase my ROM on some exercises lately, including dips, so that might be it as well.

Think I might start a log of my recovery in the workout journals section.