Australian bodybuilder Calum von Moger, , injured his left bicep at the end of November and had to get it surgically repaired. Almost a month post-surgery, von Moger posted a video of what his body looks like, and the difference is staggering—proof that even a month off can have noticeable effects on a bodybuilder's sculpted physique.
As you can see, there's quite a difference between his left and right sides, and it's a lot more than just the bicep aesthetics. You can see how an injury to one muscle carried over to both his chest and back, von Moger repeatedly saying that his upper body just doesn't "pop" how it used to. Not to mention, he can barely move his left arm, much less flex his bicep muscle. (For those of us that can flex our biceps, here's exactly how to give those bad boys baseball-looking definition.)
The bodybuilder tore his bicep at the beginning of November in exactly the way you might imagine: doing a ridiculously heavy bicep curl. At the time, he posted a video of the tear to shed light on the long-standing implications one stupid choice can have. Don't worry, it's not gruesome—it just shows him dropping the bar after a second attempt and grabbing his left bicep, obviously in pain. (If you were hoping for a really, really gruesome lifting injury, check out this leg press. Warning: it's disgusting.)
"DONT TRY THIS!" he captioned the video, which was him and a friend attempting to do a 400-pound— yes, 400-pound—bicep curl. "Was all fun and games until I tore my bicep." He went on to explain that he hadn't properly warmed up for the lift, wrapping up by saying, "Note: Learn from my stupid mistakes!"
According to his Instagram, he had surgery just over a week later.
Now, back to this week's YouTube video. von Moger's upper body is certainly not what it used to be, something that becomes startlingly clear if you watch beyond 5:48 in the video—that's when a clip of his body back in 2016 begins to play. But von Moger, being a professional bodybuilder and all, certainly didn't let an upper body injury set his lower body back. He was back in the gym training legs just three days after surgery.
Looks like von Moger is going to come back just fine. Remember guys, don't do super-heavy lifting without a proper warm-up. The extra few minutes are a hell of a lot shorter than the weeks, even months, it'll take you to rehab from an injury.
