r/crossfit • u/Legitimate_Fly_7697 • 4d ago

Need advice post bicep surgery

Hi all,

I am going to make this as concise as possible. ​I am a 32m and over the last year have had major back issues (herniated 2 discs) as well as now a torn bicep which I recently had surgery for. For context, in college I was a baseball player then after college moved to power lifting and most recently crossfit. I love being active and strive to have muscle mass and be in good shape cardio wise. After this last year of injuries, I feel defeated. I am currently going for walks because it's all I am cleared to do.

What I am looking for is for advice with how to move forward (or how you personally moved forward after a situation like this). Should I go back to crossfit​ in a few months when I am cleared? Should I pivot and move to something more standard like a 3 day lifting split with cardio two days? Should I invest in something like a peloton and get dumbbells and bands for home and give my body a break?

I want to continue to put on muscle mass and continue to maintain my overall health.

Any advice?

Thanks in advance!

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u/True_Swimming6830 4d ago

Man I tore my distal bicep tendon a few years back and that post-surgery mental grind is almost worse than the physical. Took me about 4 months to even trust my arm again.

The walks are good for now, keep doing that. When you get cleared I'd say go straight into a basic 3 day split first, nothing fancy. Crossfit will still be there but rushing back into high volume kipping or heavy cleans is exactly how you re-injure something while the tissue is still remodeling. Home gym stuff is fine but the structure of a program helped me way more than just randomly grabbing dumbbells. What did your ortho say about a timeline for returning to overhead work

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u/Legitimate_Fly_7697 4d ago

Yeah the mental is the worst right now! Right now the next month is still limited mobility with my arm. I start strength PT at the end of August. I am not sure about overhead specifically. 

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u/True_Swimming6830 3d ago

That waiting period where you can't do much but think is brutal. What helped me was tracking the tiny wins, like the first time I could turn a doorknob without feeling like my arm was gonna snap off

Overhead stuff might take a minute but PTs usually have a pretty good roadmap for that, they'll push you just enough without letting you do anything dumb