Barbell Curls and Forearm Pain

T

The Long Run

New Member
I have pretty small wrists and weak forearms. But they've been sufficient up until now to hold the weights I've been lifting for barbell curls and everything else that requires grip strength.

I'm now having pains in the forearms about 3 inches down from the elbows when doing barbell curls. It feels like a tendon when I press what hurts with my finger. It definitely doesn't feel like the forearm bone as I've seen some say it is.

I've paid more attention lately to maintaining the grip I usually keep on the barbell during barbell curls as I had gotten a little slack on that. It went away for a couple of workouts but its back again.

I've got some questions about how to remedy this without stopping my barbell curls.

First, I'm wondering if I get one of those bars that changes the angle of the grip to where your thumbs are higher than the rest of your hand, will that remedy it? If I tighten my grip around where my pinkies are the pain is obvious. But my grip around my thumbs and first fingers doesn't affect it at all. It would seem to me these bars would emphasize that.

Second, has anyone ever heard of wrapping their forearms when doing barbell curls? That may seem funny but I'm wondering would it actually help.

Third, I forgot. LOL
 
Why not do curls with dumbbells? I have small bones and a plate in my wrist on top of that. I tried a strait bar and an EZ curl bar but they both bother my wrists so I went to DBs and they feel fine.
 
First off, when you have a pained joint, muscle, or tendon, even just a few degrees angle or less ROM can make all the difference between pain and ecstasy. So, yes, a cambered curl bar may be the ticket or your grip width.
You pain is in a bit of an odd spot so far from the elbow joint, but we've used tennis wraps to stabilise tendons for medial epicondilitis; I'll include a pic. Just snug, not tight.
Another trick is to NOT grip the bar, putting more tension on the offended member. The target muscle (biceps) still has to pull the bar up.
Next, you could do weighted chins instead.
 
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(quadancer @ Apr. 02 2008,18:38)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">First off, when you have a pained joint, muscle, or tendon, even just a few degrees angle or less ROM can make all the difference between pain and ecstasy. So, yes, a cambered curl bar may be the ticket or your grip width.
You pain is in a bit of an odd spot so far from the elbow joint, but we've used tennis wraps to stabilise tendons for medial epicondilitis; I'll include a pic. Just snug, not tight.
Another trick is to NOT grip the bar, putting more tension on the offended member. The target muscle (biceps) still has to pull the bar up.
Next, you could do weighted chins instead.</div>
just another excuse to show your big arms off quad
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i get pain in my wrists from most straight bar bicep exercises, i use dumbells mostly, and cambered bars occasionally. close grip chins dont give me any problems but wide ones do, due to the slightly unatural position of the wrists.
 
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(lcars @ Apr. 03 2008,08:27)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">just another excuse to show your big arms off quad
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Pretty much.
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(colby2152 @ Apr. 03 2008,08:44)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(lcars @ Apr. 03 2008,08:27)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">just another excuse to show your big arms off quad  
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Pretty much.  
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Who, me?
 
Well I'm considering just using dumbells then but I've always read they're not as good at mass building as bars and I need all the help I can get with my biceps.

The only thing I'm really concerned with using the dumbells really is having to concentrate on the position of my wrists during the moves so as to get full benefit, and not pull on those tendons again...all with maximum working weight.

An ez curl bar seems tempting but I don't want to invest in something that turns out not to help and I wasted money and now that's even more junk to sit around in my house collecting dust.

I guess I will have to do some experimenting. The tennis straps seem interesting too. I might have to use something like that in conjunction with dumbells or an ez curl bar until these tendons (or muscles or whatever) stop hurting.
 
Man...I've been getting so excited about hitting the 15&quot; mark with my arms lately (flexed) and then quad has to go and show a pic like that!
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(The Long Run @ Apr. 03 2008,11:52)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Man...I've been getting so excited about hitting the 15&quot; mark with my arms lately (flexed) and then quad has to go and show a pic like that!</div>
Quad must have allergies or something -- to get all swollen up like that...
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(TunnelRat @ Apr. 03 2008,11:58)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(The Long Run @ Apr. 03 2008,11:52)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Man...I've been getting so excited about hitting the 15&quot; mark with my arms lately (flexed) and then quad has to go and show a pic like that!</div>
Quad must have allergies or something -- to get all swollen up like that...
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his arms must be sticky too!


