Bicep pain after deadlift

[Che'lu]

Deadlifted 345lbs x 5 last night. I use double over hand grip on my warm up sets. Then supine my right hand for the work set. I noticed in the book that since I'm right handed it might be better to supine my non dexterous hand. So I did last night and after my work set, I noticed a strong soreness/pain in my left bicep (side that was supinated) and went away after less than an hour. I've heard about bicep tears, now I realize I'm not lifting massive weight, but it's still got me worried. Should I start using chalk? and maybe not supinate? Or maybe start using straps? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[jillingworth]

This isn't necessary unusual, especially if you've never used that orientation of the grip before. You may have even been "curling" that arm a little bit. I wouldn't worry too much about it, especially if the pain goes away that quickly. Definitly use chalk - it helps everything (I've even found it helps my press and bench by making my grip more secure). In fact, chalk gets me sometimes as much as 50 extra pounds on my deadlift. Don't use straps for deadlifts, it's sort of like fixing a leaking pipe with duct tape in that it fixes the problem in the here and now, but does nothing good in the long run.

[Che'lu]

Thanks jillingworth. I'll definitely order some chalk. I see your point about a temporary fix. You know of some good grip strength exercises?

[jillingworth]

Deadlifting and the recently added pullup/chinup regimine has been more than sufficient for me. If I were going to add more grip strength work, I'd probably do plate holds/pinches. I think a person could get really good results with fatter bars (or by adding thickness) to the bar in the deadlift, but I'm not sure that's too necessary for people pulling under 500.

[Les Hahn]

I had the same sort of issue originally. I would warm up double overhand and then do my main set(s) with mixed grip. The supinated hand would get a bicep strain sometimes. Now I warm up and do everything with a mixed grip. By the time I get to my heavier sets, the bicep is fully warmed up. I haven't had any issues since I started doing that.

Do get some chalk too, it will help down the road a lot.

[Che'lu]

Thanks for the advice!

[Yorky Porky]

when it comes to the pain in your bicep, it does sound as though you just stressed a muscle that isn't used to us, and as Jillingworth said, you could even have been 'curling' it without knowing, a bit more practice should sort it out. As for using chalk, yes get some, you can get a chalk ball if your gym doesn't like you using chalk, or I've even heard that liquid chalk is very good (I just use my climbing chalk)

I have to say I'm not at the 500lb level yet (only pulling 400), but I have to say using a pair of Fat Gripz has really helped my deadlift, and every other lift, as they really help to build up the grip so you can recruit more muscles when pressing and benching. If you can't get a fat bar, then these are very useful (in my experience)

[Che'lu]

Yorky do you use the fat gripz on every lift? Pulling and pressing?