Training Through Bicep Tendonitis

[Tancredi]

[quote]Arshad wrote:

[quote]Tancredi wrote:

[quote]Arshad wrote:

[quote]Tancredi wrote:

[quote]Arshad wrote:

Also I have seen that I can deadlift real heavy but it gets really bad with shrugs and bench( Isolated bicep work is out of question can someone tell me why???

[/quote]

Does your left elbow “float” around when you bench or do any kind of pressing? Are you pulling in your shoulders when you bench?[/quote]

No it does not but it feels that way , i mean my bicep kind of feels funny.
[/quote]

Your elbows feel like they are kind of either floating or moving out of the “grove” and your biceps feel funny? Or you do think you pull your shoulders in? I apoligize for asking this again; Im not sure exactly what you meant.[/quote]

I understand ,No my elbows don’t float around or move out of the groove , I get this kind of itchy, mildly painful feeling in my biceps and where my biceps meet the shoulder( proximal bicep tendon). Also no I dont pull my shoulders in( not sure what that means though).Plz elaborate.
[/quote]

Generally when benching or pressing its a good idea to kind of push the shoulder blades together so that the shoulders don’t shift around and are on the bench. It sounds kind of really weird when I write it out but it makes a lot more sense after doing it a couple of times.

If your not pinching your shoulder blades together then that could affect your shoulders because they do not have the suppport of the bench. Your other muscles start joining in to stabilize the shoulders. The biceps actually happen to attach to the shoulders. I’m not sure exactly how it all works but they are all interrelated.

My knowledge is somewhat limited in this area, but I can tell you that I did have some biceps tendonitis and that doing exersizes for the rotator cuff made the pain go away pretty fast, in about 3 weeks or so.

It’s possible your pressing is causing or is a part of your tendonitis, but I honestly can’t tell because I’m hardly an expert on this subject.

Good luck and healthy lifting!

[Arshad]

[quote]Tancredi wrote:

[quote]Arshad wrote:

[quote]Tancredi wrote:

[quote]Arshad wrote:

[quote]Tancredi wrote:

[quote]Arshad wrote:

Also I have seen that I can deadlift real heavy but it gets really bad with shrugs and bench( Isolated bicep work is out of question can someone tell me why???

[/quote]

Does your left elbow “float” around when you bench or do any kind of pressing? Are you pulling in your shoulders when you bench?[/quote]

No it does not but it feels that way , i mean my bicep kind of feels funny.
[/quote]

Your elbows feel like they are kind of either floating or moving out of the “grove” and your biceps feel funny? Or you do think you pull your shoulders in? I apoligize for asking this again; Im not sure exactly what you meant.[/quote]

I understand ,No my elbows don’t float around or move out of the groove , I get this kind of itchy, mildly painful feeling in my biceps and where my biceps meet the shoulder( proximal bicep tendon). Also no I dont pull my shoulders in( not sure what that means though).Plz elaborate.
[/quote]

Generally when benching or pressing its a good idea to kind of push the shoulder blades together so that the shoulders don’t shift around and are on the bench. It sounds kind of really weird when I write it out but it makes a lot more sense after doing it a couple of times.

If your not pinching your shoulder blades together then that could affect your shoulders because they do not have the suppport of the bench. Your other muscles start joining in to stabilize the shoulders. The biceps actually happen to attach to the shoulders. I’m not sure exactly how it all works but they are all interrelated.

My knowledge is somewhat limited in this area, but I can tell you that I did have some biceps tendonitis and that doing exersizes for the rotator cuff made the pain go away pretty fast, in about 3 weeks or so.

It’s possible your pressing is causing or is a part of your tendonitis, but I honestly can’t tell because I’m hardly an expert on this subject.

Good luck and healthy lifting!
[/quote]

Oh now i got it , yup about the shoulder blade thing , unfortunately i started doing that only after developing tendonitis and hopefully it helps.

Thanks btw.

[forevernade]

Make sure it is tendonitis and not tendonosis. Two different things, very very similar, needing different treatment. Doctors often presume tendonitis without considering the other.

[Wilba]

Incline flys may not be the best exercise with bicep tendon issues. For me anyway. Fish oil could help if you aren’t already using it. Good luck.

