Does doing light weight/high reps help strengthen surgically repaired tendons?

[Jake LaMotta]

As some of you know I completely tore my pectoralis muscle in late March and had it surgically repaired May 9. My Doctor said that when I go back to lifting in August I should start off doing light weight/high reps (12-15) for a few months, that way it has less of a chance at retearing and he said that rep scheme is good at building muscle, increasing muscular endurance, and would be good for strengthening my surgically repaired pectoralis tendon.

My question is, is my doctor right? Will doing light weight/high reps (as opposed to heavy weight/low reps) help in strengthening my surgically repaired pectoral major tendon? Is it true that doing light weight/high reps helps strengthen your connective tissue?

Will doing light weight/high reps actually help add more blood flow to the tendon thus helping this heal?

 

[Jake LaMotta]

What do you guys think?

 

[TrainingHard]

As some of you know I completely tore my pectoralis muscle in late March and had it surgically repaired May 9. My Doctor said that when I go back to lifting in August I should start off doing light weight/high reps (12-15) for a few months, that way it has less of a chance at retearing and he said that rep scheme is good at building muscle, increasing muscular endurance, and would be good for strengthening my surgically repaired pectoralis tendon.

My question is, is my doctor right? Will doing light weight/high reps (as opposed to heavy weight/low reps) help in strengthening my surgically repaired pectoral major tendon? Is it true that doing light weight/high reps helps strengthen your connective tissue?

Will doing light weight/high reps actually help add more blood flow to the tendon thus helping this heal?

I would trust him

 

[Jake LaMotta]

TrainingHard, not that I don't agree with you, but do you have any evidence or theory to back that up?

I really want to find out about this.

 

[BigBoyJ]

It's pretty much common sense.

 

[Jake LaMotta]

I didn't mean to sound like an idiot. I'm just coming off of a major injury and surgery and want to get on the road to recovery. I'm trying to get as much info as I can from people who, like myself, have suffered a complete pec tear and surgery. This is truly a hard time in my life and I'm hoping this is an injury I can put behind me and not have to worry about it happening again.

 

[ScorpioGirl]

You should also listen to your body. If your training chest and it starts to hurt....stop. The bottom line is that it's trying to heal, and as much as you want to get back on top of your game, by you pushing it too far, you could do more damage than good - and you could land yourself right back under the knife if your don't use caution. Try to have some patience......(I know, easier said than done)

 

[Moen]

YES

This is what I meant in another thread on high reps (and what Phil asked me to explain which I did not do :devil:smi )

I think I called it 'capillary reconstruction' there but ofcourse that had to cartillary (is this right ?? ) reconstruction

 

[Sesshomaru]

Your tendons dont recieve as much blood flow as your muscles do, therefore you need to do higher reps to get enough in there. Additionally, lactate helps strengthen the connective tissue. Thus higher reps are usually prescribed.

Your tendons can handle heavy weights, but the key is progression because their recovery is not as fast as muscles, partly because of the reasons above. Given that you have a tear, you need to listen to your body and stop when things start hurting.

 

[thebrick]

I tore my quad tendon last year. My doctor told me after my knee surgery that tendons take a LONG TIME to heal. I was told no weights for 6-9 months on the knee. They get very, very little blood flow. He told me even a bone heals faster than a tendon because of that factor. So yes, I would allow plenty of time and when you do start training again, keep the reps high for a while to flush as much blood as possible through the area to help recovery. Then you can think about adding weight later.

 

[cryptasm]

I didn't mean to sound like an idiot. I'm just coming off of a major injury and surgery and want to get on the road to recovery. I'm trying to get as much info as I can from people who, like myself, have suffered a complete pec tear and surgery. This is truly a hard time in my life and I'm hoping this is an injury I can put behind me and not have to worry about it happening again.

Low reps and High weight certanly aren't the awnser!!!
Sorry I couldn't help it.. I feel like tearing off someones head and eatin it today.. so i locked myself in my office in order to save my employees..so Im taking it out here!!!
I would say higher reps and light weight working in a progreesive fashion in load would signal increased recupritive ability to the body in order to repair faster..thats why they have physical therapy...if it wern't good they would just have you lay on the couch for 6 weeks!!!

 

[Vespa103]

I am definately going to side with the doctor here, I have had surgical repairs as well as torn tendons that I did not repair

When you have any kind of injury you should drop the weights and increase the reps also do not train to failure take it easy

Please note some aas increase(deca) collagen(for your tendons) while others(test) do the opposite, if you decide to use aas make sure they are from the first group and not the second do a search on this for more info