Sore muscles, bicep tendon, how to prevent?

[mikeross 216]

I have been back in the gym about 2 weeks now mostly doing cardio. About 4 days ago I started a lifting program. I am in some serious pain. My muscle pain is subsiding but the tendons in my bicep/elbow area are killing me still. I cannot straighten my arms to stretch them out without help and its very painful to do. It helps for about 10mins then its right back to stiff and painful.

I am just going to wait it out and ice it from time to time.

Anyone want to give some suggestions so this doesn't happen again. Is this something that will happen from time to time and will eventually not happen again once my body gets used to lifting weights.

I actually love the soreness in my muscles after workouts but these stiff/sore, bicep/elbow tendon, is killing the joy of going to the gym.

[aroundhky 1,174]

It sounds like what I had after rehabbing my torn bicep a couple of years ago. Mine was bicep tendonitis that came from over use, or in my case, over rehabbing. Mine was on the inside of my elbow and was a sharp pain anytime I did a curl or pullup. If you have the same thing, I don't think there is a lot to do for it other than rest and ice. And with our sleeve, I'm not sure anti-inflamatories are and option either. I ended up staying away from those exercises for about 4 weeks doing other lifts and icing it every night. Eventually the pain went away and I eased back into it also limiting my range of motion. Straight bars for curls and pullups can also cause this and I think it was the cause in my case. Since then, I've been using the crooked bars and not supinating (rotating my wrist as much), which has also helped in my care. Good luck!

[mikeross 216]

Wow, you made some great gains in your after picture in your profile... Awesome job.

Thanks for the advise... its actually getting better every day. My soreness in my muscles is gone but this sore tendon is at about 50% on my left arm and about 90% healed on my right, I'm right handed . Should be good in about 2 days I think. I do notice when I am warmed up the pain goes away. I am not going to push it and work it out though. Tomorrow is my back and bicep day. I am just going to do my back and skip working my biceps.

Are there any exercises I can do for my biceps that wont aggravate this bicep tendon and still allow me to work my biceps?

[williamrjomes2 147]

When I started weight training I think I had the same thing. It took about 3-4 days. What helped me was I did more bi n tri workouts 3 days later. I feel your pain tho. I couldn't straighten my arms and when I did it hurt. Hopefully its get better soon. Goodluck.

[mikeross 216]

When I started weight training I think I had the same thing. It took about 3-4 days. What helped me was I did more bi n tri workouts 3 days later. I feel your pain tho. I couldn't straighten my arms and when I did it hurt. Hopefully its get better soon. Goodluck.

I hear ya... today was killer. This morning was my leg and ab day in the gym. Every time I loaded a machine with plates my arms would straighten out carrying the weight to the machine. It hurt at first but felt good to stretch it out.

[aroundhky 1,174]

I'm not a Dr, but I'm guessing stretching and warming up sufficiently could only help. With me, it just didn't improve until I rested it a few weeks. It really sucked, but that's all that worked for me (along with icing it). So I tried embracing it telling myself it gave me more time to focus on other muscles in the meantime. If you don't mind, give us some feedback on your progress and what is or isn't working for you. I'm curious as I'm fairly certain it will happen to me again.

[mikeross 216]

Its kind of hard to pinpoint what worked for me.

I say that because the first 2 days I did nothing and tried not to move it. If I had iced and stretched the first 2 days I think that would have helped a lot. I also think that a quick warm up followed by a good stretch would have helped me not get in this position in the first place or it wouldn't have been as bad.

It was still very painful on the 3rd day when I started stretching it out and icing it. On the 4th day there was a lot of pain still but my right arm was getting a lot better, left still hurt a lot. today was the 5th day and pain in the right arm is almost 100%, its healed to the point that I would work it out... unfortunately my left arm is probably only at 50% healed. I did notice that after a quick stretch and 10mins warm up on the elliptical made the pain go away. I used the "poles" on the elliptical and I think that really stretched it out while also warming me up.

Tomorrow is my back bicep day so I hope I feel good tomorrow... I will keep you post.

Also wanted to add that I do not think this is bicep tendonitis. It might have been if I continued to train without letting the pain subside who knows. In my research it looks like its just a sore tendon.

