calf is ripped

[ironviking]

I have been reading this board for a while now, lots of info.
Recently, I hurt my right calf I tore some muscle in there and I go on Tuesday so they can stick a scope in there and find out how much damage I did. The problem is I cant work legs right now, which really sucks but anyway I need some help with an upper body workout only, some way to maximize gains in my upper body atleast until my leg heals. I was also going to do a heavy ph cycle again. Once my leg heals I plan on reversing things a little bit and concentrating on my legs to bring them back up to par. Any ideas on workouts that would be good in my situation?

Thanks

 

[YellowJacket]

Give you calf some fina brother! It'll heal up just fine!


Just use a heavy, compound movement for your upper body. Deads, military press, heavy bar bicep curls, close grip bench and flat barbell bench press. Low reps, medium volume and heavy. Are you able to stand on the leg without pain?

 

[ironviking]

stand on it - yes , without pain - no
I've just never had an injury that I couldn't work around.
Calf is blue, black, purple, some green in there and hurts like hell.
I was thinking about the fina though. I just dont want to sit around and get skinny again, I finally hit over 200 and would like to stay there.

 

[YellowJacket]

If you ripped your gastroc. you're in a lot of trouble and if you ripped your soleus (directly under the gastroc.) you're in just as much trouble.

 

[ironviking]

I think I got lucky in that I didnt tear those guys up too bad
the Sports Med doctor I talked to said there are around 3 muscles underlying those that do mainly stabilization and he thinks I ripped one of those. He said it is a definite tear just not sure how bad yet, that is what the scope is for on Tuesday. What is really worrying him is I cant flex it atleast not with enough pressure to lift my heal off of the ground.
I was thinking about doing something like the German Volume training or something higher volume for a workout to try and get my caloric expenditure up some. Also, my recovery time should be better considering half my body is not being worked.

 

[Andy2k]

There are several small muscles tucked underneath the major ones in the lower leg - peronei etc which stabilise the ankle/foot and allow it to twist safely. They can certainly cause problems with stability.
If you can get it checked out properly (it sounds like you're going to) you should be fine - if there is anything particularly rough in there, they can probably drop a few sutures in to allow it to heal better.
Once it has healed, then you need to be careful - this is where the 'real' healing starts.
Your sports medicine guy will probably want to jump in there and do some deep tissue work (or maybe the A R T posted elsewhere on this board) - it will hurt, but get on with it .
Don't be in too much of a rush to jump back into the weights with this thing (not at any heavy level) - the lower leg has a crap blood supply, so healing takes a little longer than in other places.
As for the upper body, machines which don't require you to use your legs for stability are probably the best way to go.

 

[ironviking]

if anyone was wondering - I did tear my gastroc, not the achilles but one of the connection points, kind of like the tendon that attaches to the tendon. Well anyway, no surgery but no leg work for 6weeks either and phys therapy two times a week for 4 weeks. Well here I go upper body only for awhile, hello chicken legs.

 

[pjorstad]

heh, im doing it for an opposite reason. BECAUSE I NEED A BIGGER UPPE BODY AND I NEED TO NEGLECT MY LOWER BODY.


Anyways im thinking that for the first 2 weeks or so it iwll help my upper body growth because my body won't be worry about recovering from a leg workout and also since i carry a lot of weight in my ass and calves etc then it puts too much stress on my upper body compared to your average person. Im thinking of trying to workout for 2 to 3 weeks without any leg workouts while doing it natural and then adding them in when my upper body stalls, im thinking it wouldn't take long without any leg workouts though for my upper body growth to stall but im not sure.

 

[ironviking]

I'm thinking the same thing, that upper body might be able to recover better because the rest isn't being worked. It'll be interesting to find out.

Good luck