Gym goers, need some advice - arm pump

[dobbyhasfriends]

to all you lot that hit the gym..
I have been doing 4-5 days a week for about 4-5 months now and love it, fitter, stronger etc..

one downside is that most lifting involves gripping and this involves forearms and that is causing me savage arm pump when I go riding, especially on steep tech.

is there any way around this?

 

[Canyon Shawn]

Using hand gyros 4 times a day for 5 minutes, in each hand will also help alleviate arm pump. It’s also very good for getting rid of any chronic soreness in your arms. Like, tennis elbow or shoulder tendinitis.

 

[Downhillr]

to all you lot that hit the gym..
I have been doing 4-5 days a week for about 4-5 months now and love it, fitter, stronger etc..

one downside is that most lifting involves gripping and this involves forearms and that is causing me savage arm pump when I go riding, especially on steep tech.

is there any way around this?

Possibly related to your weight routine… take break days between lifting sessions, might have an arm day alternate with legwork, also foam grip ball like a PT uses in rehab work help with strengthening finger grip. On the bike most arm pump is from over tight, stiff-arm gripping and braking so using a carbon bar, especially like the OneUp Components carbon e-bar along with ODI “Reflex” or similar style grips smooths out the chatter that tends to make you over grip.

 

[Stoffel]

Take up Rock climbing then you’ll experience what real arm pump is!

After around 15 years of climbing I have never had arm pump on a bike, my legs on the other hand go to jelly way sooner than I’d like!

 

[Ribinrobin]

to all you lot that hit the gym..
I have been doing 4-5 days a week for about 4-5 months now and love it, fitter, stronger etc..

one downside is that most lifting involves gripping and this involves forearms and that is causing me savage arm pump when I go riding, especially on steep tech.

is there any way around this?

take some down time, Recovery is important. 4/5 days is alot if your riding also

 

[Zed]

It’s a myth that heavy weight training causes arm pump. It neither causes it nor makes it better.

I disagree, I think it can make it better. I think being stronger and having well-conditioned muscles would help with arm pump. As in, the arm is going to take longer to fatigue given the same work. Just makes sense.

I agree technique/over tensioning is probably the cause more often though, but that aside...

 

[Canyon Shawn]

Take up Rock climbing then you’ll experience what real arm pump is!

After around 15 years of climbing I have never had arm pump on a bike, my legs on the other hand go to jelly way sooner than I’d like!

Race pro open class motocross and you’ll find out what arm pump is. And, you’ll search for a solution until you find one. At least in rock climbing, you can stop and shake it off and then continue. In a motocross race, if you stop you’ll end up losing sponsors and finishing dead last. And, at times the arm pump gets so bad you just want to let go of the handlebars.

 

[Binhill1]

Digging a road for eight hours is hard graft too .

 

[Plummet]

By far the best fix for arm pump is more arm pump!

Go to the bike park shuttle all day until you can no longer hold the handle bars...then shuttle some more. Go back again and again.

You will notice you get less and less arm pump until eventually you look like popeye.

The awesome byproduct of this training method. You will get say better at riding down!

Stuff the gym. Ride ya bike like ya stile it.

 

[Canyon Shawn]

Warming up properly is important. When racing if I warm up for a few minutes with some pretty easy riding. Rest for a few minutes before a race, I’d have less arm pump.

 

[dobbyhasfriends]

Race pro open class motocross and you’ll find out what arm pump is. And, you’ll search for a solution until you find one. At least in rock climbing, you can stop and shake it off and then continue. In a motocross race, if you stop you’ll end up losing sponsors and finishing dead last. And, at times the arm pump gets so bad you just want to let go of the handlebars.

I rode enduro, I know what you mean.. I never made it past clubman level and it was fookin hard work, especially hare and hounds.

 

[Suns_PSD]

One thing I learned when I rode MX a lot, is that arm pump is mostly a result of a shitty fork set up and/ or rigid handlebars.

 

[Stoffel]

Race pro open class motocross and you’ll find out what arm pump is. And, you’ll search for a solution until you find one. At least in rock climbing, you can stop and shake it off and then continue. In a motocross race, if you stop you’ll end up losing sponsors and finishing dead last. And, at times the arm pump gets so bad you just want to let go of the handlebars.

Yes if you’re climbing indoors or on a top rope outside you can stop and give in when it gets too bad and shake it out.
You can’t really do that when leading outside when you’re too far from your last piece of gear and facing serious injury or even death if you let go of the rock!

 

[Zed]

Pretty much everything in this thread mentioned in here: