Anyone else who can’t do hammer curls without developing bicep tendinitis?

[headtrainer]

Anyone else who can’t do “hammer curls” without developing painful bicep tendonitis? It’s only my right arm and I’ve had 2 prior surgeries on that arm. One for a right bicep “distal tendon rupture” and a second surgery for a right “proximal bicep tendon” rupture.

 

[Ben Pollack]

Well, if you've torn the bicep on both ends you're very likely lacking the ability to fully supinate on your right side. If you do a lot of pulling or curling movements with an underhand grip, and you're lacking in supination, you've got to compensate somewhere, like by using the brachialis to perform more work than it would normally have to do. Add in hammer curls to load the brachialis even more, and you end up with a chronic overuse injury.

This may help a bit:

 

[MR. BMJ]

They are one of my favorite bicep movements.

 

[headtrainer]

Well, if you've torn the bicep on both ends you're very likely lacking the ability to fully supinate on your right side. If you do a lot of pulling or curling movements with an underhand grip, and you're lacking in supination, you've got to compensate somewhere, like by using the brachialis to perform more work than it would normally have to do. Add in hammer curls to load the brachialis even more, and you end up with a chronic overuse injury.

This may help a bit:

I think you are right about my two prior surgeries causing my issue.

 

[Muay Thai]

yes me. the flat bar cable curls (not ez bar) work fine for me. I cant do flat bar anything either which is strange. regular bicep curls kill my forearm tendonitis and also because I have a preexisting bicep distal tendon tear. hard to get pump and contraction in bicep PERIOD these days. preachers kill me too the worst

ps like in the video posted by ben, palming my bicep curls with fingers opens has always helped alleviate forearm involvement to a degree, I stopped seeing bicep growth like I experienced in my early and mid 20s the last few years. recently incorporating the flat bar cable curls (not flat barbell curls) and doing 21s on the flat bar cable curls has helped me grow again , drag curls and forcing contractions for 2 seconds every rep and 3 seconds on last rep

 

[Alzadosghost]

I do reverse dumbbell wrist curls or a standing cable version and straight bar wrists curls behind me back. Both have no effect on that nasty fucking brachioradialis tendinitis. I’m not sure about bicep tendinitis which I don’t think Iv ever had. May or may not help. The pro might have the better answer.

 

[alfresco]

yes me. the flat bar cable curls (not ez bar) work fine for me. I cant do flat bar anything either which is strange. regular bicep curls kill my forearm tendonitis and also because I have a preexisting bicep distal tendon tear. hard to get pump and contraction in bicep PERIOD these days. preachers kill me too the worst

ps like in the video posted by ben, palming my bicep curls with fingers opens has always helped alleviate forearm involvement to a degree, I stopped seeing bicep growth like I experienced in my early and mid 20s the last few years. recently incorporating the flat bar cable curls (not flat barbell curls) and doing 21s on the flat bar cable curls has helped me grow again , drag curls and forcing contractions for 2 seconds every rep and 3 seconds on last rep

Try working your forearm’s, wrist curls; extension, flexation prior to biceps. Worked for me whenever I had issues like this (no tears).

 

[heavyhitter]

Using grip4rce fat grips and squeezing the hell out of them when curling has helped my bicep tendinitis a lot

 

[Alzadosghost]

Using grip4rce fat grips and squeezing the hell out of them when curling has helped my bicep tendinitis a lot

Odd you said that. My brother and I both got tendinitis from the fat grips. But only 5,9 my hands are probably a lot smaller than yours I imagine. Used to do 400 lb farmers holds with each hand with fat grips when I was younger doing strongman training and it didn’t bother me but thst was nearly 20 yrs ago. Body been beat down pretty bad since then.

 

[heavyhitter]

Odd you said that. My brother and I both got tendinitis from the fat grips. But only 5,9 my hands are probably a lot smaller than yours I imagine. Used to do 400 lb farmers holds with each hand with fat grips when I was younger doing strongman training and it didn’t bother me but thst was nearly 20 yrs ago. Body been beat down pretty bad since then.

Not fat grips, specifically these ones. They require you to actually squeeze them closed during the lift session.
These attachments for back work have also relieved a lot of tendinitis by removing the forearm tension from back exercises

 

[Prada]

I would think hammer curls are the most natural exercise for biceps. Bb curls causes some issues for me

 

[Muay Thai]

Try working your forearm’s, wrist curls; extension, flexation prior to biceps. Worked for me whenever I had issues like this (no tears).

mine are huge and dominate my entire body, they get involved on their own, but I do motorcycle grips spins with the 45lb bench bar post workout 2x per week, my grip strength is insane

 

[Muay Thai]

those grips remind me of the old school big back grips or whatever brand it was that was popular back when I had some they were thin foam they sucked lol

 

[heavyhitter]

those grips remind me of the old school big back grips or whatever brand it was that was popular back when I had some they were thin foam they sucked lol

Ya those did suck. I picked these up on a recommendation from JM and really like them. They’re a pretty stiff rubber and the idea is to squeeze them closed while curling. You can also use them on other things like hammer strength presses, skullcrushers, rope push downs. I like fat grip work and it’s really helped my lateral epicondylitis

 

[alfresco]

mine are huge and dominate my entire body, they get involved on their own, but I do motorcycle grips spins with the 45lb bench bar post workout 2x per week, my grip strength is insane

Lucky you.

Off topic . . .

Here is my foray into forearm training. It is loooong.

https://www.professionalmuscle.com/forums/index.php?threads/forearm-training.40500/

 

[Alzadosghost]

Not fat grips, View attachment 151962specifically these ones. They require you to actually squeeze them closed during the lift session.
These attachments for back work have also relieved a lot of tendinitis by removing the forearm tension from back exercises View attachment 151963

Oh wow Iv never seen those before. You know what I was taking about though those things sucked ass. I don’t have any forearm or elbow/bicep issues right now and I’d like to keep it that way. I rarely ever even train biceps they have always been big so my pulling exercises keep them up pretty good.

 

[MasteroniPepperoni]

I was getting tendonitis in my biceps a while ago and it would hurt on hammers, but actually since reducing the weight and focusing on the contraction/squeeze it went away. I've also been focusing more on arms in general, hitting all heads of the tris and bis. This seemed to help. More reps too

 

[need4tren]

When I was doing two back workouts a week I had the worst pain. Anything heavy neutral grip would cause it to inflame. Cut back my back volume, dropped the neutral grip and have been able to train biceps heavy. Pinning seo every arm day has helped with growth

 

[Muay Thai]

I was getting tendonitis in my biceps a while ago and it would hurt on hammers, but actually since reducing the weight and focusing on the contraction/squeeze it went away. I've also been focusing more on arms in general, hitting all heads of the tris and bis. This seemed to help. More reps too

focus on the squeeze, phil viz style jk lol , forced contractions rule regardless and slow-motion negatives , restpause it all helps . personally id rather lock out and jerk my joints and grind cartilidge

 

[MasteroniPepperoni]

focus on the squeeze, phil viz style jk lol , forced contractions rule regardless and slow-motion negatives , restpause it all helps . personally id rather lock out and jerk my joints and grind cartilidge

I see it daily in my gym. Gotta be EXPLOSIVE BRO! lol