Sore Forearms

The_Scary_Man

When I do my biceps in the gym my forearms are getting very sore. I wouldn't mind so much but its affecting the rest of my workout.

For all intents and purposes its like the muscle is tightening around the bone to such an extent that its causing me pain.

I have been told that releasing my grip slowly will help but was wondering if anyone had any other ideas/suggestions?

Jak

Very very common. Assuming it is not crippling pain or a serious injury, which is hard to tell from a post.

I've been training for years and still get the same thing. Especially on preacher curls as it happens, but also benching.

Things that can help in my own experience are as follows;

1. Get some chalk, it will allow you a better grip on the bar without forcing a deathly tight grip.

2. Vary your program, I firmly believe the key to arms is not the hard an heavy approach given to other areas. The key is just to keep the muscles flush with blood. Try varying your program by degrees every 4 weeks or so. Try some static holds or light weight isolation excercises.

3. Skip a session. Give them a rest, forearms no more than shoulders take a lot of stress in all upper body sessions, be they shoulders, back, chest or arms. As such they need more rest than the primary muscle groups.

Cheers,

JAK.

logic1

Originally posted by Jak

3. Skip a session. Give them a rest, forearms no more than shoulders take a lot of stress in all upper body sessions, be they shoulders, back, chest or arms. As such they need more rest than the primary muscle groups.

Cheers,

JAK.

Excellant point here. Alot of people feel bad about skipping a session with guilt etc... but sometimes it's the absolute best thing you can do. And you're not going to regress any by missing a session.

Just as an aside I get the forearm pain aswell, as does most everyone else I know.

I use a set of wraps usually just for the last set of each excercise and it relieves it quite alot.

.logic.

The_Scary_Man

Thanks for the pointers lads.

Jak, the pain is not crippling but it is more of a discomfort which takes away from the rest of my session.

I have been making good progress with the program I'm using at the moment but a change might be the best thing alright.

I have been thinking about getting a set of wraps for a while now as my grip is failing on Shrugs and partial deadlifts so I think I get them this weekend.

Farls

I have the same problem, its straight down the bone on the back of my forearm...when i push the arm curls with the EZ bar with 20kg on it i really feel it, so much so that it really effects the work out...i'm trying the old rest it idea now tho. I asked one of the lads in the know in the gym and he says you have to be careful in case of causing a stress fracture.

Farlz

reigninblood

I had this prob and i solved it with a pair of weightlifting gloves. Your forearms are stressed by trying to grip the bar. If you have a good tacky pair of gloves (throw some talc on if they get slippy from sweat) you'll only feel it in your biceps and your forearms will just feel nicely tired instead of sore. When i had it after i started lifting properly i couldnt even release my grip from the bar in anticipation of the seering pain. It only hurts when you open your fist for some reason

Jak

Personally I would caution against gloves.

Callouses on your grip from training will build up quickly enough, and chalk is far superior for getting good grip and avoiding slipping.

Also if you ever forget your gloves on heavy sets your hands will get shredded, but you will never forget your hands.

JAK.

reigninblood

Ya have a point. I find them handy for doing pushups on my knuckles though as i developed callices on my knuckles like feckin huge warts from them being rubbed on the floor.

The_Scary_Man

Well I gave my arm workout a break for a week and went back yesterday.
I got a muscle rub rom a friend called BioFreeze and rubbed some of that into my forearms before doing my bicep curls.
Also I set the bar down and released it very slowly, I felt like a bit of a tit but it worked.
The pain didn't go away completely but was significantly reduced to the point where it didn't affect my workout, result!

On a side note I have been looking for wraps in all the sports shops in Cork and can't find anywhere that stocks them. Can some one point me in the right direction?

Musashi

Try this site/link
http://www.auravita.com/default.htm
http://store.maximuscle.co.uk/cgi-bin/maximuscle.filereader?3ea04c1b08ff5f36273f0a020a01057a+EN/products/vg2

The_Scary_Man

Thanks Musashi, that maximuscle site has a few things that I might get that I didn't even know I needed.