Chest pain after lifting?
 

Yesterday I decided to try and find my max weight on benchpress, pulldowns and the ab machine, no pain or discomfort while doing it. About 2 hours afterward I started getting a pain in my chest when I took a deep breath, and this morning it hurts really bad. It feels almost like when you have pneumonia and get that catch in your lungs when you breathe. Any ideas? Could it be a pulled muscle or something?

No ideas? THis is really startring to hurt, especially when I move my arms up past about 90 degrees from my body...

Well, you don't bounce the weight off your chest when you bench, do you? It's weird, I don't know what you could have done, if you use proper form and everything..

Dude, you probably just pulled a muscle around your heart. I was just in for an ultrasound for the same thing. Wasn't bench pressing but working out with some pushups with one of those exercise balls. Anyways some fat dude at the club wasn't watching where he was going and tripped on a scale and did one of those running sideways things because I'm big and I can't catch my balance. Anyways he did the sideways run in to the ball, which made me fall a bit and when I caught myself I pulled a muscle. Next day I thought I was having a heart attack, so they did a chest xray and ultrasound on my heart, and they said I pulled a muscle.

I was using a pressup machine, didn't bounce anything off my chest. The pain just radiates right across my pecs, and gets sharper if I stretch my arms.

I remember I used to have slight chest pains after bench press. Turns out I didn't have enough calcium. It was my sternum and ribs, not my muscles.
I really can't tell if your problem is that same that mine was, but it's always good to have a glass of milk a day.

Then don't move your arms like that.

Seriously, if you have any doubts, nut up and see a doctor. Otherwise, stifle your ego and lift normal. Trying to find your max on chest, back and abs in the same day is just insane. And max on abs? What's that mean? Dude, you deserve a sore chest....you might even have cracked a rib. That might be why you're getting a catch when you try to breath deep.

if it hurts when you stretch sounds like doms. wait a few days to see if it goes away. in the meantime try a light swim as active recovery, if it really isn't anything else.

I did that once. Turns out I tore the lining around my lungs...hurt like a mother for about a week, then it started getting better. I won't tell you about the infection I got in the lining, I don't want you to get scared.

Sounds like you pulled something to me. This kind of stuff happens a lot when going for max effort, at least it does to me..... You might want to lay off and do light stuff then hit the weights sensibly for a while. For max efforts you might want to do cycles of lower rep stuff and build up to a max over time.

another thing...how did you warm up for it

Irish? How you feeling?! I hope is was not a coronary after all!!!

Aside from that, and the true wish that this was nothing more then a pulled muscle. I once pulled a muscle between my ribs, intercostal (?) and had similar issues. It took a few weeks and limiting my motions to let it heal up, and then I was good to go.

I'm fine now, I did a couple days of just isometric stuff, and it eventually loosened up. I think I just didn't warm up enough and tried to lift too much.

depends on a lot of things, like age, family history of heart disease, smoking, history of diabetes, etc. if you're young enough to be lifting all the time and healthy enough to be working out all the time, it's unlikely to be cardiac.

from what it sounds like, it's probably a pulled muscle.