Back Lever Biceps Tendon

[Jeff Walker]

I recently switched to doing Back levers with Palms down as they appear to be harder and the propet form.

Prior to this i had been doing them palm up and had worked up to halflay, straddle, ad 1 leg.

Today i tried a straddle with palms down and i felt a tremendous strain in what felt to be the bicep elbow area. I stopped that move but I continued doing them with palms down but in lesser progressions ie tuck and adv tuck variations. The tendon strain was there but not unbearable. I finished my workout and didnt notice any other issues. My elbow bicep feels fine, but i do have some slight discomfort when i completely straighten my elbow and try to mimic the position it was in during the BL.

I am still new to the joint factors that come with this style of training so i wanted to get your feedback if this type of strain or feeling is common and or what i should do moving fwd. obvoilsy i need to stay with the lower progressions bit Im curous if its possible to agrivate, stretch a tendon or ligament without actually doing any damage to it.

I didnt have any pain today, only when i try to mimic the move do i feel some slight discomfort but its very mild. In fact i just jimpe on the rings an did a tuck BL with palms down and i felt a slight strain there but nothing to stop me feom doing it and afterwards i felt some discomfort bit nothing major.

I just want to get your take on what i experienced.L becuase u guys are much more familiar and experienced with this stuff.

Thanks

[Jeff Walker]

Also forgot to add should i lay off the palms down or just do getmang hangs and tucks or should i go back to the palms up version.

Or lay off altogethet for a while and if so how long? I might feel complety fine in a day or two who knows like i said i just never felf something like that prior to this it was a deinate stress on specific tendon. So i just thought id ask u guys

[Alessandro Mainente]

You are proceeding to far in respect to your current level of joints preparation. strain, tendonitis, tears is something that i not recognized if you follow Coach's advice. Poor joints conditioning due to fast progression and overestimation of actual level of strength let to that situation. for that reason straight arms movements with high impact on biceps section are not included in Foundation Series, also if foundation has the goal to build up strong physique and iron joints for more advanced elements.

 

Don't work on the problem but stop immediately and revisit your workout. Probably you're skipping to much steps.

[Blairbob]

 Sorry, but you're not ready man.

 

 Master the german hang, TBH this shouldn't be hard. Then get good at skin the cats till skin the cats are easy.

 

 Master a Ring Turned Out Support. Wouldn't be a bad idea to be strong enough to strict MU before BL.

 

 This shouldn't be hard either. Not if you're young and have something of a strength base. If you don't, well it's gonna take some time.

[Karri Kytömaa]

Can you do a german hang with no strain whatsoever on the bicep? Because that is the starting point, though having strain could also indicate bad shoulder mobility (o/) which you want to fix anyways.

Build towards at least 30s GH before moving on to BL. You are straining you biceps tendon and when you strain them much enough to feel it, you are progressing too fast.

 

You can still keep on building other aspects of BL with palms down grip but it's more important to focus on the weakness.

[Jeff Walker]

In light of what happened, obviously i wasn't ready to do what i did, but i don't think i moving too fast. I gelt dtrong in te GH, tuck and adv tuck, i even gelt strong in the straddle until i was fully extended and the strain occurred.

I am doing F1 to build the basics but thats not enough work for me to maintain my physique. i still feel like I can work on some basic skills in addition to F1. But thats another topic for another day.

My question is - have you guys ever experienced something similar An if so what did you do about it? I dont think i did any damage but I've never really felt a tendon strain like that before. Just wanted to get your thoughts on feeling a tendon strain like i did.

[Vincent Stoyas]

You should post a video of your German hang, too.

Also, you should, I hope, have built up to 60 seconds straight of, tuck and adv tuck. Not to mention you should have multiple sets of RTO support for at least 30 seconds before BL work.

[Mikkel Ravn]

I got a nasty tendonitis in my brachialis once, due to progressing too fast with BL, palms down. Once you feel the pain, it may be too late to reverse the tendonitis by scaling down the work, in my experience. If you are doing F1, I'd wait until I was past at least the planche lean progression before resuming back lever.

 

When I originally developed my back lever post injury, I went through a whole progression of frog stand, advanced frog stand, stall bar support (back and front), german hang and planche leans, before beginning back lever work. From then on, I had no problems.

 

Can you do the german hang palms down for at least 3x30 seconds with zero discomfort?

[Daniel Burnham]

In light of what happened, obviously i wasn't ready to do what i did, but i don't think i moving too fast. I gelt dtrong in te GH, tuck and adv tuck, i even gelt strong in the straddle until i was fully extended and the strain occurred.

I am doing F1 to build the basics but thats not enough work for me to maintain my physique. i still feel like I can work on some basic skills in addition to F1. But thats another topic for another day.

My question is - have you guys ever experienced something similar An if so what did you do about it? I dont think i did any damage but I've never really felt a tendon strain like that before. Just wanted to get your thoughts on feeling a tendon strain like i did.

