I was limited by bicep strength

ok so last week i switched from hanstand pushups from the floor to elevated between 2 chairs. First attempt i got out 3 reps total all singles, i felt sad. My main problem was that i was sticking at the lowest point and the day after i noticed my biceps felt like they were torn they were so sore.

So i tried again this week and i can crank out 3 in a row in one set 2 in the next and 2 singles. based on the fact that my biceps were the only thing sore last week from this and my numbers have doubbled since then i'd say bicep strength was definatly limiting me.

it's weird i never thought bicep strength could actualy be a limit to anything other then a curl motion.

 

Sometimes my biceps hurt after I do KB swing and catches... does that mean it's limiting them? no. It means they don't have sufficient GPP to handle the workload without muscle soreness... nothing more.

 

but if biceps got noticably sore more so then any other muscle from that session does that not indicate that in that specific session that the biceps were the weak link? I'm not saying that "OMG i felt my biceps get worked this must be a god bicep exercise!" I'm just saying "wholy crap they were actual a limiting factor for once."

 

I did Curls to increase my chinup number when i noticed, that my bicep was always the first muscle to give up. And it worked.

 

When ever I do a high intensity or volume pullup workout the crook of my arms always have the DOMS...never my lats.

 

woah man, hand stand pushups on 2 chairs? are you crazy? isnt that like unsafe practice?

 

i still do it against a wall. anything else would just be crazy.

 

This just seems a bit odd, for one thing I dont see why your biceps should hurt after doing hand stand pushups. The only thing I can think off the top of my head that could cause them damage in that motion is that you've switched to using two chairs so I guess you're using a greater ROM, if true it could be that you went too low and this put a lot of pressure on the bicep. Whether true or not i'd be careful about doing them off chairs and going too low as this can really damage your shoulders.

Ok, stopped being a pleb and reread your post, if you're sticking at the bottom this was probably the problem and if I were you I'd simply increase my ROM more slowly.

 

Your biceps didn't strengthen that much after one training session to account for that type of increase. You started a new exercise and noticed good gains from one session to the next...does this seem that odd? It shouldn't. Strength increases tend to be noted whenever a new movement is introduced generally from an increase in intermuscular coordination.

 

Your biceps could be the limiting factor either indirectly either because of stabalization or because of you possibly not having mature motor program for the movement.

First, technically/textbook, there should be no bicep involvement at all. On the up portion your triceps/shoulders maybe a bit of chest should do the work and on the way down the same groups but just an eccentric contraction. But you are not a machine and your body does make mistakes and needs to be balanced.

So, it is possible your biceps are used for stabalization of the joints and might have first failed and that would cause different/more stress on the bigger more important working muscles which would tire them out faster. This is unlikely though, IMO.

I think it is more possible that you are not comfortable with the movement yet and you have a lot of co-contraction going on amoung other things. If you pause on the way down you may be activating your biceps quite a bit. Additionally when you fatigue your body may start to activate many muscles in the attempt to complete the lift, so your biceps, forearms, neck extensors and even that little muscle in your foot that always cramps might be signaled to go to a complete contraction.

I bet with doing the movement more often and getting a better motor program from the brain this will stop. I am not a personal trainer though so I am just extrapolating from what I have learned in school. There might be others that understand more.

 

This is not a tought question. Urban you are 100% right. It is as simple as what you just said.

Please read what Urban said and don't try to overcomplicate something so simple.

 

this is very interesting! I have never heard that before but have always thought that something like this was going on. Seams to explain why my lower abs and lower back are sore from doing this yesterday.

 

I agree with Urban, too. In fact, I agree with him MORE. I think Urban's so right, that he should dictate not only exercise advice, but also everything else I do in life as well...

Geez, form a thought of your own for once.

 

Not everybody is happy with a mundane boring simple answer. Some people are intrigued and not satisfied until they actually understand something completely. If something is more complicated than you want don't read it.

Just to clarify I"m not commenting on Urbans comment nor am I calling it mundane/simple etc.

 

Ok you go on believing what you want. Keep wondering why you are weak and limp wristed. My guess would be that it is because you spend all your time speculating over something instead of hitting the weights. How's that for an original thought...... "GEEZ"

 

Can your whole "post" be considered an oxymoron. What exactly is it you were trying to say?

 

I was saying that many times a few people will discuss a topic into a decent amount of detail, sometimes over the heads of other readers. There is always one person who says "who cares, just lift weights and you'll be fine." If you think its too much info, don't post and go read something else.

You said

Personally I think it is a complicated subject. Why did they? How vast is your knowledge of physiology and neuroscience? I think solving the water problem in India is easy, give them water. I think so because I have zero understanding of the topic. The more you know, the more you realize you don't know.

This also shows the same thing,

To me I don't think I'm overcomplicating it. Is Louie Simmons overcomplicating things? What about all the other people who have invented new routines? We wouldn't have the routines we follow if nobody ever "overcomplicated" things.

Now, the last part of what I said was to clarify one thing. I was commenting in rickdogs comment, I was in no way stating that what Urban said was mundane or boring.

Do you understand?

 

I feel a high degree of tension in my biceps when performing max % dips and deadlifts which prompted me to start doing hammer and barbell curls about 2 years ago.

On multiple occasions, I

 

Yours was a well thought out post and I respect that. I still see nothing wrong with seconding what somebody else says. Do I understand everything about physiology and neuroscience? not even close.

The point is that I do see people overcomplicating alot of things in weightlifting. In my experience it has been the guys that talk about trying this and that and gain a greater "understanding" about the muscles, are the ones who have the least results, again thi8s is my personal experience, obviously not the case all the time.

Maybe my frustration in those situations lead me to be hasty in a quick response. I have no problem with Yomon's original post and maybe, at times, I oversimplify.