Biceps Tendinopathy and the bench press

The following article has alot of information on Biceps Tendinopathy, which include suggestions for the bench press:

Training with Biceps Tendinopathy • Stronger by Science

I’m not sure I’m understanding his suggestions under the “Mechanics and Variant Selection” section of the Bench Press. He mentions you can adjust things like grip width, elbow tuck, arch, etc. But outside of just pain being the indicator, what is it that you are trying to accomplish? Limit the ROM? That sounds like wider grip and bigger arch. But then he mentions specifically that excessively arching isn’t helping. I also know that generally people recommend narrowing your grip with shoulder issues. What am I missing. Opinions on what you get out of it and/or your personal experience with this?

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Hi there,

Unfortunately I don’t have time to read that entire article to give you an informed opinion here. However, I did glance at their “summary” points, which appear to answer your questions:

  1. It is best to simply reduce stress along the involved tendon by manipulating training variables, allow the tendon reactivity to subside, and attempt to build specific tendon capacity through direct training when tolerance allows.
  1. During the bench, the primary point of interest is the bottom of the press. This position represents the most significant bottleneck of the lift due to the simultaneous compression and tensile strain experienced by the biceps tendon. Either avoid this posture entirely by employing bench variants that block bar descent (pin press, floor press, or board press) or use accommodating resistance to reduce loading in vulnerable positions.

This is very consistent with the general recommendations that I give for pain/injury management in our two podcasts on the topic.

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I apologize for posting a big blog and assuming you would read it. I know that you guys do a ton of reading and its a popular site, so I figured it might have been something you have already read.

I’ll cut to the very specific question:

When someone has Biceps tendinopathy during the bench press, which of the following should help in each case:

  1. Increasing or decreasing the back arch (effectively moving the shoulders)
  2. Wider or narrower grip

I know you can just try it all for a few weeks to see what helps, but I believe that based on anatomy, one of the choices in each factor should make more sense to relieve compression of the tendon.

Thank you!

If symptoms are most prominent in the bottom of the press (as described in the article, which is common), then a wider grip would reduce the ROM and potentially avoid that point of maximal tension/compression. I think part of your confusion might be related to the fact that you’re thinking about the “shoulders” (e.g., perhaps a proximal tendinopathy), whereas they’re talking more about an insertional tendinopathy at the elbow.

Personally, I probably wouldn’t adjust arch OR grip width, but would rather just cut the ROM with something like a pin bench, though there’s room for individual adjustments here, as well as theoretical pro/con arguments for each approach.

Glad I found this. I’ve been dealing with chronic tendon issues for over a month and was on the verge of just not training for some arbitrary period of time. Crept up on my squat after I restarted my LP upon finding BBMedicine and has since heavily slowed my squatting and completely stalled my bench progression. Adjusting grip width and frequency on the Squat has helped me slightly but this appears to be an interesting solution for the bench. Hopefully nobody murders me while I try using one of the two squat racks at my commercial gym for pin benching haha.