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Kettlebell Bicep pain 1 arm swing

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Colby

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lately I’ve been getting bicep pain after one arm swings in the lower part of the bicep. Form from what I can tell is sound. Shoulders are packed, antishrug and last are enguaged and arm is straight throughout the form. Any one experience similar issues?
 
I've tweaked my bicep a few times with Kettlebells. For me it only really happens when I get a bit careless & it's normally only if I loose focus on the last rep and drop the bell and it jerks my arm. It's only ever happened to me when I've been doing C&P's, so your issue may be a bit different.

When it happens to me I take a few days off (until the pain is gone) and then start again with a lighter bell to test the waters and make sure it's healed. If the first session back goes well with no pain afterwards I quickly start adding weight in the next few sessions until I'm back where I was before I tweaked it.

If it's something minor a week to ten days off is normally enough for me to recover. If it's still sore after that I'd be looking to get an opinion from a doctor, preferably someone with experience in sports medicine.
 
I had similar issues when I was doing S&S with a 32kg bell. I have an old RSI on my left bicep back from my paternity leave when I used to carry a toddler everywhere on the bend of my left arm, and one armed swings seemed to aggravate / resurface the old symptoms. To me, your issue doesn't sound like you've jerked the arm but that there is an overuse / recovery issue. The swing is surprisingly heavy movement for biceps due to stabilizing demand. You could try doing the swings with lighter weight and perhaps focus even more on crispness of the movement. My issue with the left bicep pain was mostly fixed by concentrating on making the hip drive as explosive as possible and paying extra attention to following the bell back in order to eliminate unnecessary isometric bicep work.
 
@Colby something else to consider is thumb position. Generally speaking, the more the thumb is pointed up, the more bicep involvement you are going to get, especially on the down swing. As a guy who also injured his bicep doing swings, I make sure that my thumb is at least parallel, if not slightly downward throughout the movement. After I made that change, and focused on form throughout, I have had no other issues.
 
@Colby something else to consider is thumb position. Generally speaking, the more the thumb is pointed up, the more bicep involvement you are going to get, especially on the down swing. As a guy who also injured his bicep doing swings, I make sure that my thumb is at least parallel, if not slightly downward throughout the movement. After I made that change, and focused on form throughout, I have had no other issues.


Very interesting . Are you referring to the "hook grip"?
 
Either version of the grip, principle is the same. There was a forum thread on this topic previously, and that is where I got the tip. If I get time later I will see if I can find it.
 
Either version of the grip, principle is the same. There was a forum thread on this topic previously, and that is where I got the tip. If I get time later I will see if I can find it.


Much appreciated thank you!
 
Very interesting . Are you referring to the "hook grip"?
I think Bunn is referring to the vertical grip where your thumb is pointed to the front on the bottom of the swing, and its pointed up on the top of the swing. It's not a typical grip used for swinging a single kettlebell. It's downside is that you limit the range of motion of the bell on the backswing, and theoretically you could injure you elbow by hyperextending it.

Assuming you're not doing that, I really can't fathom how you could tweak your bicep on a swing. It seems so intuitive to me that you would always keep your arm straight during a 1-arm swing. You may have to work with an instructor to make sure your form is good or try posting a video.

Good Luck!
 
Perhaps you are doing too much weight too soon? But yes i agree with Papa and Bunn, I attended an SFG where the instructors were very clear that we should not swing with pistol grip. Either palms facing the ground or slightly at an upper angle. As a bjj practicioner it makes a lot of sense because the way to execute a good arm bar is to point your opponents thumb to the sky and extend their arm, thus wrecking their elbow joint. Lol probably TMI.
 
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