biceps never feel sore

[tebby]

I do all I can to isolate the muscle but my forearms and elbow ligaments and tendons are what hurt.
I never feel a deep feel in the bicep like you do when you say for instance work your tri real hard and you shake when you hold a fork or write
It seems to me an exercise were you do not actually grip the bar would take away the forearm thing but I am no expert.
I lay on the incline bench
I do pulley curls
barbell work

I am long limbed so that does not bode well for the mechanics of the movement either.

[Times Roman]

there is a technique that will kill your biceps.

pick your favorite routine. with a moderately heavy weight, something you can move 15x. do your routine until almost failure. wait 15 seconds, and continue til you almost fail. wait 15 seconds and repeat, and do this as many times as you can in about a 4 minute period.

you'll be hurting

[tebby]

will try it today........
thx

[cj111]

Make sure you're using a full ROM, not just curling from half way and then up, that is a pet peeve when I see people doing that in the gym.

Stretch your bicep on the way down, contract it to lift the weight up... rinse wash repeat. Also, don't be another one of those idiots that swing the dumbells up and down using momentum to lift it, you will look like a fool

[spywizard]

also use an easy curl not a straight bar, i don't do straight bar any longer, pain is gone..

[tectime]

Right right right cj111 ! Also mentally focus on you biceps doing the movement thru the full range of motion , and as stated earlier also, work till failure, then do it again ! And again, and again! Later when you reach up to shampoo your hair you'll know you did them right ! I like to start with heavy cable curls, changing hand positions after every 4sets, going up in weight after every 8 sets till I'm down to 4 or 5 reps last one tough all heart! Then bust out Iso curls same routine till failure, true failure on last reps. Combined with back workout prior to , works great for me !

[bigsiv]

also use an easy curl not a straight bar, i don't do straight bar any longer, pain is gone..

Agree with this. If the straight bar causes problems in the elbow area use the ex bar. Also increase the time under tension when doing curls, slow the movement right down especially in the negative movement.

[Alright john]

Have you tried doing 21s

[crazy mike]

Make sure you're using a full ROM, not just curling from half way and then up, that is a pet peeve when I see people doing that in the gym.

Stretch your bicep on the way down, contract it to lift the weight up... rinse wash repeat. Also, don't be another one of those idiots that swing the dumbells up and down using momentum to lift it, you will look like a fool

No don't do that !!!!!!!!!!!
I agree with everyone else and the different ways. But this ^^ I have to quickly say NO do not do that. Your specific problem I got it is you can't get the soreness you want because the tendons and tendinitis is a problem. It is hurting to the point that you can't train hard enough. That's what I heard. If I heard right, ?
Then I tell you I encounter this many times in my career as well as right now the second time in six months. Get a lift off from the bottom preacher curl. Stay up at the tension point and curl tight in. Assume your body position for you max squeeze and feel of the tension and do half reps. If you do full ROM at this interval you will tears something. Strict is not always the way. You must listen to your tendons. Keep it tight with the tension, squeeze and pump. You should work the pain point straight in the center peak of your biceps to the point you could scream. ...Work around that tendon pain, not through it if you want to stay on the battle field. ....crazy mike

[crazy mike]

I have to jump back in here. When your tendons hurt and we continue to lift they get worse before better. They hurt from constant stress. they will hurt more and more if we don't relieve the stress to prompt healing. Don't tear them more. they don't grow like that, they tear. Still stress your biceps, still break down muscle tissue for growth, but this aint muscle tissue. Listen to your body, muscle soreness decreases over time as it grows to handle the load. You tendons don't respond in that way. I will end this with proof, Change the bar, do what you want in that respect, change to dumbbells, what ever. BUT I tell you go to the gym a few more times, do that painful ROM and you will be backing up in pain. You will have to go lighter and lighter. I do as I said when this happens and I still can go heavy. I get a lift, find my spot/ range and work my biceps, MY BICEPS till I scream. Not my secondary and my forearms and the attachments. Soon I get better ...crazy mike


Oh, just did this last two Bicep routine and can't touch my bi's for 48 hrs. Great arm workout. I do what works for my muscle. My muscle if it is by the book ROM, most all the time yes. But if I'm injured, that's what we are talking about in small terms, your tendons are slightly injured, than I train around and I still get the pump. ROM or not. Doesn't look cool or proper, but I know it works. THINK,THINK, THINK, listen and know your body and how to train....crazy mike


PS: again, I'm a vet on this. An ecto and my attachments are not strong. I have suffered this problem too many times and my advice for this specific problem comes from tremendous experience. Shorten those movements, you will be able to do them long stretch again after you heal...............cm

[tebby]

I am not a swinger.....never have been

[tebby]

