I only have six lifts each week. Three squats followed by either the Press or the Bench Press in alternation. Simple stuff, really. This week I failed three out of my six lifts.
For the past several weeks, probably even as soon as I started lifting again, I have been feeling pain in the belly of my left bicep that feels like the muscle isn’t relaxing. The pain starts during squats, which I can alleviate a bit by letting my arms move out along the bar.
This image posted on the Starting Strength weekly (
https://startingstrength.com/report/20160328/sh.jpg ) illustrates the problem. My hands go out even wider than this. The wider the grip on the bar, the less pain I feel and the later it begins. By the time I’m done with the squats the pain has crawled up my arm into the shoulder.
I’m not sure this pain is a result of lifting again. It’s very similar to the pains that made me go to the ER in February fearing a heart attack. (It wasn’t.)
So when I move on to either form of the press, the first rep of each set is slow and hesitant because my left arm feels like it’s going to give. On Tuesday it gave during the bench, and today it gave on the press. I also failed my first set of squats. The theme of the week has been “thank God for safety bars”.
I don’t know what to do. My doctor thinks I may be able to find a masseuse that can work the shoulder and arm and maybe find some relief, but it may take another bout of physical therapy to actually fix this.
Usually my back or my legs give out, but so far they’ve been fine. The only thing I’ve noticed is my treadmill walking speed has gone down from 3 mph to 2.5 mph. I can push 2.8 for a bit without too much discomfort, but on the day-to-day they’re fine. I’ve pushed them harder than ever and not needed a single trip to the chiropractor. Weekly yoga probably helps out here.