Broken But Not Busted

Accidents happen in the gym. We’ve all been there. Tripping over a dumbbell you forgot you put down, dropping a plate on your toe, bonking your head on a high cable attachment, the list goes on and on. However, on Saturday July 30th I had a pretty significant accident that changed the entire trajectory of my plans for 2022.

I had signed up for the Powerlifting America Legions Sports Fest Meet in Reno Nevada. My plan was to qualify for Powerlifting America Raw nationals in the master II division and then compete there. I was training at home with my usual setup, like many of you know I do, on my last workout of an introductory cycle. I had just completed my squats for the day, so I inserted temporary pins in position for my bench press. I unloaded some of the weight on the bar, purposely leaving 135lbs on to warm up for bench press. I then lowered the bar to the pins at bench press height to set up for bench press. Normally, I change out the pins for my usual bar hangers/hooks. On this particular day though, I got distracted and forgot to change out the pins for the hangers. I climbed under the bar, positioned my grip, and started to roll the bar out into position. Normally, with hangers, the bar would stop at the end and hit the hook. So as the bar was rolling, as I always do, I looked to my left to check the bar position. Just when I did, the full 135lbs came off the pins and landed right on my face. I did not know what had happened. In moments the bar was on my neck and I had to struggle to get it off. I must have let out a couple of – what I’m sure were terrifying – yells as my wife came into the room. She just had a hysterectomy and was in no position to hurry to my aid. Nonetheless, I had just gotten out from underneath the bar and she looked terrified once I saw her. ”What in the world happened?” Grasping my jaw, which was already in pain, I looked at my rack and realized I did not change out the hangers. I went out into the kitchen sink, spat, and saw blood. I knew my jaw was broken. My wife had an ice pack laying on the counter. Instinctually, I grabbed it and applied it to my face. We then drove to the emergency room. I was afraid of a head injury since I’d suffered quite a blow to my face. From my years in healthcare, I knew head injuries don’t always manifest their symptoms immediately. If I started to decline mentally, I wanted to be at a hospital when and if it happened. Luckily there were no signs or symptoms of a head injury and the parts of my brain that were revealed on the CT scan were all normal. But, a CT scan of my jaw revealed exactly what I had suspected: A vertical fracture of my right mandibular ramus below the TMJ.

The following week would be very interesting. I called the oral and maxillofacial surgeon that the Emergency Room MD recommended first thing Monday morning. I got a referral from my primary care physician, since the local emergency room had neglected to do so, and had all of my images sent over to the surgeon. Then I played a waiting game for over a week. Daily calls to the oral surgeon were met with frustrating but necessary delays. The swelling needed to go down. The images needed to be reviewed. Finally, the fracture needed to be evaluated as to see if it was operable. 

I’m not one to make decisions or plans when I’m uncertain or based on fear. I don’t have a crystal ball and trying to make decisions based on what I think will happen just slows me down. This was no exception. The fact was I had a broken jaw and I knew nothing more. I wanted to keep training and I just needed to shift focus. I couldn’t lay flat because that hurt my jaw, so the flat bench press was out. Also, I was going to be on a soft food and liquid diet, so I knew I’d be losing weight. So, I pulled out of my powerlifting meet and my competitive plans for the rest of year  and jumped into bodybuilding training feet first without a program. However, I’ve written many bodybuilding programs, so I wasn’t flying blind. I didn’t need a program on paper, I just needed to do in the gym what I’d written on paper thousands of times previously. Day 1 became a lat/back focused day with one chest movement. I chose a slight incline bench press and 10 sets of lats. Once I figured out what wouldn’t hurt my jaw, it was a good session, if a little on the easy side. Day 2, I did a leg day, my first in about a dozen years having been so focused on powerlifting. I did trap bar deadlifts, DB split squats, leg extensions, leg curls and calves. It was another good session and ironically, with my mouth left slightly open, Snothing hurt.  I let the rest of the week flow naturally just like I would write it on paper. A shoulder day with one back movement, a second leg day, and finally a chest day with one shoulder movement. I let my body and my time availability be my guide. Once the week was done, I wrote down everything I did and that became my program.

Day 1 – Upper, Back Dominant
Exercise	Sets	Reps	1st set – Last Set RPE
Incline BB Press	4	6 – 10	7 – 9.5
Cable Row	3	8 – 12	7 – 9.5
Cable Pull Down	3	8 – 12	7 – 9.5
Triceps Cable Press down	2	6 – 10	7 – 9.5
Straight arm Row-Single arm	3	Myo Reps	9 or Tap out

Day 2 – Lower
Exercise	Sets	Reps	1st set – Last Set RPE
Trap Bar Deadlift	4	6 – 10	7 – 9.5
Split Squat	2	6 – 10	7
Prone Leg Curls	3	6 – 10	7 – 9.5
Supine Leg Extensions	3	10 – 15	7 – 9.5
Calves	4	10 – 15	7 – 9.5

Day 3 – Upper, Deltoid Dominant
Exercise	Sets	Reps	1st set – Last Set RPE
Swiss Bar Seal Row	4	6 – 10	7 – 9.5
DB Overhead Press	3	6 – 10	7 – 9.5
Lateral Raise	3	Myo Reps	9 or Tap out
Meadows Row	3	8 – 12	7 – 9.5
Incline Biceps Curl	2	10 – 15	7 – 9.5

Day 4 – Lower
Exercise	Sets	Reps	1st set – Last Set RPE
High Bar Squat	4	6 – 10	7 – 9.5
DB RDL	4	6 – 10	7 – 9.5
Calves	4	10 – 15	7 – 9.5
Leg Extension	2	10 – 15	7 – 9.5

Day 5 – Upper, Chest Dominant
Exercise	Sets	Reps	1st set – Last Set RPE
Incline DB Press	3	10 – 15	7 – 9.5
Hex Press	3	10 – 15	7 – 9.5
Upright Row	4	10 – 15	7 – 9.5
Incline Fly	3	Myo Reps	9 or Tap out

Weekly sets per body part
Back / Lats	13	DL not inc.
Delts	23	All 3 heads
Quads	15
Hams	11
Chest	13
Bi	19	2 direct
Tri	15	2 direct
Calves	8
Glutes	14

The following week I got a phone call that my fracture would require a closed reduction and fixation of my mandible to my maxilla: AKA wire my jaw shut. This came as quite the surprise. It had been over a week, I had already altered my training and was lifting again. By now, 85% of the pain was gone and I had resigned myself to letting it heal on its own. I went to a monster truck show with my son, Jeff and Ethan and was halfway through another week of training. So, this sudden change was somewhat of a shock. As much as I didn’t want to have the surgery (a pretty invasive one at that, as screws are put into the bone above and below my teeth), it seemed it was for the best. I tried to figure out if I could get out of it, but not very hard. Ultimately, I knew the short term discomfort would be better for me in the long run. So, I got the surgery done. Pain medication dulled the pain, but the discomfort sucked. Having a mouth full of metal and constantly fatigued cheeks and teeth is enough to drive anyone kinda bonkers.

I took a day off from training after the surgery, but then I was right back at it the next day. I haven’t let up since, but where this takes me, I don’t know. What I do know is that I’ll keep training and sucking down food through a straw. I stocked up on soups, protein powder, PB Fit and super greens which will last the next few weeks until I figure out my next steps. When I do, I’ll be sure to pass them along. So stay tuned!