I was benching 135 lbs for 8 reps and felt a sharp ‘twinge’ in both biceps, towards the end of the set. My arms felt fine after I racked so I did a set of 90 lbs. Slight twinge but I could continue benching. Went back up to 120 and a felt sharper ‘twinge’ again.
Did incline flyes and cables. Again, a slight twinge on and off but nothing painful.
Went to work biceps and did 50 lbs for 8 reps on the preacher bench. No twinge. Also did hammer curls and 1 armed curl on preacher bench. Again, no twinge when using heavy weights for these sets.
Any idea as to what happened on the bench? Thanks!
Uh oh, sounds like the dreaded biceps tendonitis. Do you bench with your elbows out? If so, you’re setting yourself up for some problems. I have this, received PT and massage therapy. The only thing that has helped when trying to bench is to keep the elbows in by my sides…read Dave Tate’s article on benching 600lbs for info.
I usually keep a medium grip, which puts my wrists/elbows not quite aligned under the bar like Tate’s article states it should be. (Thanks for that info, btw)
Now that I think about it, I have the same “twinge” whenever I do dips. Agh.
I think Nate Dogg hit it on the head. Learn how to bench with a powerlifitng type style if you bench at all. Pay strict attention to your elbow positioning and range of motion on all chest exercises. The problem is it’s difficult to put much stress on the chest while having your elbows in and this goes for all chest movements. I would even suggest you warm up slow and for your first few sets don’t come up all the way down…just get some blood flowing around your shoulder and biceps tendon. And definitely avoid full range dips and behind the neck shoulder presses.
Thanks for the info. I don’t do behind the neck presses, but I do full range dips (I guess not anymore though). Any idea as to how long it’ll take to heal and best way to treat? I approached some of the docs at the clinic I work at and got conflicting info. I do plan on talking to a friend who’s a chiropractor.
Depending on treatment, it could take days, weeks, months or years to heal. It depends on how you treat it and what you do to aggravate it. Check out the other post about Biceps Tendonitis. I recommended some stuff to help avoid problems.
I read that thread, thanks for the info!