Help with Bicep Pain

Oh T-Nation Save the Bicep

I don’t generally do injury stuff online because there are too many variables, but sweet mother of pearl, do you deserve a response for originality.

Could be a bunch of stuff (obviously), depending on your what your biceps and triceps training look like (other parts are a factor, but those would be most direct). If the direct arm work is imbalanced (in terms of exercise variety and/or volume), that could be an easy tweak.

Yep, some kind of general warm-up before touching the weights is always a good idea. Doesn’t even have to be elliptical or something boring. I usually do about 5 minutes of some easy bodyweight stuff before getting into the weights, and then use some warm-up sets with most exercises.

One trick I picked up for general “elbow area” pain is to warm-up the wrist extensors really well. Either a few rubber bands around the finger tips, opening the hand as wide as possible for 1-2x15+ reps, or some easy (lighter weight, full ROM) reverse wrist curls. Another thing I like is thick grip 1-arm pressdowns (either using something like Fat Gripz or grabbing both strands of the rope handle in one hand). The thicker grip lets you really squeeze and incorporates more of the lower arm, which helps recruitment and blood flow.

Some stuff in this article might also be useful:

I think your pain is Brachialis related, since the reverse and hammer curl cause you the most problems. Anyway i have some experience in this as i have injured my brachialis before falling from a tree at work, long story short after the injury i had pain in the area you pointed and lower toward the forearm as well and would get a nasty painful pump during heavy rows or direct bicep work. to fix this i layed off heavy rows and direct bicep work for a short time 4 week i think and during this time i did lots of compression and heat, and would 2 times a week curl some stupidly light weights 5-10 lbs for 100 reps practicing really activating the biceps over the brachialis , then id do some work on forearm extensors, like reverse wrist curls 1-2x15-20 and rubber band work for finger extension, 30 reps. Fat gripz… viola its stronger than ever, but i can still tweak it if i get sloppy with heavy DB rows or weighted chins.

dudes I appreciate the responses!!!