I just wanted to know how many others experience soreness in their biceps after doing pec dec or flyes. The long head of the biceps does help with shoulder flexion and horizontal adduction, but man I feel like the only time my biceps are sore is after doing those.
And it isn’t because I recently added them in, I do them all the time as a chest finisher but just wanted to get the general consensus on the issue. The funny thing is I hit biceps hard on their own day and the next day I feel like I did nothing to 'em.
I can’t imagine how you’d be using your biceps on the Pec Dec (other than keeping them tensed, I suppose), but then again, I’ve never used it because I don’t like the feel of it.
I’ve felt my biceps on pec deck before, never on flyes. That was back when I was experimenting with “Zero Momentum Reps” though.
Are you keeping your shoulder blades retracted throughout the entire motion? If you start to roll them forward it tends to shift emphasis to the shoulders/biceps. Also, how straight are your arms? The straighter they are, the more the biceps must work to stabilize the elbow joint.
I’ve had this happen, too. It’s actually tensed constantly throughout the set, or else your elbows would get messed up. If it’s interfering with your bicep day, I’d worry about it. Otherwise, leave it.
Thats the problem, my biceps get hit with back, biceps day, and also when I do chest because of the peck deck. I may have to just stop it because the soreness is annoying during other workouts involving them.
And to WOOT, I hate starting anatomy/kinesiology arguments, but the long head of the biceps is a shoulder flexor and will definitely be worked in horizontal adduction due to the angle of pull. That is not its main function, but a function nonetheless.
[quote]DaBeard wrote:
Thats the problem, my biceps get hit with back, biceps day, and also when I do chest because of the peck deck. I may have to just stop it because the soreness is annoying during other workouts involving them.
And to WOOT, I hate starting anatomy/kinesiology arguments, but the long head of the biceps is a shoulder flexor and will definitely be worked in horizontal adduction due to the angle of pull. That is not its main function, but a function nonetheless.[/quote]
Are you just doing pec deck as the last movement on your chest day?
Have you tried dumbbell flies as a substitute? cable crossovers?
I like to do high rep Hammer Strength incline bench as a finisher.
You could also try dumbbell flys on a slight incline. Those are nice, and I’ve never felt soreness in my bis from them, whereas I have from the pec deck. Give them a shot.
In the end, the finisher isn’t as important as the heavy pressing you do, but body parts overlapping in soreness isn’t good.
For biceps to be working at all during the pec dec your shoulder joint must be slightly internally rotated, otherwise biceps do not have a significant mechanical lever to affect the movement is a normal pec dec posture. Even then, the contribution would be minimal at best.
When I have seen individuals reporting biceps pain/feelings, or have issues with their shoulders during flies it is either because they have faulty scapula and/or humeral control (you can see, and they can feel one side of their shoulder rolling in alot sooner than the other) OR they simply have lame technique and are eccentrically working biceps on the eccentric phase of the fly to shorten their lever arm (flex the elbow) so they can lift a heavier weight, but in essence should just do presses as they are wasting their time trying to do flies and might as well just do chest presses properly.
Make a conscious effort to pinch your shoulder blades together prior to starting the pec deck movement. Keep them nice and tight throughout the entire set.
Use a false grip on the pec deck handles.
Bend your elbows as little as your comfortably can. 10-15 degrees or less. Keep this angle throughout the entire set.
If you are finishing chest day with pec deck and/or flies, your biceps probably get recruited since your chest is already toast. Also, the reason your biceps seem most sore after these exercises is because they are tensed throughout the whole motion, for however many reps you’re doing. So that’s like flexing your bicep, under weight, for upwards of 20, or 30 seconds depending on how many reps you do. A spotter giving you a little bit of help would probably solve the problem.
A couple of years ago there was an article on gymnasts and their bicep size.The author said if I remember correctly that their size came primarily because of the rings and more specifically the iron cross…Kinda similar maybe?