[Arshad]

[quote]Wilba wrote:
Incline flys may not be the best exercise with bicep tendon issues. For me anyway. Fish oil could help if you aren’t already using it. Good luck.[/quote]

Ok will leave it out.

Thanks a lot!!!11

[leucine2006]

[quote]Arshad wrote:
Hi guys Im new here , and before I ask My question I will like to say that I have read all the posts related to tendonitis in this forum.Also I have to say that this is the most information I have read anywhere about bodybuilding .

I developed pain in my left shoulder , diagnosed as bicipital tendonitis about 2 months ago.I stopped lifting went in for ultra sound etc ,NSAIDS, Animal flex and the rest of the drill.

It felt better.So I resumed training and It came back with a vengeance.I took some more time off and have resumed training 2 weeks ago and its there again but i can train with limited volume.Then I was suggested by a friend that it takes months to go away and that I should train through it.

So my question is has anyone in this forum successfully worked through it or taking months off is my only option as I have already lost upto 30% of my size and strength ??

Also I have seen that I can deadlift real heavy but it gets really bad with shrugs and bench( Isolated bicep work is out of question can someone tell me why???

Any help is greatly appreciated, as Iam really feeling down with all this,and any success stories will motivate me.

Thanks Guys. [/quote]

If you truly were diagnosed with Tendonitis, then the best course of action is a cortisone shot. I’m surprised whomever diagnosed you didn’t venture down this path.

I too was in the same boat as you and after undergoing an MRI (not ultrasound), I was given a cortisone shot. The cortisone shot took no less than 7 days before most of the issues were relieved and by 2 weeks…totally cleared. This brings me to my next point.

I’ve had shoulder surgery for a torn rotator which lead to the bicep tendonitis…and for both tendonitis in the shoulder and bicep, i was given an MRI, never an ultrasound. What type of medical professional are you seeing? A general practioner or an othropedic surgeon? I went for the orthopedic surgeon. If you aren’t already, seek out an othropedic surgeon.

Speedy recovery to you. I know it sucks BIG time having to sit around and not train b/c of a nagging POS inflammation. totally sucks…but the flip side is…if left untreated it will lead to a tear.

[Arshad]

[quote]leucine2006 wrote:

[quote]Arshad wrote:
Hi guys Im new here , and before I ask My question I will like to say that I have read all the posts related to tendonitis in this forum.Also I have to say that this is the most information I have read anywhere about bodybuilding .

I developed pain in my left shoulder , diagnosed as bicipital tendonitis about 2 months ago.I stopped lifting went in for ultra sound etc ,NSAIDS, Animal flex and the rest of the drill.

It felt better.So I resumed training and It came back with a vengeance.I took some more time off and have resumed training 2 weeks ago and its there again but i can train with limited volume.Then I was suggested by a friend that it takes months to go away and that I should train through it.

So my question is has anyone in this forum successfully worked through it or taking months off is my only option as I have already lost upto 30% of my size and strength ??

Also I have seen that I can deadlift real heavy but it gets really bad with shrugs and bench( Isolated bicep work is out of question can someone tell me why???

Any help is greatly appreciated, as Iam really feeling down with all this,and any success stories will motivate me.

Thanks Guys. [/quote]

If you truly were diagnosed with Tendonitis, then the best course of action is a cortisone shot. I’m surprised whomever diagnosed you didn’t venture down this path.

I too was in the same boat as you and after undergoing an MRI (not ultrasound), I was given a cortisone shot. The cortisone shot took no less than 7 days before most of the issues were relieved and by 2 weeks…totally cleared. This brings me to my next point.

I’ve had shoulder surgery for a torn rotator which lead to the bicep tendonitis…and for both tendonitis in the shoulder and bicep, i was given an MRI, never an ultrasound. What type of medical professional are you seeing? A general practioner or an othropedic surgeon? I went for the orthopedic surgeon. If you aren’t already, seek out an othropedic surgeon.

Speedy recovery to you. I know it sucks BIG time having to sit around and not train b/c of a nagging POS inflammation. totally sucks…but the flip side is…if left untreated it will lead to a tear.
[/quote]

Talked about cortisone shot but its not an option here in India, way too expensive.
Any way im sure I have an underlying RC issue.

What type of surgery did u have??

