T-Rex Arms

cybelenoire

First...great to be back on MFP after a loooooong absence.

So the topic: I did my first Pole Fitness class on Monday. We're talking baby beginner--which if this is baby beginner, ho-boy I hate to see what more advanced is!

Anyway, I expected soreness. I woke up with the tell tale sore calves (you know that hobble down the hall first thing in the morning). However, my biceps are killing me. If my arm is bent it's fine, but when I try to straighten, I want to cry. The muscle is rock hard. The top of my forearm is also sore and tight.

I've been weight training, and I do work upper body but I haven't done arm specific movements (curls, and whatnot), but letting the other movements indirectly work the arms.

Is this DOMS? It's day 2 and it feels worse today than it did yesterday. I have been drinking water out the wazoo, taking ibuprofen for inflammation, and soaked in a very warm bath with epsom salt. I have been massaging and stretching.

Anyone else have this problem? I know it was the weight bearing attempt to hold my body weight on the pole supported by just a hand grip and the "arm pit" grip that probably did it. How long does it generally last? I've worked biceps before and never had soreness like this!

Thanks!

vorgas

What you were doing, I think, is some of the most painful workout you can do to a muscle. It's called eccentric exercise. And no, it's not exercise that has a weird attitude

It happens when a muscle being stretched while in a contracted state. This happens to downhill skiers, for example. It's basically when the muscle that is contracting is forcibly lengthened.

It creates some of the highest levels of soreness. It's also possible that you lightly sprained those muscles, of course, which is a whole different thing. Generally a sprain involves a specific area of pain, whereas doms is generally associated with the entire muscle. So if your whole are hurts or your biceps are sore, DOMS. If there's this one spot that really hurts, sprain.

And the reference article: http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/injuries/a/doms.htm
Check out the ice and the foam roller bits.

cybelenoire

Thanks!

It's definitely the entire bicep on both arms, so I'm thinking DOMS. I think that it might feel a bit more concentrated towards the crook of the arm because the tendons between the two (bicep and forearm) are probably wondering what the heck happened, because I haven't actively worked those muscles in any direct way in terms of weights or weight bearing exercises. The only weight bearing exercise that works my arms are planks or pushups. Not quite the same kind of weight support as holding one's self up on a vertical pole. Other than that, my main arm exercise is belly dance arm drills, which are of self-created resistance by pushing through movement like pushing through molasses. I've had soreness, but nothing like this.

The ice helped a little. Rubbing some mineral ice into the muscle for good measure.