I pay close attention to ROM and the correct movement....and this is the only time I cannot get good isolation
If I do really correct incline.....the upper pecs are burnt....same with military and shoulders etc etc

thanks CM

[tebby]

do you do iso curls on a single pulley? or dumbells

[crazy mike]

do you do iso curls on a single pulley? or dumbells

Right now I have the come back of my hernia operation to deal with and I'm almost back, so I haven't been doing much free standing movements. But I do preacher bench. We have a good plate load machine. I do some two handed standing pulley curls where I can lean back, not to cheat but to lock my back taking stress off my abs. Again that movement you can cheat (just a little , dam) to alleviate the tendon stress at the bottom and am able to squeeze the top peak. I can pull the pin and do drop sets. I use my body to and for lift off, the beginning to get it up. Then I can do alternating standing dumbbell curls and, hey, for the tendons and get more reps and to get the blood flow, being the last exercise, I can swing at the bottom, only for the start then it control all the way to peak and down. Fell that pump. I tell you it's that preacher, heavy, short moments, controlled and slow that is what is going to get you what you are looking for. IMOP. ...crazy mike


Remember what I am saying is mostly for working around the tendon/forearm problem. I don't promote cheating. But If you read Arnolds stuff, he also says there is a time for cheating. ..........cm

[tigerspawn]

You should always use full range of motion but make sure that you never hyperextend your arms doing curls. Lock your elbows at your side the portion of your arm from the elbow down should be only portion that moves. Control both the concentric and the eccentric portions of the lift. When weight is at height of arc rotate wrist pinky side towards chest and squeeze as hard as you can and hold. I have always received max benefit from all exercises by doing drop sets and TUT training.

[tectime]

Dumbbells on iso curls, I get better results being able to control the weight then I do from just the resistance of the cable, but I get better results and concentrated focus on the cable for my standing ez bar curls and made my biceps do all the work! Much better for me!

[crazy mike]

You should always use full range of motion but make sure that you never hyperextend your arms doing curls. Lock your elbows at your side the portion of your arm from the elbow down should be only portion that moves. Control both the concentric and the eccentric portions of the lift. When weight is at height of arc rotate wrist pinky side towards chest and squeeze as hard as you can and hold. I have always received max benefit from all exercises by doing drop sets and TUT training.

Hey man, I'll ask you. If I can. My elbow at the inside where the tendon attaches has even turned a bit discolored , like black n bluish. Just a touch. It is aggravated by full movement at the bottom, and not over extension. When I pull (start) the movement it fell as though it is going to rip off, Fvck I say. Now even at lower weight it doesn't feel good. So if I get a lift off and don't extend to the bottom ROM it gets by and I can do concentrated slow movements and get a great work out as my tendon heals. This I've done. So I just want to clarify why , when concerning an injured tendon attachment would you promote me or anyone to ALWAYS do full range of motion. The question is not to argue or the right or wrong, but why promote that in this case? Help me out here....crazy mike

[tectime]

The range you are utilizing to avoid further injury is proper range of motion due to your existing, and of course you already know you're going to get good results by peaking at the top and keeping good tension in the lower portion just shy of oh **** spot! But if no injury then till they hang baby ! But the range of motion you are going would be considered you're range at this time! But you already knew this right!

[crazy mike]

The range you are utilizing to avoid further injury is proper range of motion due to your existing, and of course you already know you're going to get good results by peaking at the top and keeping good tension in the lower portion just shy of oh **** spot! But if no injury then till they hang baby ! But the range of motion you are going would be considered you're range at this time! But you already knew this right!

Hmmmm, I...think...so uh...yea. Jokes aside, I was asking tigerspawn. I don't like to have conflicting advice unless there is a sound reason. especially when discussing training with tendonitis. It must mend and work back. I am just trying to give OP the best answer and help with his further training while in this predicament. Oh well, I'm old...cm

In this situation a conflict in just advice, if one not sound could cause injury. Hey I just think in this, just for this, there is a right and a wrong. Push it and tear it. Back off then no training. Damn I'll stop, sorry. Just don't have an injury just because you wanna keep up. Thanks....crazy mike

[tebby]

the much bally-who'd "cheater curls" from Arnold

[tigerspawn]

So I just want to clarify why , when concerning an injured tendon attachment would you promote me or anyone to ALWAYS do full range of motion. The question is not to argue or the right or wrong, but why promote that in this case? Help me out here....crazy mike

No Mike you are absolutely right. Anytime that we have an injury we should always avoid doing things that aggravate it. Also if you know that a certain movement causes you pain then don’t perform that movement. There are usually ways to train around an injury.

[tebby]

also use an easy curl not a straight bar, i don't do straight bar any longer, pain is gone..

good tip......

