No, I don’t lift weights, but my biceps have been a lil sore recently. Just looked up biceps tedonitis on the net and it advocates complete rest for a while? Can feel soreness in my biceps right now.
Is this going to impact on my swimming? My main race is 3 weeks away!!!
If you are refering to the area at the top of the bicep (almost the shoulder) could be a bicep tendon out of place. A chiropractor or physical therapist trained in manual therapy can get it back in. If in the center of the bicep muscle, could be a result of an increase in intensity in either swimming or even running (if doing sprint work). The biceps help drive the arm forward – the shoulder, and stop the backward action of arm drive.
Of course, in swimming, it is involved throughout the motion.
I have had a sore shoulder whilst running at times?, it is kindof sore from the top to the bottom inside near the elbow, off to see a physio on friday
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My biceps get pumped a little when I swim due to my pull. They do not get sore afterwards but it tells me that I have been working them. It could be from just training hard.
I was using paddles quite a bit 2-3 weeks ago, and this is probably around the time I first noticed it. Seemed to be quite a bit of stress on my forearms etc too…hmmm
that is quite possible. you are workings your arms and upper body whem swimming. If it is not painful, then your just sore. If your just sore, then its like going into the gym and doing 50 reps of curls. Your biceps are used in the pull a little bit along with your forearm. Especially with paddles, you should drink some protein and move on 
Is it bicipital tendonitis or your biceps muscles are sore? Difference. Tendonitis: lower volume swimming, no paddles, fix any stroke errors, and do some rotator cuff strengthening. Ice post workout.
Muscle soreness: suck it up, you can still swim.
Hope either way it clears up soon.
There is a thread on weightlifting and here is where you will have to decide a side to take.
Camp1: Building your biceps are worthless using weights because you don’t use that motion when you swim
Camp2: Building your biceps will help
My advice is to ask someone who knows what they are doing before you start doing bicep work. Ask a certified trainer or someone who knows what they are doing what to do in order to reach your goals.
If its pain, check your stroke when you use paddles, it could be magnifying a poor movement. If its soreness, suck it up, swim, and lift a bit so you can strengthen the muscle.
i don’t usually get sore biceps from swimming…it feels all tense, and irritated, when i bend my left arm it feels funny, and weak, also uncomfortable on outside of bicep at front just under where it joins to shoulder, def not ‘just soreness’
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ok, tendonitis. Ice.
the thing is… in swimming triceps are far more important… if you’re going to do work on anything, do tricep dips
Sounds more and more to me as if your bicep tendon is out of its grove. Needs to be put back in, need to see chiro or PT or DO.
Also, I do not disagree with Tigerchik, but I think some things need to be cleared up.
Ice, rest, and so on, is good advice. However, this allows the painful symptoms to improve, but does little to address the true, underlying problem. Also, the tricep shortening is a very important movement with swimming. Howeever, for the triceps to demonstrate their strength properly, the biceps must lengthen properly, otherwise they become a brake to the triceps.
Think of a very potentially strong tricep as a ferrari engine and the biceps as the emergency brake. If the brake is on, the engine will not be ablew the true power it really has.
I will guarantee your bis are a brake because they are hurting or weak feeling. Since they do not feel like they have all the strength at their disposal, they are “on” all the time, limiting the ability of other muscles.
I hope this makes sense.
Also, on the subject of strength training. Do not assume that all strength training is weight training, or that all weight training is appropriate strength training. I agree with an earlier comment that swimming does not use the bicep like it does in a curl with a barbell or dumbell. This is true. NO SPORT USES STRENGTH LIKE MOST PEOPLE LIFT WEIGHTS!
Strength train with lighter weights and high speeds in both directions. That means flex the biceps if doing a bicep curl with a dumbell, then extend with the triceps. Make sure and stop elbow extension with the bicep and elbow flexion with the tricep. Do not allow elbow to hyper extend.