You are contradicting yourself. If you feel a strain you are not ready. You have obviously moved to fast and overreached. I agree with Alex. F1 should build the basics. If you had these things down its less likely you would experience injury. It's ok to do a little extra for maintenance. But don't kid yourself and do a whole other workout if you can't even do these basic movements. Your physique will come. If not now definitely once you are able to do the more advanced stuff. Be patient, build yourself and then exceed your own expectations in time.

[Jeff Walker]

I hear ya.

My question is more along the lines of did i do damage? I can feel the strain when i do that specific movemet but otherwise i dont have any issues.

I never felt that before and wanted to see if u guys had felt something similiar.

I dont think its tendonitis everything was fine until that move then i felt a strain on a tendon and now i feel that strain only in that fully exteded bicep position

[Alessandro Mainente]

yes of course there is a undefined level of damage in bicep area.

[ZRX38]

Just let it heal, give it some time

[Jeff Walker]

The spot where I felt is a little sore to the touch.  Unsure how bad it was I tested it today.  I can do a german hang and tuck w/o any issue.  I feel the strain when I try to do the Adv tuck.  So I guess for now I will just work on the German Hang and do some palms up versions and let it heal.  

 

I was just looking for some feedback if you guys experience something like that.  

[Alessandro Mainente]

sorry man but WHY you need to test what you can do since you know that something happened to your bicep?

stop with straight arms movements until you have the mastery of elements of foundations series.

[Jeff Walker]

just trying to guague how bad it is  

[Alessandro Mainente]

do you know that if there is a tear or a strain, you can increase the degree of that?

your was a bad choice. don't test the pain or the movement with the same movement that caused the problem. wait a reasonable time.

[Jeff Walker]

Im trying to figuere out if its a pull, strain or tear.  I would think a tear, I would have some pain and issue.  What i have is soreness in the spot when touched.  I feel a strain when my arm is complety extended.  Other than that its fine. 

[Joshua Slocum]

In light of what happened, obviously i wasn't ready to do what i did, but i don't think i moving too fast. I gelt dtrong in te GH, tuck and adv tuck, i even gelt strong in the straddle until i was fully extended and the strain occurred.

I am doing F1 to build the basics but thats not enough work for me to maintain my physique. i still feel like I can work on some basic skills in addition to F1. But thats another topic for another day.

 

Your enthusiasm for more work is commendable . If you're finishing your F1 work and still have energy left over to do more, there's nothing wrong with doing additional work. (You might consider adding another day of foundation if you have so much extra energy, though). However, it's important to remember that the purpose of Foundation is to prepare you for more advanced movements. So working those more advanced movements while you're still in the beginning of Foundation is a recipe for injury. If you post where you are in F1 and what your personal goals are, we could suggest some exercises for you. As already mentioned, German hang with palms down is a good one. 

[Daniel Burnham]

We have no idea how bad the injury is. How could we possibly assess that without being there and seeing your arm. I would not think its tendinitis since it happened acutely. It seems most likely it is a strain which is damage. You should appropriately rehab. If you are really worried about it go see a doctor.

[Joshua Naterman]

Im trying to figuere out if its a pull, strain or tear.  I would think a tear, I would have some pain and issue.  What i have is soreness in the spot when touched.  I feel a strain when my arm is complety extended.  Other than that its fine. 

Jesus. Other than hurting and hurting, it doesn't hurt...

[FREDERIC DUPONT]

(...)  I tested it today (...) 

(...) trying to guague how bad it is  

 

  that was a really bad idea!

[Colin Macdonald]

Jesus. Other than hurting and hurting, it doesn't hurt...

I know a guy who started to develop arm pain when he worked out. He didn't stop until it reached the point where it literally hurt all the time. Now he hasn't done any training for over a year. Some people remain convinced that "no pain, no gain" is still a sound approach.

[Joshua Slocum]

I know a guy who started to develop arm pain when he worked out. He didn't stop until it reached the point where it literally hurt all the time. Now he hasn't done any training for over a year. Some people remain convinced that "no pain, no gain" is still a sound approach.

The biggest problem with "no pain, no gain" is that it's almost correct. Working out hard neccessarily involves a high degree of exertion and discomfort. You have to be willing to work through that in order to make progress. However, while some pain is just your body whining that you're working it hard, other pain is your body letting you know "hey, you're actually causing injury to yourself". And you need to be able to tell the difference. 

[Joshua Naterman]

I know a guy who started to develop arm pain when he worked out. He didn't stop until it reached the point where it literally hurt all the time. Now he hasn't done any training for over a year. Some people remain convinced that "no pain, no gain" is still a sound approach.

That was me a few years ago!

[Daniel Burnham]

The biggest problem with "no pain, no gain" is that it's almost correct. Working out hard neccessarily involves a high degree of exertion and discomfort. You have to be willing to work through that in order to make progress. However, while some pain is just your body whining that you're working it hard, other pain is your body letting you know "hey, you're actually causing injury to yourself". And you need to be able to tell the difference.

This.. Working through things like rips and bruises things you will just have to do. Pain that will cause injury and keep you from gains is another story.