Push Press question

I get a bit of pain/tightness/discomfort deep in my right bicep at the bottom of the push press. It is not enough to prevent me from doing it, but it's enough to give me pause and wonder wtf?

Keeping the elbows as forward as possible helps it to a certain extent. I do not have a great deal of flexibility in my upper body either.

Of course ideally it is best to use bumper plates so that you can eliminate the eccentric portion of the lift, but far too many gyms do not have them nor allow weights to be dropped.

You can also use an elbow sleeve/wrap and simply wrap the bicep. I have to from time to time depending on how much weight I am using for the Bench Press or any type of Overhead Press. Works like a charm every time.

My favorite wraps for that purpose are the multi purpose wraps from www.howmuchyabench.net

Many of my athletes use them as well for the same purpose.

Tim,

Thanks all.

Soul Eater wrote: Flexibility needs to be good elbows forward and up. If you have big biceps then you will have a hard time racking the weight regardless of flexibility.

I have had this as well. It was bicep tendinitis. Your bicep doesn't hurt from the pressure but from the extreme angle and stretch it goes through under a load. You are pronated and flexed and loaded. If you are also inflamed...you have pain. There are quite a few causes and a few fixes. Rest is always everyone's answer but if you're like me you don't want to here that. So, get a lacrosse ball and SMR your bicep tendon both below the elbow joint and at the shoulder joint. Additionally if you have the time and motivation you can find a lot of great mobility and soft tissue fixes on Kelly Starrets site. Look up MobilityWOD and you should find it. It's got great stuff for us "aging" lifters.

I feel older than I am....