Rob Kearney Tore His Tricep Attempting Log Press Record

You recovered from surgery, huh? What did you have done? Dude, I've had a shit year. So just over a year ago, I ruptured my tricep on my left arm. I was attempting the Log Press world record. What is the world record? So the show was to attempt the world record. I failed at 485 pounds, which would have been a new American record. That's when my tricep decided to crap out. So what did it do, like, separate from the bone? Oh, no, it like my tendon exploded. So typically, like, when a tendon tears, it's kind of like a piece of paper, throw a couple of stitches in it, and then, you know, anchor it into the bone. The doctor, first thing he said when I woke up was, so when I opened up your arm, I literally had to take a step back and rethink everything I was going to do because it was that much worse. Didn't you have an MRI to go by? Yeah, but like, so the MRI, it showed that it was torn, but he didn't know to like what extent. And when he got in there, he realized it literally thought, he said it looked like a firecracker had gone off in my tendon. So it took 14 sutures to put my tendon back together into something he could even attach to my elbow, and then another four anchors into my elbow that he had to drill in. And what was the recovery like? I mean, I still can't straighten my arm out all the way. Oh, really? And I got like this really cute dimple now. Oh, wow. That's gnarly. Nasty scar. Are you going to put like a tattoo on it, make it like a snake or something? That's what I'm thinking, yeah. I mean, I feel like a snake is too cliche. Maybe a fuse. That could be it. For your forearm. Then my bomb-ass forearm. My husband goes, you should make it a sperm. I was like, oh, not. Is his name attached to it? It's like, we could just not do that because like, you know. There's like no need. How many people have fucking sperm tattooed on their body? That might be like the least tattooed thing ever. It might be. Yeah. I mean, I'm gay and I don't even want a sperm tattoo on my body. It's probably a girl, like sad girls. You know? The ones that definitely have daddy issues. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So the thing explodes. And what is it when it does explode, like what does it look like on your arm? Does it pull up? So, yeah, there was some there was some recoiling going on and literally like he said, there was just like tendon fragments like strewn about in your arms. Fragments? Literally like a bomb. Yeah. Is that just because the weight of the log? Yeah. So you press 485 pounds overhead and your body says, fuck no, it just goes. And what do you weigh about? 240? 280. 280. Yeah. So that's. Yeah. 200 pounds over our body weight. Yeah. Yeah. That's a lot of weight. Yeah. So the rehab is going well for that. And then like. Is this you doing it? Oh, yeah. This is me. Is this when it blows out? No. So this is when I actually broke the record. So I had already had the American record at this point and then got the chance. So this was like all COVID times. So we did like virtual record breakers. So. Why does the judge such an attention whore? He was in Lithuania for this. Oh, OK. Kind of looks like a white supremacist there though. Yeah. It's gone. See, Highland. So yeah, that was 475. So much weight. Now, when they do the logs, like, did they put weight inside the log? Oh, and the ends of the log. Yeah. Yeah. So the log itself weighs like I think that weighed like 160 pounds or so. And then we had to add 25s and stuff to the end of it to get it to the contest. There's something very primal about lifting a fucking log too, right? I mean, that's the sport of strongman, right? Yeah. Like we lift stones and logs and carry shit on our back. Like that's just what the sport is. Yeah. And so the elbow just totally shit the bed. And how long did it take before you could lift again? So I was like back in the gym within like two weeks doing lower body stuff. But the biggest, the hardest part was like getting range of motion back, like trying to flex my elbow again. Because when they did the surgery, my arm was bent at 90 degrees. So that was a pretty comfortable position. But getting it to straighten or getting it to bend all the way was horrible. Do they anticipate you'll ever get full range of motion? Were you actually straightening out again? It's been a year. So here's the weird thing. Nobody can figure this out. If I'm not, if I'm just here, try to raise my arm, that's as much as I get. But if I'm pressing, like if I'm bench pressing or overhead pressing, I can get to full extension. Press this cup. I think it might be too light. Can you pretend? This is where I get hurt. This is where it blows out? Yeah. You'll see that in the left arm. Is she at the same fucking Hitler guy? Yeah, same dude. Same dude. And there it goes. Oh, Jesus Christ. Oh, shit. And like, you know, I'm a certified athletic trainer, like I have a master's degree in sports medicine. So like I legit knew right away what had happened. And my husband comes over to me. He's like, what's wrong? I was like, I just tore my triceps. He's like, no, you didn't. I was like, no, I totally did. But you didn't think it was as bad as it was. I mean, I knew it was torn, but like I didn't. Yeah, I didn't think it was to that level. Now, what kind of therapy do you do for something like that once they reattach it? What's the rehabilitation like? So I mean, I did a lot of everything, a lot of manual therapy because like I produce a lot of scar tissue. Like even now, like my electron on like the elbow bone doesn't feel like my right one. So when you say you produce, is it just my body naturally produces a lot of scar tissue. So that's interesting. That was something we battled actually because I was producing too much scar tissue too early in the rehab process. That was actually hindering the range of motion gains that I was supposed to be getting. So a lot of like grass in cupping. I was I did like dry needling and acupuncture. And one of the one of the first times I went, the therapist couldn't get the needle through the scar tissue. Because it was too thick. And the best way to describe it to people is like even with with me, like feeling the needles go in, it felt like pushing a needle through like rubber. That's how it felt for me, too. Like I felt the stickiness of it. Do you think that's just because you trained so much that your body is so used to recovering quickly? I think so. Yeah. Have you talked to other guys that are strong men? Do they have similar situations? Yeah, a lot of us like have had like the scar tissue stuff that goes on. And then like I actually bent a few of the acupuncture needles like when they were trying to do them. Like she pulled them out and was like it was curved. I was like, oh, that's at least they didn't break off. Watch the entire episode for free only on Spotify.