[cj111]

The only time I personally had tendon pain from curling, was when I was curling with my ego, IE to much weight, and shit form.
Dropped the weight and left my ego at home, and the only things hurtin were my biceps.

In regards to getting a full stretch I wasn't implying to hyper extend the elbow either, especially if working on the preacher curl.

Crazymike, I like your new avatar, it reminds me of a super hero!

[Times Roman]

so how did it turn out, what I mentioned?

[Dougiefresh7707]

Mine dont get real sore anymore I only do concentration and Dunbar full motion and till fail but the are deffinetly tore up I can barley lift stuff the next day but never really sore idk y?

[cruzetor]

there is a technique that will kill your biceps.

pick your favorite routine. with a moderately heavy weight, something you can move 15x. do your routine until almost failure. wait 15 seconds, and continue til you almost fail. wait 15 seconds and repeat, and do this as many times as you can in about a 4 minute period.

you'll be hurting

gonna give this a try. thanks for the tip m8

[Brazensol]

My son complained about this too. I had him do a descending set for his biceps (last set his db curls) and he is quite sore this morning.

[oatmeal69]

Interesting, I'm the opposite of what some have mentioned. My tendons hurt when I use an easy curl, or any kind of non-straight bar. I feel like the straight bar, and dumbbells, keeping palms flat, pinky even with thumb gives more work to the peak, and less stress to the tendons and forearms. YMMV.

[oatmeal69]

Oh, and yeah, drop sets, or what T.R. said about limiting rest times to 15 seconds. Dial up your intensity, and don't worry so much about doing tons of sets.
(says the little guy with tiny arms, LOL)

[Brazensol]

Oh, and yeah, drop sets, or what T.R. said about limiting rest times to 15 seconds. Dial up your intensity, and don't worry so much about doing tons of sets.
(says the little guy with tiny arms, LOL)

Nice thing is your biceps can't read the number on the weight so it doesn't know what it's lifting. There was a younger kid next to me yesterday (early 20's?) cranking out some heavy curls with horrible form but he sure thought he was nailing it! I'm working much lighter than him but easily have 3 inches more arm than he does. lol. To each his own. Come to think of it, crappy form and heavy weights is probably a big part of my tendonosis problem today... I still remember being young and knowing everything (not picking on any younger guys here)!!! Getting older has only shown me how much I knew when younger wasn't true at all. lol.

[kronik420]

triple drop sets

[crazy mike]

Nice thing is your biceps can't read the number on the weight so it doesn't know what it's lifting. There was a younger kid next to me yesterday (early 20's?) cranking out some heavy curls with horrible form but he sure thought he was nailing it! I'm working much lighter than him but easily have 3 inches more arm than he does. lol. To each his own. Come to think of it, crappy form and heavy weights is probably a big part of my tendonosis problem today... I still remember being young and knowing everything (not picking on any younger guys here)!!! Getting older has only shown me how much I knew when younger wasn't true at all. lol.

You're only 50. ...cm

[Brazensol]

You're only 50. ...cm

It's all persepective. Like having a fast car. Someone is always faster!

[Papiriqui]

Try bending your wrists back to get tension away from forearm while doing biceps, definitely lower the weight because it will isolate all the exercise to the bicep so it will hurt.

[Rusty11]

Tendons hurt. Take time off from direct bicep work. Simple. Working through it rarely works. They won't shrivel up to 12".

[OnTheSauce]

Try bending your wrists back to get tension away from forearm while doing biceps, definitely lower the weight because it will isolate all the exercise to the bicep so it will hurt.

I will give this a try. I always feel it on forearms.

[OnTheSauce]

Tendons hurt. Take time off from direct bicep work. Simple. Working through it rarely works. They won't shrivel up to 12".

they might! mine tendons hurt everytime I let go of the bar even when doing bench press. I just take an aleve before I lift and keep going

[jackman22]

so many people do bi's without truly squeezing them at the top. You will notice a big difference when this is done. Really concentrate and think about your muscle squeezing. You see people barely even stop and the top range of motion.

[lucabratzi]

there is a technique that will kill your biceps.

pick your favorite routine. with a moderately heavy weight, something you can move 15x. do your routine until almost failure. wait 15 seconds, and continue til you almost fail. wait 15 seconds and repeat, and do this as many times as you can in about a 4 minute period.

you'll be hurting

So I did this for my calf workout last tues. and they have been destroyed all week. Def a good way to change up a workout routine. Been doin short breaks of 15 seconds for all my small muscle groups. And been feeling it. Just figured I'd bump the thread for others to see

[largerthannormal]

Fix the problem first, look into a prescribed anti-inflammatory. ( these in many cases seems to help if all are the issue) speak with your doc.

inquire something like "Meloxicam"