guys that have torn a bicep

[JustWannaBeHuge]

when you think back, were there any "signs" that the bicep was about to snap?

here is the example, I was working out at home the other day, and doing benches, i pick up a 45 lb plate with my right arm and when i lifted it up to place on the bar, i felt an incredible "tightness" and "pull" at the bottom of my bicep.

maybe it was just a small strain, I don't know, but I'm curious as to if anyone that has torn a bicep, after the shit did happen, did you think back to other workouts and say "shit, I should have seen this coming"


thanks for any input guys

 

[gettnlarge01]

Had a minor quad tear while working legs.It felt like any other leg workout at the beginning but half way thru my right quad kept getting insanely tight and wouldn't stretch out.Then when doing leg presses I heard a little pop and felt like fingers running up my leg under my skin. I should've known something wasnt right and quit but I want make that mistake again.

 

[littlemack]

Well JWBH my friend, it just so happens that I studied this shit for quite a while when I tore my pec. The first question an ortho will ask you is, "Are you taking any hormones?" You can have one of three situations occur. The tendon pops off the bone. The muscle tears away from the tendon at the myotendonous junction. Or the muscle belly simply explodes and ruptures itself. Ok, so why does a complete rupture occur? In my opinion, after all this study, its either by accident(as in on the football field or at work), or its due to overtraining. Hydration can also be a factor which probably contributes to this. Certain exercises also increase the risk of rupture. Just about all reported pec tears occur on bench press, and begin with the eccentric phase of the lift as you lower the weight. Seems odd doesn't it? With bench, once you hit the bottom, you are putting a tremendous amount of stretch on the tendon. I forgot the percentage, but I used to have a copy of a study that was done on cadavers, where they setup a pulley system on a cadaver to imitate the bench press and see how much load the pec tendon could take before tearing. This is just some insight into a pec tear.
With the bicep, I'll bet, some exercises also rank higher up on the list for tears. I think Phil mentioned preacher curls once? This would seem to put a lot of stretch on the tendon. I'll see if I can find some studies for you to see if we can narrow the exercises down that contribute the most. A friend of mine tore his playing soccer, and I don't know how the hell he did that.
Creatine btw has NO effect on muscle tears for bodybuilders. People are passing around that bad information and its bullshit. Unless your a sprinter b/c there are dehydration issues with creatine.
You probably have a minor strain. I would rest it for 3 weeks b/c you want to play it safe if it hurts. Focus on other exercises for a while.
Let me see what I can dig up for you buddy.

 

[JustWannaBeHuge]

thanks for the info guys. I know I didn't tear it, I'm mainly curious if anyone saw "warning" signs when they think back about the tear.

It just felt very tight the other day and felt weird when I lifted up the plate.

I just don't want to go and push it, and wind up tearing it. I already destroyed my lower back, don't want my arms f'ed up too... esp my right bicep, it has a better peak lol

 

[littlemack]

hahaha
With me, I felt very weak on chest the day I tore mine, everything felt heavy, but I kept pushing myself and trying to lift more than the previous week. As I lowered the weight, slowly, I could begin to feel a twinge, got to the bottom and got it about 1/3rd the way back up when I felt it tear away like a steak. You could hear this ripping sound. I was on about my 3-4th set on bench when it happened and was pyramiding up from 8 rep sets to 3 rep sets.

 

[El Jose Cuervo]

Bro

I feel ya ..
I tore my lower bicep last June 22. Now... i will tell you .... with my tear i didnt have ANY warning. I am 36 years old and back when i was 28 i tore my pec and i had the warning signs you have. My dumb ass ignored the warnings and let my ego get ahead of my brain. I was lowering 595lbs on the bench and BOOM that fucker ripped right below the nipple on the right side. I went a specialist and after 2 MRIs i found out the muscle tore apart. This cant be fixed. He explained that it was basically like trying to sew toilet tissue back together. So... i said fuck it. I have an indention in that pec that SUCKS ass when i am really lean.
Now... last June i wasnt even in the gym... i was at my friends house swimming and my friend asked me to help him move a small log that he had cut in his back yard. Well i have straight bar curled as much as 315lb before for REPS and today this 80lb tree kicked my ass. I reached down and simply pulled up and i heard that dreadful sound again (the one i heard when i tore my pec). It wasnt 19 min and it was turning black. By the next day my arm was solid black from my bicep all the way to my hand.
Same thing happened with my chest. So if yours isnt bruising then i am sure you just strained it.
I now have a freakin deformed bicep. The lower bicep tore so now i have no muscle when i do preacher curls. Looks fucked up. Everyone says "oh you cant even tell it" but ha ha people love to make you feel good hu? Yeah you can see it... and it looks like shit.
So just becareful because i dont think yours has torn yet... and if you ignore the signs you will end up looking deformed like my dumb ass.
Best of luck

 

[KillerStack]

Bro

I feel ya ..
I tore my lower bicep last June 22. Now... i will tell you .... with my tear i didnt have ANY warning. I am 36 years old and back when i was 28 i tore my pec and i had the warning signs you have. My dumb ass ignored the warnings and let my ego get ahead of my brain. I was lowering 595lbs on the bench and BOOM that fucker ripped right below the nipple on the right side. I went a specialist and after 2 MRIs i found out the muscle tore apart. This cant be fixed. He explained that it was basically like trying to sew toilet tissue back together. So... i said fuck it. I have an indention in that pec that SUCKS ass when i am really lean.
Now... last June i wasnt even in the gym... i was at my friends house swimming and my friend asked me to help him move a small log that he had cut in his back yard. Well i have straight bar curled as much as 315lb before for REPS and today this 80lb tree kicked my ass. I reached down and simply pulled up and i heard that dreadful sound again (the one i heard when i tore my pec). It wasnt 19 min and it was turning black. By the next day my arm was solid black from my bicep all the way to my hand.
Same thing happened with my chest. So if yours isnt bruising then i am sure you just strained it.
I now have a freakin deformed bicep. The lower bicep tore so now i have no muscle when i do preacher curls. Looks fucked up. Everyone says "oh you cant even tell it" but ha ha people love to make you feel good hu? Yeah you can see it... and it looks like shit.
So just becareful because i dont think yours has torn yet... and if you ignore the signs you will end up looking deformed like my dumb ass.
Best of luck

I read this medical journal article about bicep tears and I think the average age that a bicep tear occurs at was 36, like you, so that's interesting. Also bicep tears occur fairly frequently in 'regular folks' and it wasn't linked to steroid use like pec tears which are much more common in juicers.

One of my pecs is partially torn, with a fairly big intendention now, and there was zero bruising when it happened! Kind of strange. A piece of the tendon must've come clean off the bone. Now I've also completely ruptured the other pec and that bled quite a bit.

 

[THEWARDEN]

most bicep tears actually occur during deadlifts when one uses an alternate grip. The underhand side will tear. So just use a double overhand grip when deadlifting and don't use any crazy ass weights for curls, especially preacher curls and you will be fine.

i tore my pec about 2 months ago at the myotendonous junction and it happened with NO warning signs at all. The only thing I did different was do 5 sets instead of 4 because I was feeling good and now I'm where I'm at. Lots of rehab for the next 6 months and no benching ever again.