I’m going to a new doctor on thursday trying to get a full check up. Full blood work, EKG, allergy testing, ear infection testing, the works.
What kinds of tests should I definitely ask for? Include even the “obvious” things as I might not included them because I didn’t think of them. And if you can, please explain why is it good to get done.
While we’re at it, on an unrelated note, I don’t really feel my biceps working when I for example do curls. And what I mean by that, is that I don’t feel the contractions in it. As silly as it sounds, I feel it in the shoulder and/or forearm/brachioradialis muscles. I don’t move my elbows while doing standing curls, and this also happened when I do preacher curls.
For anyone who wants to respond with “omfg wtf y are u payin attentiun to da bicepz, u mad small”- either explain to me why I should neglect my arms when I’m (now) hitting hard everything else, or kindly don’t respond at all.
Thank You for all your help.
Mods: I think I chose the correct section, but if not, feel free to move it.
Well, in response to the second question, it could be that you have weak points in your strength. If your forearms are much weaker, proportionally, than your biceps, then they will tire out faster in an exercise.
I feel it in the shoulder and/or forearm/brachioradialis muscles. I don’t move my elbows while doing standing curls, and this also happened when I do preacher curls.
For anyone who wants to respond with "omfg wtf y are u payin attentiun to da bicepz, u mad
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The bicep origniates off the scapula and inserts onto the radius. it is possible you are feeling the biceps “contract”, just instead of all over you feel it at the muscle tendon junctions.
Ukrainec: Eh my forearms don’t really tire out faster. And I think they are relatively strong. it’s not like I do a few sets of curls and im dead on forearms. Valid points but i don’t think it applies to my example
milimber: Interesting. Here’s the thing. I do various curls and I stop when I get to failure. And even when I just simply fail to curl that weight, I still don’t feel anything. No pump, no nothing. And after the workout I’m not really sore. If I am, it’s mostly where “the biceps connects to the elbow”
Faran: I’m pretty sure it doesn’t move. And I’m also pretty sure that all the flexion is in my elbow, and like i said, that’s where I’m mostly sore.
What kind of exercises are you using?
Straight bar? EZ Curl? Preachers? Pinwheels?
I know I used to have a lot of trouble getting any ‘feel’ in my biceps but this was due to poor exercise selection. I’ve never known anybody to fail to feel their biceps after doing alternating DB curls on a 45’ incline. If you have access to bands, Thib’s jettison curls are very effective as well.
standing straight bar, ez curl, preachers, single arm curls with a cable (from the bottom)
I have bands, and will look into jettison curls
thing i find funny is that my arms fucking balloon when i do DB rows or seated rows. yes, i know biceps is involved, but i still find it weird that they get more stimulation than from curls. i must be doing something wrong
thanks for your input
When you mention that you feel them in your shoulders, are they your front delts? If so, are your elbows located in front of or behind your torso? (I say this as, in my experience, the more you draw back the elbows, the less it is even possible for the front delt to contribute to the movement)
[quote]silverhydra wrote:
When you mention that you feel them in your shoulders, are they your front delts? If so, are your elbows located in front of or behind your torso? (I say this as, in my experience, the more you draw back the elbows, the less it is even possible for the front delt to contribute to the movement)[/quote]
Front delts. This seems rather plausible as I feel it in my delts most when doing preacher curls
start doing standing alternating dumbell curls. Take a weight heavy enough to get a pump after doing 15 reps but not heavy enough to prevent you from doing 20 reps if you wanted to. When you do the reps hold the contraction for a second and squeeze your biceps as hard as possible. Dont squeeze your hand necessarily. Think of it as if you are just flexing your arm to show it off; but you have a weight in your hand instead.
I think preacher curls are a bad idea until you have good muscle focus. Same thing with cable curls. If you want to do preacher curls do them with a dumbell off the deep end.
I enjoy doing standing dumbell curl, ez curl narrow grip, and incline dumbell curl.
You can also work on the mind muscle connection simply by focusing on flexing the muscle as hard as possible.
Try one of Vince Gironda’s ideas: drag curls. Because you’re moving the barbell up against your torso, you can’t really recruit your delts like you can with a normal curl.
I like to warm up with drag curls to get my focus on the biceps, then go heavy with a cheating motion.