Pain in Forearms - Its Back

T

The Long Run

New Member
I'm dealing with a little bit of anger mixed with disappointment right now. I've been bulking like CRAZY. Today for the first time I went to the grocery store, and well, I was getting looks I don't usually get. I'll leave it at that. I liked it, a huge boost for the ego, of course.

But when I came home to do my Friday workout (squats, bend-over rows, bicep curls), everything went GREAT until I got to the bicep curls.

I was advised on here a while back after posting that I had forearm pain when doing barbell curls, to either get a curl bar or do dumbell curls. Well, I did the dumbell curls until I could get the money to get the curl bar. It went ok. I increase in weight, and such, but it wasn't that "tight" feeling I get with barbell curls....like I just actually used my biceps for something.

I got the curlbar recently and after the third time of using it (and progressively loading it with weights for my 5 reps increments) I got the sharpest pains I've ever experienced in my forearms. Completing 3 sets of the 5 reps was excruciating.

I fear I've done some damage, but won't be able to really tell until I do my next curls a couple of days from now.

MY QUESTIONS:

1) Do I just decrease weight for this exercise and go back to 10 reps increments and increase sets maybe?
rock.gif
? Would this not equal increased load of going into 5 reps?

2) Should I just go back to dumbell curls?
rock.gif
?

3) Should I work on increasing forearm strength directly with say wrist curls and reverse barbell curls??

I REALLY need some help on this one guys. This is the only forum I'm asking this on as you are the only guys I trust to give good educated answers.

I've JUST now started filling out my sleeves and man am I feelin JACKED. This could not have come at a WORST TIME!

Thanks for any help!!
 
OK....well....since no one seems to have a clue, I'm gonna go back to dumbell curls and see what that does.

Something hit me about this particular cycle while in the 10s though. I felt like just staying in the 10s like you would the 5s for a couple of weeks, staying at max weight or increasing as needed.

Instinct because of my ligaments maybe? hehe

And now, I'm truely wondering is that not a viable way to go (continuing into 10s for 2 weeks) to get those with weaker joints more prepared for the heavier weights.
 
I've encountered pretty serious forearm discomfort in the 5s, both on EZ curl bar, and barbell curls

I have never experienced that pain doing hammer curls

I have also not experienced that pain using Dan's Max-Stim method

I also haven't experienced that much pain whilst using a thumbless grip.

If DB's work for you, stick to them. I know its "common knowledge" that BB curls "build more mass" but...

I haven't really seen convincing argument/evidence in favor of this hypothesis.

So if they hurt, screw it!

DB's kick ***!
 
Thanks for the response being!

I was in the middle of my workout and just did the biceps. I played around a little with everything and discovered maybe I am just pushing myself a little too hard?

That's still not a definite but I went down 10 lbs on the EZ curl, used 8 reps instead of 5, cause 8 is all I could do, and it really "seemed" to blast my biceps.

I may try Dan's Max Stim for this and see what happens as well.

Hey if all fails I can try the dumbells and Max Stim together.

Thanks again for your response. I have a feeling its going to work out, no pun intended.
laugh.gif
 
respectfully I ask: Why this emphasis on curls?
 
When using DBs, did you have any difference in pain between neutral (hammer) and supinated grip?  As opposed to beingisbeing, I got a bad case of epicondylitis (tennis elbow) from doing Hammer Curls -- it manifested mostly as forearm pain.  Knocked me out for about 5 months.

I don't know your background, but you may want to consider whether upper arm isolations are appropriate until you are stronger.
 
I remember reading a long time ago a pro stating in an article that it was bad news to frequently be doing low reps for direct arm work, esp the type I'm doing. It was bad for the elbows and all that's involved.

I didn't think about that until today and I think maybe he was right, in my case. I think I have two weak links in my body; my shoulders and arms.

I can't stop working them directly as I will stop gaining size and strength there. I have tried that before.

Last night I went with the EZ curl bar and knocked some weight off and I don't know what kind of grip you'd call it but just went with the best grip that "felt" right. I guess on a barbell it would be considered a thumbless grip but since it was the EZ curl bar it wasn't really.

I did 8 reps for 4 sets and it was fine with a little pain. Of course I had a little pain because my tendons are still recovering from how hard they were hit last time.

I think my biceps may need this higher rep to respond anyway, I've not had a lot of growth or gain in strength with them in the 5s.
 
I've been wondering about this myself as well.

Sometimes in the 5s, I don't even feel like i've USED my biceps or triceps even though I may fail on five.

I seem to get better growth response and less over all discomfort, bi and tris, and rear/anterior deltoid work, keeping them in the 8 rep range.

On the other hand, I seem to get NO response in my traps, upper shoulders, chest or lats without going heavy. Its interesting.

Granted I've been cutting forever so its hard to really say whats is going on or why half the time. I'm happy just keeping what I have for now.
 
Yea its interesting. Some say there's no difference in 10s, 8s, or 5s, only the amount of weight you can load, which is the only point in going down in reps.

I may just stop at 8s for my entire body the next couple of cycles and give all my joints/tendons a rest. I can deal with less growth (if that's what it means) the next couple of cycles as I'm ALMOST looking like I want at this point anyway.

I just could have gone another few weeks on this one in the 5s and gotten that extra 1/2 inch or so on all my muscles.

This morning I got up early to weed eat and the arm I held the weed eater with (right) was also the one squeezing the trigger.

You would not think this put a lot of pressure on my forearm muscles, tendons, or whatever, but when I got done I couldn't even use my right hand to put the weed eater up. I couldn't even squeeze my hand.

Someone told me I might have already gotten tendinitis and there's pressure on a nerve. Now when I even just hold my hand out it shakes like I've got Parkinson's.

May be time to stop this cycle. LOL
 
hehe. you know man, i played the trombone from the age of 8 or so, and was semi pro (hah) for a while.

I developed pretty bad tennis elbow. REAL bad. hardly heavy weight lifting that caused it!

It went away with learning to relax and use less tension.

Try focusing on your muscles when you lift...maybe you're tensing up in the wrong areas in the wrong ways?
 
I have ended this cycle after doing 1 week of max lbs of the 5 rep range. I'm also getting a "feeling" in my shoulder I just do not like when doing my incline bench presses at max weight.

This whole thing brings up a couple of questions I'll just post in another thread. Thanks for the discussion on it everyone.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top