I've noticed a lot of threads about lifting today so I thought I'd make one. A few months ago I started getting a sharp pain in my upper left arm (in the tricep area) while doing various exercises. It especially hurts during incline bench press. I asked one of my friends and he said to just lay off it for a year. I don't wanna do that. I could just go and bear the pain but I'm afraid it will make it worse. Anybody dealt with this before?

7/8/2008 4:32:08 PM

stop doing incline benching. pain is your body trying to tell you something is wrong. working through it would just be asking for a more serious injury to happen.

7/8/2008 4:34:02 PM

^! go see a dr. have him check you out see whats up do what he says... something isn't right

7/8/2008 4:35:50 PM

You probably injured a tendon or tore a muscle or something. Either way it needs rest. Don't exercise that muscle for a good long while (rest it for at least a week, with ice to speed healing, especially if it hurts), and once the pain subsides from regular use (i.e. if just moving your arm around doesn't cause the muscle to hurt any more) try exercising it very gently with a light weight (take it slow, start with the lightest you have, no sudden moves to avoid hurting your tendon again) and exercise it. Stop before it starts feeling more than a little uncomfortable to do that exercise, or you'll just damage it again.

I injured a tendon in my bicep doing stuff like that and it took weeks for it to stop being so pissed at me, and even now I still have to exercise it slowly to avoid causing it injury (though it is getting better, slowly).

Oh yeah, that course of action was OK with my doctor, and it has kept the pain from coming back since I've been following it and has slowly improved the strength of the injured area over time. I'd ask your doctor if you're concerned you might've really buggered something up in your arm.

7/8/2008 4:37:45 PM

Yeah and seriously try doing less weight with slower reps next time you build smaller stabilizing muscles better that way which will help prevent future injury.

7/8/2008 4:39:29 PM

at most i've given it a month break because i was so busy but it didn't go away when i came back to lifting

doing less weight helps but i'd have to use less weight for so many exercises (shoulders and chest) dammit i need a new arm

7/8/2008 4:52:37 PM

Yeah, you have to use less weight for all those exercises that use it. Google for different ways to isolate and exercise the muscle groups you're concerned about weakening while your tricep/deltoid/whatever you broke heals up. I had to start over again twice when I hurt my arm because I was impatient, and I was REALLY pissed when that happened. Now it's taking me forever to get it back up to where I want (it's working, but it's slow as ass), and I wish I had just gone slower in the first place.

7/8/2008 4:56:22 PM

I'm in a similar situation. I have shoulder tendonitis (or used to), and I've really had to go easy on it when doing chest or shoulder workouts. Back and arms are fine as they are mainly rowing exercises as opposed to pressing, but I don't even think about maxing out anymore and even when I go light, it still stings a little. Basically, I just have to stretch the hell out of it throughout the workout and I usually take an anti inflammatory as well. Rest is really the only thing that'll help, but even then, some people are just more prone to certain injuries. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't workout so I opted to go lighter as opposed to not going at all. It actually has gotten a bit better, but nowhere near where it used to be.

7/8/2008 5:01:17 PM

STOP USING THE CAGE SON !!
THE FUCK IS [user]argreek[/user] to piggy back on my knowledge

7/8/2008 5:12:27 PM

Give it some time off. Have you taken break recently? A week off might do all your lifts some good. What does your current diet look like? Are you trying to drop weight? If so, you need to up your calories for this injury to atleast maintence. Make sure you get enought healthy fats, too.

^what is the cage comment about?

[Edited on July 8, 2008 at 5:32 PM. Reason : ]

7/8/2008 5:29:22 PM

by the cage i mean the Smith machine. Bench pressing on the smith machine in my opinion is not a good option

7/8/2008 6:03:49 PM

haha, that might be a fair guess. The smith is no bueno for a natural plane of movement, and creates some terrible shearing forces.

7/8/2008 6:07:54 PM