Help with pulled bicep & pectoral with pull-ups

[John Bean]

I've had two injuries during the past week with pull-ups. One was minor strain in my left bicep brachii, I probably came down too fast; and yesterday of my right pectoral major muscle in the part of the muscle in front of the armpit. Both times the pull occurred during the downward phase of the pull-up and took me by surprise because I wasn't feeling fatigued, sore or weak. I'm 52 so injuries are going to come to me easier & go away slower. I do the Crossfit warm up as well as 5-10 minutes on the rower prior to each workout. To get my muscles back into shape I have access to a "Total Gym", for lighter ring type rehab, and to rings once my pectorals are feeling better. Can anyone give me some advice for stretching exercises to get my muscles to adapt to being stretched quickly under pressure, so this doesn't happen again. Would dynamic stretching as advocated by Tom Kurz on a daily basis be advisable? Or would swing exercises with dumbbells/kettlebells be the best route to go? Thanks in advance for any advice, John Bean

[Steven Low]

Avoid pain.

Massage, hydrate, stretch lightly, etc.

[John Bean]

Thanks Steven. In trying different things out, I think that swimming free-style will stretch and strengthen that muscle the best. My biggist concern is not the healing but pulling it again when I resume the high numbers of PU's. I enjoy doing PU's, and the past two weeks doing assisted PU's on a Total Gym is getting me down.