Marlon Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 I've been dealing with a whole bunch of nagging little pains lately so about a month ago I decided to take a month off. Things started feeling better and just today I decided it was a good day to start training again, completely from scratch doing chin-up grip deadhangs, planks, supports, hollow body holds etc. I had previously tested my maximums in all of those basic isometric positions before taking the month off, so i set up my timer and made the chin-up grip deadhang my first static position. When i tested my maximum before I got to two minutes before I decided to stop, so i've been doing 2 sets of 1 minute hangs. I got all the way through the hang to 1 minute and everything felt the same as before I had taken the month off, my grip strength was taxed the most like usual, and my shoulders actually felt better than they have in a long time. But when I decided to let go of the bar I couldn't. I had to lift my hands up and off of the bar as if I had hooks connected to the ends of my arms rather than hands. There was absolutely no pain, It didn't feel like a muscle cramp in anyway, and nothing felt nervy (no numbness / pins and needles), I just couldn't extend my fingers at all. It felt like the tendons on the palm side of my fingers had just shortened while I was hanging without me noticing. It took about 5 minutes of having my girlfriend massage my forearms and then having her uncurl my fingers before i could use them again. Now, as i'm typing this they feel essentially normal (full range of motion is back, with no pain, but they kind of feel like they don't want to open fully) I've never experienced this before so I'm wondering if anyone else here has, or if someone knows what might have just happened to me. Is this a "normal' response to jumping back into training after taking a month off even though it was just a dead hang? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Naterman Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Yep. That has happened to me before during heavy deadlifts, but only a few times. I just did a TON of heavy work and my fingers sort of locked up. You may have gotten your forearms so pumped that the muscle compartments simply had too much pressure in them to allow any movement whatsoever. You also may have deoxygenated the muscles to the point where they had to wait for more oxygen in order to move. I have no idea what happened, but you should be fine! It probably WAS just way too much too soon! Don't take a whole month off again you crazy guy! Just drop volume super, ultra low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marlon Posted July 13, 2011 Author Share Posted July 13, 2011 Thanks for the response slizzardman, I'm glad to hear it's nothing to worry about. I trained again today and there was no problem at all. I'll definitely take your advice on not taking an entire month off again too lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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