[mithious]

Well, it looks like you’ve got lots of good advice here. I just wanted to chip in and say that I’ve been there before as well. While I trained through it for a while, eventually it got so bad that I had to take time off for a few months to recover.

Now, years later, I seem to have figured out exactly which movements make it worse, (barbell curls, hammer curls, bench press, wide shoulder press… anytime I go TOO heavy and my form is affected) Mostly, I had too many upper body days in my split. (like, chest day 1, back day 2, shoulders day 3…) Now I would never train upper body more than 2 days in a row. And preferably I would train like, upper body push day 1, legs day 2, upper body pull day 3, day 4 off… Or something like that.

As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure I posted a “training through tendonitis thread” a few years ago.

Anyway.

I would personally suggest really going crazy on your legs, lower back, abs, obliques, etc, and really taking it easy on the upper body until you heal up.

That’s just my 2 cents!

[Anonymas]

I dont know if you guys have heard of Cissus, its apparently great for healing joint injuries and curing tendonitis. I haven’t tried it myself but read a bit about it, Doggcrapp was recommending it on Intense Muscle

[forlife]

I’m with the “grit your teeth and work through it” crowd. I lift heavy (weighted pullups, heavy rows, etc.), and chronically have some level of bicep tendonitis. At its worst, I may not be able to do my full regular weight that week, but I’m still able to work through it, and it is typically better by the following week.

[Arshad]

[quote]mithious wrote:
Well, it looks like you’ve got lots of good advice here. I just wanted to chip in and say that I’ve been there before as well. While I trained through it for a while, eventually it got so bad that I had to take time off for a few months to recover.

Now, years later, I seem to have figured out exactly which movements make it worse, (barbell curls, hammer curls, bench press, wide shoulder press… anytime I go TOO heavy and my form is affected) Mostly, I had too many upper body days in my split. (like, chest day 1, back day 2, shoulders day 3…) Now I would never train upper body more than 2 days in a row. And preferably I would train like, upper body push day 1, legs day 2, upper body pull day 3, day 4 off… Or something like that.

As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure I posted a “training through tendonitis thread” a few years ago.

Anyway.

I would personally suggest really going crazy on your legs, lower back, abs, obliques, etc, and really taking it easy on the upper body until you heal up.

That’s just my 2 cents![/quote]

Thanks a lot for which exercises to drop info…

It really helps a lot coming from someone who has gone through this.

[Arshad]

I do have another question though what should i do if i have a rotator cuff injury along with this as well???

[mithious]

[quote]Arshad wrote:

[quote]mithious wrote:
Well, it looks like you’ve got lots of good advice here. I just wanted to chip in and say that I’ve been there before as well. While I trained through it for a while, eventually it got so bad that I had to take time off for a few months to recover.

Now, years later, I seem to have figured out exactly which movements make it worse, (barbell curls, hammer curls, bench press, wide shoulder press… anytime I go TOO heavy and my form is affected) Mostly, I had too many upper body days in my split. (like, chest day 1, back day 2, shoulders day 3…) Now I would never train upper body more than 2 days in a row. And preferably I would train like, upper body push day 1, legs day 2, upper body pull day 3, day 4 off… Or something like that.

As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure I posted a “training through tendonitis thread” a few years ago.

Anyway.

I would personally suggest really going crazy on your legs, lower back, abs, obliques, etc, and really taking it easy on the upper body until you heal up.

That’s just my 2 cents![/quote]

Thanks a lot for which exercises to drop info…

It really helps a lot coming from someone who has gone through this.
[/quote]

Well, it’s important to note that those are just examples of exercises that didn’t work for ME. It could be completely different for you.

And now you have posted that you have a shoulder issue too… Man! Been there too.

However, it is REALLY hard to give advice on such things over a forum. For example, how do you know it is a rotator cuff injury? How bad is it? When does it hurt specifically?

In general, bench pressing seems to give people the most problems for the rotator cuff. But I think it has more to do with bad form. One tip is not to let your elbows flare up towards your ears, but try to keep them tighter to your body.

Trial and error might help you. For whatever exercise you do, start light and see how it feels. Then you can just pick and choose what exercises doesn’t hurt your shoulder, or your tendons. If flat bench does work, try machine press. (as an example) Try push ups. Try one arm dumb-bell press.

