Hyperextension and preacher curl form

[Agent-X]

I've been reading online that I'm hyperextending my biceps or elbows (not sure) while doing the seated preacher curl. Generally, I'll sit down, place my elbows on the slanted pad, let the back of my arms (triceps) touch the pad, let the back of my forearms touch the pad, grip the weight, and curl. Afterward, I'll bring the weight back down until the back of my forearms touch the pad again, and then curl: I repeated until I'm done curling and then set the weight down.

Supposedly, from what I've read, I'm hyperextending because I'm letting the forearms touch the pad. Is that right? Could someone here go into the muscle mechanics of this and why it's bad?

I don't get too much pain from it. I've noticed once in a while that I'll feel pain in my left elbow, but I thought it was doing tricep exercises that caused it.

[Roidmonster55]

Preacher curls put you at serious risk of snapping tendons. And I mean that literally- I work with a guy who snapped his bicep tendon doing preachers, and his bicep was up at his front deltoid. He looked like he had a giant tumor growing out the front of his shoulder.

I'm not automatically writing off preachers as a "bad" exercise, but there are always risks to bear in mind if you are going to go at it with sh_tty form. You can hurt yourself jumping rope, as you can hurt yourself doing any exercise if you do it stupidly enough.

[DTRJ]

Hyperextension implies your elbow is bending farther than a 180 degree angle.

[Agent-X]

Hyperextension implies your elbow is bending farther than a 180 degree angle.

There is that aspect, too. That's why I'm interested in seeing someone describe the mechanics of this alleged issue with hyper-extending the arm while doing preacher curls. Sure, I think there may be more strain on the tendons from going closer to 180-degrees. Perhaps since the upper part of my arm with triceps is bigger, then the forearms are hyperextending below where my triceps would be 180-degrees to the pad.

preacher-curl.png

Perhaps the image is not right. The idea, I guess, would be then that the forearm is hyperextending past the back of the upper part of the arm (tricep) where the back part of the upper arm would be 180-degrees to the pad? I could potentially see that as hyperextension.

[DTRJ]

There is that aspect, too. That's why I'm interested in seeing someone describe the mechanics of this alleged issue with hyper-extending the arm while doing preacher curls. Sure, I think there may be more strain on the tendons from going closer to 180-degrees. Perhaps since the upper part of my arm with triceps is bigger, then the forearms are hyperextending below where my triceps would be 180-degrees to the pad.

Attachment 7229041

Perhaps the image is not right. The idea, I guess, would be then that the forearm is hyperextending past the back of the upper part of the arm (tricep) where the back part of the upper arm would be 180-degrees to the pad? I could potentially see that as hyperextension.

Do yourself a favor.

Hold your arm out in front of you, turn your palm up, lock your elbow.

Is it bending past 180 degrees?

If not, you're not going to hyperextend without injury - your body mechanics simply won't allow it.


That being said, the more weight you use, the higher chance of a potential biceps tendon snap when it's in its weakest position close to that 180 degree angle. ..which is why, to me (and a lot of other experienced guys out there), preachers are best saved for some burnouts at the end. Completely immobilizing the shoulder for a biceps movement is good for the isolation at the distal insertion point, but since the origin is (for the sake of argument) at the shoulder capsule, a little bit of shoulder movement can aid in biceps growth just as it can for triceps growth - hence why you see that bit of movement originating at the shoulder in a standing straight bar curl or something equivalent.

Make sense?

[Agent-X]

Do yourself a favor.

Hold your arm out in front of you, turn your palm up, lock your elbow.

Is it bending past 180 degrees?

If not, you're not going to hyperextend without injury - your body mechanics simply won't allow it.


That being said, the more weight you use, the higher chance of a potential biceps tendon snap when it's in its weakest position close to that 180 degree angle. ..which is why, to me (and a lot of other experienced guys out there), preachers are best saved for some burnouts at the end. Completely immobilizing the shoulder for a biceps movement is good for the isolation at the distal insertion point, but since the origin is (for the sake of argument) at the shoulder capsule, a little bit of shoulder movement can aid in biceps growth just as it can for triceps growth - hence why you see that bit of movement originating at the shoulder in a standing straight bar curl or something equivalent.

Make sense?

I'm not too sure if I'm grasping your arguments. Also, no, it does not appear that my arm goes past 180-degrees. However, there may be a difference in height if they're resting on a 180-degree pad due to skin, fat, and muscle tissue height differences.

If not, you're not going to hyperextend without injury - your body mechanics simply won't allow it.

So, you're saying hyper-extension doesn't occur on the preacher curl unless an injury is occurring or has already occurred with the tendons that prevent the arm from hyper-extending?

I think the preacher curl pad is fairly 180-degree with the difference of height between the upper and lower parts of the arm generating the potential for hyperextension only because of the height difference. However, I see no reason for hyper-extension to occur if but for the difference in height between the upper and lower part of the arm on the 180-degree pad. As such, why would anyone allege that hyper-extension can occur during preacher curls?

[DTRJ]

I'm not too sure if I'm grasping your arguments. Also, no, it does not appear that my arm goes past 180-degrees. However, there may be a difference in height if they're resting on a 180-degree pad due to skin, fat, and muscle tissue height differences.

If not, you're not going to hyperextend without injury - your body mechanics simply won't allow it.

So, you're saying hyper-extension doesn't occur on the preacher curl unless an injury is occurring or has already occurred with the tendons that prevent the arm from hyper-extending?

I think the preacher curl pad is fairly 180-degree with the difference of height between the upper and lower parts of the arm generating the potential for hyperextension only because of the height difference. However, I see no reason for hyper-extension to occur if but for the difference in height between the upper and lower part of the arm on the 180-degree pad. As such, why would anyone allege that hyper-extension can occur during preacher curls?

Because they don't understand what a hyperextension actually is. Whoever told you that was probably alluding to the tendon snapping or being strained just by nature of the weight being too heavy at the weakest part of a movement, if that makes sense.

The easiest way to explain this is if you hyperextended your biceps tendon you'd immediately 1) feel pain and 2) lose strength

[Agent-X]

Because they don't understand what a hyperextension actually is. Whoever told you that was probably alluding to the tendon snapping or being strained just by nature of the weight being too heavy at the weakest part of a movement, if that makes sense.

The easiest way to explain this is if you hyperextended your biceps tendon you'd immediately 1) feel pain and 2) lose strength

Alright, then. It appears the argument is that getting close to parallel with the preacher curl pad increases the probability of generating a hyper-extension injury due to the strain on the tendons as the muscles go parallel to the preacher curl pad rather than hyper-extension occurs at all times when being parallel to the pad.

repped

[DTRJ]

Alright, then. It appears the argument is that getting close to parallel with the preacher curl pad increases the probability of generating a hyper-extension injury due to the strain on the tendons as the muscles go parallel to the preacher curl pad rather than hyper-extension occurs at all times when being parallel to the pad.

repped

You got it brother