Working Out with Biceps Tendonitis (DON’T SKIP BICEPS!)

Biceps tendonitis is one of the most common gym injuries that can keep you from working out. The ironic part about this injury is however that it is likely not your biceps workouts and exercises that are causing the problem in the first place. In this video, I show you the real cause of biceps tendonitis and give you hope to be able to continue your biceps workouts despite dealing with this issue.

The anatomy of the biceps is an important place to start when discussing the issue of biceps tendonitis. There are two heads to the biceps; one is the short head which attaches to the coracoid process in the shoulder and the other is the long head which attaches to the top of the glenoid or socket of the shoulder.

When there isn’t adequate strength in the rotator cuff muscles, the head of the humerus migrates upward in the socket any time you perform any overhead lifting exercise. Don’t get confused with the term overhead either. It is possible to be descending through a rep as in the bottom of a pullup and have your upper arm travel up over your head. The important idea is that once the arm travels past shoulder height you are potentially going to have a problem if you have an unbalanced rotator cuff.

When this happens without adequate strength in the cuff you will have your humeral head migrate too far upwards. This can cause pinching and impingement of the structures that sit just above the humeral head and just below the acromion or roof of the shoulder joint. The tendon of the long head of the biceps gets jammed against the roof of the joint and winds up getting pinched.

When you repeat this process over and over (as you would with any series of sets and repetitions in exercises that place the arm overhead) you will get an eventual breakdown and fraying of the tendon. The first stage of this is usually seen in an inflamed biceps tendon which results in biceps tendonitis. The irony again is that traditional biceps curls are likely not to aggravate the condition. In fact, by stimulating blood flow to the muscle, you may actually help the situation to speed healing by including curls rather than avoiding them when this hits.

What you will want to modify however is the amount of overhead pressing, bench pressing or even the position of your arms during squatting. All of these exercises are much more likely to bother a bad shoulder once it is already inflamed or they are causing the pain in the first place. Make adaptations to your training to continue to workout without having to skip arm day all together.

[AJLChannel]

Something I love about these videos is that Jeff will never say no, you are stuck with this. There is always a way to fix and work through something. Thank you, Jeff.

[MrDyssonance]

I had severe biceps tendonitis on and off for the past 3 years and had to avoid push exercises. The way I fixed it: loosen the fascia surrounding your pecs and lats (as well as the rest of your body including your thoracic spine) using a foam roller and lacrosse ball. Do this daily. Also incorporate static stretching at the end. This works thumbs up!!

[alilenovo]

I've been made fun off for training my rotator cuff because other stupid people at the gym thought that the workouts were weird but i never stopped and i'll never do thank you Jeff you're the best <3

[jmcsquared]

Sometimes I love watching Jeff's videos simply because I feel like I am in a college anatomy class. This is one of the most educational channels on YouTube.

[varuncariappa]

Man you are phenomenal, no one has given such a positive approach to the problem, I have been suffering tendonitis and bursitis from 2 years the pain keep s coming back, so yes there is no point completely stop working out, ur shoulder will just get more weaker and more pain in the end, thank you

[AkisLoup]

You should definitely address the DISTAL bicep tendonitis problem. It is an issue that concerns a lot of people and really hard to overcome.

[danqodusk]

Thank you, Jeff. I didn't discover you and your great channel and work until Feb, '23, when I resumed training after 20 years. Out of nowhere I began having pain in my bicep tendon as you explained. I believe it began with doing bench presses with my arms at 90 degrees to my body. I since corrected my bench press form per your recommendation in other videos. Knowing I can resume bicep work is great news. Keep up your stellar work. You're one of a kind in every positive respect.

[guitarwhiz]

Im suffering from Bicep tendonitis and this video was more helpful than any other Ive come across so far. Thank you!!!

[CatarinaFitensityWorkouts]

I was able to train my biceps after 1 year suffering from elbow tendinitis thanks to your videos. Thanks!

[sskssis]

Right when I was going to give up I found this video I cannot thank enough . Subscriber from now on.

[Dtorres]

I had been training for a year and a half. I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder which put me out of work and training for about 2 months. The doctor told me it was an inflamed nerve, but they rarely tell you what is actually happening. By watching this video Jeff has shown me why I have to pain I do. My biceps have lost strength and everytime I lift something above my head a tightness in my arms and shoulders occurs, so thank you Jeff for not only being knowledgeable, but also being able to assist in worldly affairs. Now I can go train for my strength back because I know what I should and shouldn't do

[bonecrusher]

To anybody out there who's not suffering from any sort of shoulder issue yet, start doing rotator cuff exercises. Do them religiously. This is coming from a guy who's only 19 y/o and is about to have a biceps tendonesis and debridement of the labrum. Shoulder injuries fucking suck, man.

[leetyler]

I have it in both shoulders! But I’ve worked thru it and now making gains. I found that the scapula was the main culprit. Stretching and muscle mash worked for me. If I’m not careful it will return but I couldn’t even make my bed by fluffing sheets without extreme pain! Thank god for YouTube channels like this one.

[NorkusMartynas]

Don't skip biceps? How's it possible to skip bicep day?

[easypeasy]

I was diagnosed with biceps tendonitis as well and I always felt as if my shoulder is actually the culprit. And now I finally understood the problem behind it. No matter what I do I tend to shrug on myright side during workouts and also in daily life. I definitely need to work on this now very hard. I started doing rotator cuff workouts recently so I am on the right track, I suppose. I am so glad that channels like yours provide so much helpful information.

[gator]

First time in 40 years working out had biceps tendonitis! Followed Jeff's advice and 3 days later feeling better, two weeks later back to normal!

[sgtcs]

Having tendinitis is the worst thing to happen to me I used to love back and biceps, in fact it was one of my strongest and easiest to train for me. Now It hurts to pick up my phone to my ear for more than 5 minutes I have to be extremely careful when lifting in the gym or anything for that matter and I’ve lost motivation to go at all, even after 2 months of rest there’s still some pain. I’m going to try wearing a brace and start a new routine but man this condition has put a major roadblock in my life.

[brentschott]

I have been training around my long head bicep tendonitis for six Months.  I have a excellent trainer and I can say never give up lifting from a injury.  I have of course lost strength in my overhead press but, I would rather lose strength in one area than to give up completely.  In three Months from now I will be back to benching 315 for reps! I am so excited I worked through this.  Being addicted to weight training this was the hardest injury I have ever worked through and I am mentally better for it.  Thank you Athlean-X for giving us all your amazing content!

[btugrul]

This video perfectly explains why freestyle swimming can potentially lead to biceps tendonitis, which is my current case! Thanks a lot!

[fiftyfiftychance]

I broke my humerus 40 years ago--the head broke off of the rest of the bone--and shoulder pain in that joint has since be the limiting factor in my upper body training. Your video solved my pain riddle! Thank you! As soon as I started AX-1 I noticed a huge deficiency in the rotator cuff strength on the injury side and started adding extra RC work (from another one of your videos). Now I see why I've been able to push hard in AX-1 with less shoulder pain --the RC work. Brilliant.