Holiday and Gym

[chad1721]

I am going to book a consultation with Karidis this month and pay the deposit, i will book the surgery in for the end of July when I have saved up the rest of the money, i however have 2 problems,

1- I have booked a holiday to Tunsia on October 15th with all of my wifes family, this will give me 2 and a half months to heal before the holiday, will the scars have healed in time?

2- I am heavily into the gym and want to be in peak condition for my Holiday, how long will i need to take off the gym before can get back training?

This is my plan please tell me if its unrealistic.

July 22nd- Have surgery
Aug 23rd- Back in gym training only legs and cardio for 2 weeks
Septermber 6th- Back in gym 2 weeks upper body light weights
September 20th- 2 weeks back in gym slighlty heavier weights

October 15th- Go on holiday with no massive sign of scarring and looking good ready for the beach

[blueblueblue]

Hi Chad
I've just booked my OP for 1st June.
Karidis told me that he recommends leaving the gym until around 12 days to 2 weeks (this is when you can take the vest off in the day). but to also be careful... if anything hurts when ease off it, just be sensible basically and don't over do it. so your timeframe, going off what Karidis told me sounds about right.

[Deymorin]

Hey mate

I was in a similar situation wanting to write a timeline for my plans and I was annoyed when people said, "don't have a timeline"

But I'm afraid they're right, you don't want to just set yourself up for disappointment when you can't keep to a timetable for reasons that aren't your fault! But you'll know when you're ready.

For me 2 weeks off then lower body stuff, and at week 3 I was doing upper body stuff. Bare in mind putting your hands above your head is going to be really hard so you can't do shoulder press, lat pulldowns etc for quite a long time.

By 2 and half months don't think the actual scars will show but according to other people you'll almost definiately have internal scar tissue (like I do now)... it's annoying and makes the skin all bumpy

[blueblueblue]

Hey Deymorin

Just wondering how long it actually was before you could do upper body stuff?
and just how noticable the scar tissue is... to other people do you think?

Thanks

[Deymorin]

I think its's one of those things that's more noticable to you to be honest. I've been with a couple of girls since the op (6 weeks ago) and I havn't had any negative comments. It's mostly noticable in the light anyway.

Mmmm in terms of training I'd definately take 2 weeks off. I play a lot of rugby so it's fortunate for me that it's right at the end of the season so i wasn't tempted to back early! I was doing squats and deadlifts on week 2. And on week 3 started to do some moderate shoulders, back and arms. As I said bear in mind you won't be able to do lateral raises, lat pull downs, pull ups or shoulder press amongst others. Just work around what feels comfortable. I started chest at about 3 and half weeks and that was fine. A little massage before helps to loosen it up because the scar tissue seems to be very ridgid.

I got some good advise before mine from Thetodd and other people so let me know if you've got any other questions and I'd be happy to help out. Good luck mate.

[blueblueblue]

Thanks Deymorin. I've got my op booked for the 1st June, just need to get my bloods sorted out ASAP.

If you don't mind, there are a few questions on my mind....

Are you pleased with your results? I saw on one of your posts you say you feel as though its gone back to the same shape it was....

Also, have you started doing exercises like shoulder press not, or is it still too sore/stiff?

and also, i've seen a few people say their chest was really sore to touch up until around month 3, how did you feel it if someone bangs in to you or you catch on something?

Thanks in advance.

[thetodd]

The problem with building your chest isnt really like the soreness/tightness factor. Im suffering with keloid scarring on my right hand side which is gradually residing but id i find a way of having kenalog injections i would do it in a heartbeat ... anyway lol

yeah the problem is with the scarring is that you build muscle on top of it. so you look out of proportion. If i was in your shoes before i had surgery this is what i would have done

1/trained like darn beforehand, eat really healthily and got to my peak
2/worn the post op vest for as long as i could its uncomfortable and you will be keen to take it on, but ive seen the matter bought up on the USA side of the board and the docs reccomend wearing it way longer than karidis does, and they seem to suffer from less scarring
3/i wouldnt train at all while i was healing ... litterally i would just do a bit of cardio if that till all of my scarring was gone and id then train maybe 3/4 months post op

everyones got their own opinion on recovery but i think i went into the gym way to early and perhaps this is why ive been left now with loads of keloid scarring. As for your situation with going on holiday id imagine you will have some visual scarring to your nips if you got close up and got a magnifying glass out ... just grow your chest hair . You will be left with some keloid scarring but not enough to warrant anyone noticing it

So to cut it short ... touchwood you should be ok. But wear the vest as long as you can and maybe knock all weights on the head for a bit i wish i did looking back

[chad1721]

Thanks for the advice, i think my plan is this, do 2 very light full body work outs just to keep me ticking over starting 1 month after surgery, Monday and thursdays so i get good recovery time.

Leg press 3 sets
Leg Ext 3 sets
Rear legs curls 3 sets
Seated calf raises 3 sets
Cable Bicep Curls 3 sets
Straight bar tricep push down 3 sets   

so its basically legs and arms and miss out chest, back and shoulders until i feel ready.

[Deymorin]

Hi Blueblue... Yeah I was a little unhappy at one point. Basically you'll get lured into a false sense of security when you first come out of the op room and for 2 weeks you'll be flat as you like. Then unfortunately the scar tissue starts kicking in and this is one hell of a bitch.

When it first started to change I thought things were going back to how it was but I maybe was exagerating a little, it's definately better than before photos. But I guess you can't expect perfection.

I'm coming up to 2 months and I think Im starting to budge some of the scar tissue with heavy massage, I've started trying to use my knuckles to break down the scar tissue (I this read somewhere online) and it seems to be doing the job. When people say it will be sore for 3 months I didnt find that at all, after about 3 weeks it doesn't really hurt at all, unless someone punched you flat out in the chest.

Basically don't worry you'll be fine mate, the only rough bit is the couple of days afterwards when you'll probably feel a bit knackered... After that it's all good
Give yourself something to look forward to - I'm off to Ibiza next month and then Thailand and Japan in August litterely can't wait!