Spot The Difference

[Handson]

Hi All

Has anyone else noticed this anomaly?

Handson

[David Gentle]

Yes, he has torn his biceps due to perhaps lifting too heavy or other reasons. My late mate Podge Gunner of Romsey suffered exactly the same, i was in his gym, when Podge who was barbell curling let out a scream and i was horrified to see his biceps had sort of come addrift, broken like an elastic band. After some weeks, he returned to training, but the arm never went back to normal. so this guy has been curling, rowing, chinning or doing some exercise that tore his biceps out of their origins. David Gentle

[sticksb]

Included in the culprits should be very heavy dumbbell flying . In modern day pharma-bodybuilding
the muscle tissue outdistances the connective tissue's ability to adapt to the rapid strength and
weight increases and occasionally bingo .

[Mobster]

There's a bunch of reasons
1) Lack of warming up.
2) Over use of a small muscle. It's a BIG (in terms of focus) muscle for bodybuilders but tiny compared to pretty much all the others we work
3) Yes drugs grow muscle a darn site quicker than connective tissue. Try telling the daft sods who let the ego take over their sense

In strongman-ism a bunch of bicep tears from log pressing (essentially a heavy curl to get it to the chest) and atlas stones (static arm extension with 160+ kilos).

[Talbot]

Mobster is correct. It is lack of warm up. A biceps tendon tear is most common, generally speaking in the late autumn, in the gym or not. The three guys I know that this happened to, were in their shops, two auto mechanics and one woodworker, early in the morning, in late autumn. The weather had gotten chilly, and the heat in their shops hadn't got up yet, but they, wearing t-shirts, started working.

Your muscles need to be warmed up, in cooler weather, that means raising their temperature. As the weather gets cooler, wear "sweats" too. Tendons have a very low blood supply. That's why they take so long to heal from injury, and need more warm up time than muscles.

Another thing about biceps tendon tears, is that they don't hurt too much. Guys think they just strained a muscle, and that it will heal on its own. Not true! Unless you get straight to a doctor to reattach the tendon, it will atrophy in short order, as in shrink in length, so that it can no longer be reattached,

[peter yates]

Hi Talbot,
nice to see you posting again and i trust all is well with you. Yes it is amazing how many people forget the importance of a warm up and the dangers of not doing one. These days my warm ups are longer than my workout. Still better that than injuries i can ill afford. I have always trained in sweats even in warm weather.If really hot i would still have knee and elbow sleeves. Also put special liniment on all the joints and low back prior to training. Many injuries can be prevented with foresight and common sense, but as i have said before most young bucks are not prepared to listen to old guys, even if we know of what we speak.
Regards,Peter.