@long run, ive never heard that bb is better than dumbell, id say you maybe able to use more weight.

biceps imo need to be isolated more to really get em.although they take some heavy duty hammer from compounds(back).

hitting them with db's is going to allow you to focus on the muscle more and enable you to find a comfortable position for your hands/wrists.
 
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(TunnelRat @ Apr. 03 2008,11:58)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(The Long Run @ Apr. 03 2008,11:52)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Man...I've been getting so excited about hitting the 15&quot; mark with my arms lately (flexed) and then quad has to go and show a pic like that!</div>
Quad must have allergies or something -- to get all swollen up like that...  
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I'm allergic to mirrors. Hey, Icars started it!

A 15&quot; arm on most guys under 6' would be huge, actually. Not sure what the average is, but when you look at newbies stats, 12-13&quot; isn't unusual.
Cables are another option for comfort. I just don't like the feel of db's that much, although I do use them now and then.
 
I get the same pain whenever i come back to biceps after leaving them for a while.

I always put it down to me having good biceps (i'd put a picture up like quads but i can't find my 35inch measuring tape!!!) and pretty rubbish forearms. I just assume that my biceps are ready for action and can lift good weights while my forearms need a few weeks to adjust.

Just stick it out is my advice!
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Your pain is in a bit of an odd spot so far from the elbow joint, but we've used tennis wraps to stabilise tendons for medial epicondilitis;</div>
Quad may be on to something here.  The epicondilitis knocked me out of lifting for several months last year and put me back a bit in strength and size.  My pain was very similar to what you describe.  

Does it hurt when you probe around the elbow bones (tendon insertion point)?  Note that it can be accompanied by strains in other parts of your forearm.  Ultimately, I have given up bicep isolations for a while to make sure it heals completely.  The tennis wraps did nothing for me, but I had tried to work around it too long and things were pretty bad.
 
quad - Yes, I've put a lot on my arms in my last two cycles and my arms are literally busting out of my sleeves. I had skinny arms all my life and its sooo nice to have some meat on them. They're going on 13.5&quot; unflexed and 15&quot; flexed which is awesome for me!

ian - I've wondered about that too...is it weak forearms or just strong biceps? I actually think its a little bit of both. I have small wrist, small forearms, yet decent biceps (now) and pretty strong.

Ruthenian - It doesn't hurt around my elbows when I probe around there but if I go down my forearm in just the right spot, just away from the bone (the bone does not hurt at all) there's one particular &quot;strand&quot; that hurts like all get out. The funny thing is that only then can the pain continue up to my elbow.

Also, I should say &quot;did&quot; hurt like all get out. I've taken a few days off to give them a break before I try using the dumbell curls (along with everything else I have to do in a workout which doesn't help) and the pain has gone away almost completely.

I've also been reading up on Max Stim and may go into that since I'm getting bored with the 3x5's I've been doing in HST mode. Dan calls for not working the arms really hard directly since they're already worked indirectly.
 
If you have the big compounds and don't do iso's, you won't lose size while resting an injury. You can add iso's later on when you feel better. I alternated tri and bi iso's lately and it's worked well. I'll never go back to doing both every workout.
 
Not all of us are as gifted with our arms Quad - just working compounds saw me losing size on the arms, thats including rows, dips, chins, bench, military.

I need a small quantity of iso work, maybe I'm the freak.
 
We're all different, but of course when we recommend stuff, it's just for the general populace; there are always exceptions to the norm. You're probably not a freak...unless you have a unibrow or something.
 
Scratch that. They're just over 13.5&quot; as of tonight, unflexed.
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BTW - I'm one of those with undersized/stubborn arms too. So I have to exercise them directly in every workout or they don't grow. Just keeping them the same size while the rest of my body grows wouldn't be good in my opinion as I already feel they're the only lagging bodypart I have along with shoulders.

Tomorrow I do the biceps curls so will see how the dumbells work out. If Icars says he does mainly dumbell curls and he's got arms like that....I'm sure it'll be ok.
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Do what you want, but keep an eye on it. What works for ONE guy may not work for another, or will work for a while, then need change. What worked for Icars won't work forever for him either; he'll have to advance to something else. It gets harder the more gym age you have. And sometimes, less becomes more. IMO the best time for fulltime iso's is when bulking.
This isn't to say that there are general principles that work for all, it's just saying that nothing works continuously because we adapt to it. Following the leader will leave you alone because the leader will verge off on rabbit trails while you forge ahead on the same dead end. That's what makes him the leader.
 
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