My pressing isn’t awful (relatively) and 16kg sounds damn near impossible bottom-up. I’ve not done them often but I’ve definitely never done them with close to that.
I do have a 16kg kettlebell though so maybe I’ll surprise myself.
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Todays training
Some pullups and then bottoms up press
Pullups
3x4 which was actually 4,5,4 because I zoned out
2x3
KB swings
2x25x70 lbs
Goblet squats
2x15x70 lbs
Ok, so I’ve been doing some investigation into this left bicep thing. Which really means I’ve dug into bits of me in the vicinity of the bicep to see if that made the bicep feel better or hurt. It also mesns this will probably be long. Caveat lector.
So far, digging into my left upper pec just near the armpit sends a twinge RIGHT into the belly of the bicep, where it hurts and that upper pec feels like there is some tightness; and digging into the top of my finger flexors seems to make the bicep feel better. Those flexors were also hard as rocks this morning, when my bicep hurt a bunch. I tries those spots on my right side, which is fine, and didn’t experience any of it.
So there’s that.
My left trap and neck area also twinges when I do arm circles going backwards in the morning when my bicep is tightest and hurts the most.
The only arm movements that actually hurt my bicep are bring my arm across my chest with my arm extended in front of me; and holding my arm at 90 degrees under load.
Ok, so now we get to training. I would have thought that if the issue originated in the bicep, pullups would HURT, and goblet squats wouldn’t be a cakewalk either.
Except pullups were pain free, and so were goblet squats. The fuck?
Pull aparts hurt some for a few reps, then not. Ditto bottoms up press, especially when I pushed to maximise ROM overhead.
So I’m thinking in my ignorant non-physio way that this pain in my bicep quite probably isn’t an iniury or issue in the bicep at all. What I’m thinking is that something happened in my upper pec/shoulder area way back when this shit started. Those dips about six weeks ago, remember? Feeling so tight I couldn’t get down to 90 degrees. Something in there got REALLY fucking tight and has been pulling shit near it all over the shop. I train my upper and middle back a fair amount, so that didn’t have any issues countering the pull, so that force had to to somewhere and it isn’t like I have strong biceps.
All those pushups and banded lateral raises will only have served to make things tighter, not giving the bicep much of a break.
Except this could also all be complete bullshit because when it comes to anatomy I don’t know shit.
That sounds a lot more likely. If I was you, I’d try manipulating my pec minor with a lacrosse ball, doing this move at 3:19 Minutes (the lying y-pose)
and also working on scapular depression (using a pull up bar) to activate my lower traps.
Then see if this does anything for you and reevaluate from there.
Also on dips: Waaaay back I messed up my left peck doing weighted dips. Like a few years ago. It hurt for months to bench press. Could never bring myself to do dips again. Not worth it in my opinion.
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Ok here is my 2c. You are probably doing to get so many of these you will make a dollar. Could be a tight pec which has then caused an issue with the bicep tendon. My recent bicep issue was fixed by the physio working on the top of the bicep tendon (what I call the front deltoid area) and my pec insert right where the tendon does into the shoulder / arm pit.
Maybe try some deep massage in this area.
After the massage make sure to ice and take some anti inflammatory for a few days.
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Update: it is doable but not easy.
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That’s pretty much the exact spot
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Failing that I might just jam a kb handle into it
Kb handle, end of broomstick angled in a corner, tennis ball, golf ball, wifes’s knuckles, etc… Doesn’t really matter as long as it’s surface is small enough and you can apply a good amount of pressure. Shit should hurt a bit.
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Correction: it is going to hurt a LOT
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Just make sure you ice after and anti inflam mate. Just pressing the crap out of it too much will not help
This is pretty controversial mate. MUST … RESIST… MAKING… AGE JOKE…!
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Interesting read. It seems to be talking about more acute injuries to me rather than overuse type injuries like an aggravated tendon. I only know that my bicep and pec was not good and my physio got me sorted in 2 weeks with some massage and then ice. The ice may only be to numb the pain but the treatment worked.
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This could also be nerve damage/impingement type of deal. Bicep pain frequently comes from pinched shoulder nerves.
Dips after some time off from them would be a great way to pinch a nerve etc with just the wrong movement.
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Woke at 254.2 lbs. Definitely noticing a reduction in my gut on waking now.
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Does nerve pain tend to respond to stretching?
Pure nerve pain - no. Something is pressing on a nerve that is therefore irritated - yes. Best example for that would be the piriformis syndrome.
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No idea but I think all that worked for me was to stop the cause (low bar) and give it time.
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Here’s a question.
Why does IIFYM get such a bad rap as an approach to nutrition? I mean, at face value it’s basically foolproof.
Think about it: if you’ve got a halfway decent setup for your macros and a reasonable idea how many calories you will be on, what exactly is going to go wrong? Your macros pretty much determine what you eat, right? Your calories determine how much. Simple.
So, you set up your macro split. It’s reasonable, meaning you get anywhere between 0.8 to 1.5 times your bodyweight in pounds of protein; and the remaining calories are divided between fat and carbs, making sure you always get enough fat to remain healthy.
Ok, so far this requires a degree of care. Not much, though. Given you care enough to actually set up some kind of diet plan, it is reasonable to assume you have gotten some basic guidelines down, like not completely excluding a food group, knowing a degree of fat intake is healthy, knowing you can’t drop calories below a certain point sustainably, etc.
Shit that pretty much any half decent diet article, video or podcast from any half decent source will tell you in the space of a few minutes.
So there you are, reasonable calorie target, reasonable macro split. How the fuck can you get it wrong?
The higher level of protein combined with a capped amount of carbs and fat almost completely eradicates anything but a token amount of fast food and processed food. Those two are crammed chock full of fats and carbs combined, with low protein and high calories mostly because of the fat content. So you aren’t going to eat them, because THEY DON’T FIT YOUR FUCKING MACROS NOW, DO THEY?
Ok, so junk food is out. Cool. That’s your diet already improved massively. Now, you still need to make sure you get your protein in. That is going to mean meat or a whole buttload of stuff like beans, tofu, etc. You’ve also got carb and fat limits to consider. So, depending on whether you’ve gone high fat/low carb, low fat/high carb or a pretty even split between the two, you’re either going to end up with mostly leaner meat, a few fat sources and carbs; or fattier meat, a fair few other fat sources, and trace carbs; or an even split, fat and carb sources. None of those scenarios are going to include junk or processed food to make up your fat and carb sources because, as you know very well, they are so packed with both fats and carbs that they will blow your calorie budget and macro split.
Ok, so maybe if you have an even carb/fat split you’ll sneak in some crap, but then your calorie limit will control the volume of it.
Because you’re not a fuckwit, you also eat colourful and green vegetables (because they don’t really count towards calories you don’t include them in your calorie budget). That gives you your micronutrients. If you have high carb/low fat split, you might also eat a bunch of fruit. More micronutrients.
So where, outside of user idiocy, can this go wrong?
What, maybe your calorie target is a bit out and you either don’t gain weight, gain it too fast, lose weight too fast or don’t lose weight in the first few weeks. You adjust calories accordingly, your macros automatically adjust because your split doesn’t change and you start seeing better results.
Maybe that didn’t work. Ok, maybe your measurements are out. So you start using a more accurate way to measure. Problem solved.
I’m not even ranting, more thinking aloud because outside of a having a complete misunderstanding of what IIFYM is, I can’t see how you can fuck it up with an even halfway functional brain.
Do people using it think it’s just a magic acronym that you yell that makes fast food suddenly healthy?
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Extra workout
Two rounds, 25 each
Pull aparts
Air squats
Reverse hypers
Lying leg raises