I read that a hot bath filled with epson salts is also a good way to heal sore muscles/tendons but have not tried it. I might tonight though,

[mikeross 216]

I wanted to add that this hit me on my 3rd day of training. On day 1 I did back/.biceps and day 2 I did chest/triceps/shoulders. I am not sure if it was my bicep or tricep exercises that did this to my bicep tendon, maybe it was a combo of both.

I strongly feel the main reason this happened was because I was allowing my arms to go back into a full starting position between reps while working out my bi/triceps. I think I should kept my arms slightly bent while doing these exercises. It just puts so much pressure on the bicep tendon allow your arms to fully go straight between each rep... I feel that initial pull to get your arm out of a fully straight position in between reps puts to much strain on the tendon. I am not a DR but this is just what it feels like to me. Once healed up I will experiment and see how it feels.

[Huntingnurse 510]

Same thing happened to me. Finally quit hurting about four days after

[mikeross 216]

Tonight I took a really hot shower, directed the Water on my bicep and massaged it very deep. It seems to help a good bit and i think hot work better than cold for me. Gonna try using a hot water bottle rather then ice .

[mark! 449]

Contrast Showers FTW!!! Hottest Water you can stand for 30 seconds, ice cold Water for 30 seconds, do that for about 4 or 5 sessions at the end of your shower. It will help with circulation and forcing blood back in to your muscles.

http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/rehabilitation/power-shower/

Also, something that's helped a few guys we train with is negative reps. It would be something like, on dumbbell presses, pressing the dumbbell and then lowering slowly until at the bottom, then pressing, lowering slowly, etc.

Are you doing any overhead pressing or work? I'd stop, that's just me. I only work overhead when I'm getting ready for a strongman competition and it's in the events, other then that, it's only brought me pain and suffering, studies show the risk far outweighs the gain from any overhead work.

You've also got to take in to consideration, you just started lifting, your delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) will be greater since you're just starting out.

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Contrast Showers FTW!!! Hottest Water you can stand for 30 seconds' date=' ice cold Water for 30 seconds, do that for about 4 or 5 sessions at the end of your shower. It will help with circulation and forcing blood back in to your muscles.

http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/rehabilitation/power-shower/

Also, something that's helped a few guys we train with is negative reps. It would be something like, on dumbbell presses, pressing the dumbbell and then lowering slowly until at the bottom, then pressing, lowering slowly, etc.

Are you doing any overhead pressing or work? I'd stop, that's just me. I only work overhead when I'm getting ready for a strongman competition and it's in the events, other then that, it's only brought me pain and suffering, studies show the risk far outweighs the gain from any overhead work.

You've also got to take in to consideration, you just started lifting, your delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) will be greater since you're just starting out.[/quote']

I want to thank you for your posts. I always enjoy reading from your experience and knowledge.

[nicden17 61]

Contrast Showers FTW!!! Hottest Water you can stand for 30 seconds, ice cold Water for 30 seconds, do that for about 4 or 5 sessions at the end of your shower. It will help with circulation and forcing blood back in to your muscles.

http://articles.elit...n/power-shower/

Also, something that's helped a few guys we train with is negative reps. It would be something like, on dumbbell presses, pressing the dumbbell and then lowering slowly until at the bottom, then pressing, lowering slowly, etc.

Are you doing any overhead pressing or work? I'd stop, that's just me. I only work overhead when I'm getting ready for a strongman competition and it's in the events, other then that, it's only brought me pain and suffering, studies show the risk far outweighs the gain from any overhead work.

You've also got to take in to consideration, you just started lifting, your delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) will be greater since you're just starting out.

So i'm going to try the shower thing a few days ago i did a major core workout....The next day i felt fine didn't feel anything ...by the third day my mid-section is sore and when i sneeze it hurts..lol.That or i'm trying the tylenol muscle relief cream. Its just wierd it took a couple days to kick in.

[mikeross 216]

The next day i felt fine didn't feel anything ...by the third day my mid-section is sore

You have Delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS for short. Its very common and should go away on its on in a couple days.

[vogue 310]

I drink Protein post workout to help muscle repair ( the reason why you are hurting) and then I take a long hot bath with epsom salt ( usually add in a lil lavender oil too) ...helps the DOMS tremendously and the lavender makes me sleep like a baby

you can find lavender induced epsom salt at the pharmacy or the plain type as well