The bottom line is, you gotta figure out what you can do and what you can’t, and you really have to learn to listen to your body so you can heal up, and also avoid injuries in the future.

Another point, what reps are you working with? It might not be obvious that you can do more tendon damage with low reps (and therefore heavier weight). It might be enough to just switch your rep range to 15-20 for a week or so. The lighter weight might relieve some tendon strain, but at the same time keep you from losing muscle.

Which reminds me, whenever I find myself starting to get a tiny twinge of tendinitis, this is when I will do a week of 15-20 reps. These types of deloading phases are put into routines specifically for this purpose.

[apasqo]

[quote]Arshad wrote:
Hi guys Im new here , and before I ask My question I will like to say that I have read all the posts related to tendonitis in this forum.Also I have to say that this is the most information I have read anywhere about bodybuilding .

I developed pain in my left shoulder , diagnosed as bicipital tendonitis about 2 months ago.I stopped lifting went in for ultra sound etc ,NSAIDS, Animal flex and the rest of the drill.

It felt better.So I resumed training and It came back with a vengeance.I took some more time off and have resumed training 2 weeks ago and its there again but i can train with limited volume.Then I was suggested by a friend that it takes months to go away and that I should train through it.

So my question is has anyone in this forum successfully worked through it or taking months off is my only option as I have already lost upto 30% of my size and strength ??

Also I have seen that I can deadlift real heavy but it gets really bad with shrugs and bench( Isolated bicep work is out of question can someone tell me why???

Any help is greatly appreciated, as Iam really feeling down with all this,and any success stories will motivate me.

Thanks Guys. [/quote]

Arshad, I’ve been an active bodybuilder and competitor for over 30 yrs and I had the same exact problem, trained with it, for 3 yrs of pain and was told by doctors and physical therapists there it was nothin more than a bout with tendonitis. I even had an MRI and was told there was nothing wrong in my shoulder. I would try as you are, to work around the pain then go back to training after it eased up, and bamb!!, it would kick up and do the same thing as soon as I started to really train the area again.Well to make a long story short, I would just become acustomed to working around it, with the pain. WRONG!!! One morning about 2 yrs ago, I was finishing up a biceps routine, doing preachers on a machine(about 75-80%of full out) and the pain was very intense in my soulder, and in an instant, the proximal bicep tendon snapped away from the shoulder. I had a full pump and really didn’t know exactly what happened , and it just felt very wierd, but the pain was completely gone.well after about an hour and the blood left the bicep I knew the bicep was torn away as it retreated to toward the the distal end(toward my inner arm joint)I’ve been researching it for a while now and the tendon was torn in the shoulder causing all the pain. after the tear, there was no more irritation to the tear, hence no more pain.I realized after the injury that the tear would not have healed without surgery, as it was damaged from many years of training. I’ve tried to learn more about tendon tears and such and I’ve found many reasons that could cause this. Heavy training on anabolics, increases acidity in the body, lack or proper nutrition, overtraining without proper nutrition and balanced body chemistry can really deplete the body’s immune system. My advice is monitor very closely your body’s nutritional needs and listen to them. I did not, and paid for it. I still train very intensly even though the injury set me back for a while. Be careful not to let this happen to you, by trying to work around a possible torn tendon and get a surprise in the gym one day

Best of luck
A.

[Chap_Manly]

I have had painful tendonitis in my brachialis, bicep, and medial shoulder tendon since April. All on the left arm. Its painful, but I always just train through it.

The most painful lifts for me are Bench, Power Cleans, and Pull ups, though many things do irritate it.

I still bench. And I still Power Clean.

My advice is to just work through it; keep icing, massaging, and use all kinds of restoration techniques for it. I still work mine, and I work it heavy.

[Chap_Manly]

[quote]Arshad wrote:

[quote]Wilba wrote:
Incline flys may not be the best exercise with bicep tendon issues. For me anyway. Fish oil could help if you aren’t already using it. Good luck.[/quote]

Ok will leave it out.

Thanks a lot!!!11
[/quote]

Well Arshad, you need to discover for yourself how that movement feels before you dismiss it. I for one, can’t do flat flyes, but incline flyes feels fine. I’m sure it probably won’t be the same for you.