Tendon pain in my bycept

JasonMcS
JasonMcS Posts: 96 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have been on my journey for a while but am flying solo for the most part. I read some and had a little help in the beginning but that is about all. I have lost 50+/- pounds in a little bit 115 or so days (can't remember exactly) but have been focused on not loosing so much muscle. I hit the weights fairly hard at about an hour of weight training a day isolating a different muscle group and resting 2 in 7 days. That is my goal anyway. I have some substantial strength gains and a little more definition in certain areas.

My question is that for weeks now I have had a little discomfort in the tendon below my left bycept. I taljed with a doctor and he said that some tenderness may be common with me lifting heavy and my body getting back in shape at almost 40 years old. But it don't get better. Most of the time it is just an ache when I use the muscle and it is not ever excruciating but with my trycept day yesterday I was unable to do my bycept day today. It may be a 6 in a 1 to 10 if I use it. If not I have no pain at all.

It this irritation more common and I just don't know anyone to ask or have I aggravated some tendon and need to lay off the arms for a minute? I will try to receive any information you share. Thanks.

Replies

  • JasonMcS
    JasonMcS Posts: 96 Member
    110 days exactly. Sorry.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Rest it for a week or so, see a physio if that doesn't fix it
  • michaelroberts90475
    michaelroberts90475 Posts: 10 Member
    I had about the same thing recently. Took about a month before I could start pushing heavy weight again. I tried to keep lifting light to stay moving but anytime I added more, it would flair up again. Good luck.
  • robbyh501
    robbyh501 Posts: 20 Member
    edited December 2017
    Definitely tendon pain and not joint pain?

    If it is tendon pain it's definitely best to err on the side of caution. I once knew a guy who tore his lower bicep clean off the bone whilst doing manual labor and his entire bicep just rolled up his sleeve like a dough ball up to his shoulder. The pain was excruciating. Required extensive surgery and to my knowledge never really healed as it should have.

    Switching your training regime to higher reps/lighter weights should take care of it and allow for some healing to take place, but how long the healing will take is never certain and depends largely upon the extent/severity of the existing injury.

    The reason I question if it may be joint pain is that (in my experience) tendon pain tends to be more 'sharp' than an 'ache'. If this is indeed the case then it could be caused by your recent and rapid weight loss. If you have been cutting fats dramatically from your diet in an attempt to lower caloric intake, then it could be down to not having sufficient essential fatty acids in your system to enable your joints to be thoroughly lubricated, but this is all pure speculation on my part.

    Whatever the cause, wishing you all the best for a rapid recovery. There's nothing more frustrating than an injured body part holding you back from making the progress you want because you can't give it your all in the weight room.
  • rsergeant79
    rsergeant79 Posts: 45 Member
    Yep I have bicep pain - it's referred from my shoulder which I had surgery on last year - still not right though.... I'd get it checked out
  • JasonMcS
    JasonMcS Posts: 96 Member
    @robbyh501 It is definitely tendon pain. I will back down and see what happens.
    Thanks for letting me know that it is not just my isolated issue. I guess it wont be like it was lifting as a 18 year old. Thanks again.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    It's certainly normal for +40 lifters to experience tendonitis or tendinopathy especially if reintroducing strength training after a hiatus.

    You have to assess what caused it be it poor form, too much reps, or too much frequency.

    And certainly a good idea to keep strength training, though you might have to work around it in some fashion.

    Tendons are very coarse and therefore blood flow is limited. It takes awhile for them to heal compared to just muscle.

    The main thing to address is if the pain gets worse than the path of your strength training needs to be adjusted.
  • JasonMcS
    JasonMcS Posts: 96 Member
    I actually am not doing a good job. I know I do to many reps but if I do 3/10's I don't seem to walk away feeling like I did any good. I end up with 5/10's or 3-5/15's. I know better but If I leave without having to have made myself struggle for the last of the reps...I am learning but like I said, I am self taught. So the high reps may be my issue? @Chieflrg
  • sllm1
    sllm1 Posts: 2,130 Member
    My husband and I both had some tendon pain when beginning CrossFit (well, about six months in). I had tennis elbow and he had golfer's elbow. I googled some stretches for each - we both did those each time we worked out and the pain disappeared fairly quickly (never to be heard from again).
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,383 Member
    Nothing useful to add, but that's the most creative spelling of 'bicep' I've ever seen.

    Hope you get your pain sorted!
  • JasonMcS
    JasonMcS Posts: 96 Member
    LOL. and now I don't know how to fix it. I am going to have to change my profile.
  • jseams1234
    jseams1234 Posts: 1,219 Member
    I get that kind of pain periodically where my right bicep connects near the crease in my elbow. It's usually accompanied by tendinitis (golfers elbow) that causes pain to radiate all the way to my pinky. I usually take a week off of using free weights for my accessories and use machines. The pain goes away and I'm usually good for another month or two before I have to cycle again.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
    edited December 2017
    JasonMcS wrote: »
    I know better but If I leave without having to have made myself struggle for the last of the reps...

    sometimes what it takes is a change in focus. there's struggling to move the weight, but there can also be 'struggling' to find and actually feel 'perfect' form. maybe it will help if you take your mind off whatever it's on right now when you lift, and try placing it more specifically into what's going on with the muscle that hurts. or into the synergist/antagonist muscle groups that help to protect and support the muscle that's getting hurt. it's more of a mental thing and less of a grind, and ime it calls for a different kind of toughness as well. but it's just as valid and it pays off if you can figure out how to make your own mind take that turn.

    [edit: and for me anyway, it takes a lot of research. mark rippetoe's book 'starting strength' did more than anything else that i've found, to get me conscious of what's going on with every muscle and what it means, mechanically. but even beyond rippetoe once issues begin to show up i identify the general area and then i start googling until i find something that helps me to figure it out].


    i'm preaching to a choir i always have trouble singing in my own self, btw. but i am someone who didn't enter a weight room until she was almost 49, so i've had plenty of time trying to learn to be better at it. and just recently i've been finding out how big a deal tendinopathy is once it begins to take hold.

    so i guess what i've come to by this point is: you're going to have to do this sooner or later if you keep on the way that you're doing right now. so do it sooner, or you'll be doing it for a long time if you do it later.


  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    edited December 2017
    JasonMcS wrote: »
    I actually am not doing a good job. I know I do to many reps but if I do 3/10's I don't seem to walk away feeling like I did any good. I end up with 5/10's or 3-5/15's. I know better but If I leave without having to have made myself struggle for the last of the reps...I am learning but like I said, I am self taught. So the high reps may be my issue? @Chieflrg

    Reps/form/frequency in some shaken cocktail is usually the culprit.

    If your doing 3-5 sets of 15s, I would reassess my goals and/or programming.

    Do you really need to be doing 75 reps of anything to feel like you accomplished something?

    Not knowing your program/goals, I can't comment what needs changing specifically ...but most people would benefit more by upping the intensity to a level where you can hold good form and stay closer to 5-6 reps with a couple in the tank for 3-4 sets.

    If you are already experiencing tendonitis, I would concentrate on the eccentric movement of the muscle.

    In the meantime using a neoprene elbow sleeve with help with some pain as it keeps the tendon/joint warm. But, it's only a bandaid until you correct the wrong of what is causing your flare.

  • PAFC84
    PAFC84 Posts: 1,871 Member
    edited December 2017
    I'd see an Osteo. Although your bicep tendon is hurting, your bicep might not be the cause of the pain. Its probably your shoulder. See an Osteo sooner than later and rest/back off until you do.

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