Working around a bum elbow...

[thewickedtruth]

I want some opinions on this and suggestions.

Now we all know my bullshit claims have been bothering my left elbow.

Should I...


A) skip all arm days til I feel zip.

B) work around it and find exercises that dont' aggrevate it as much.

C) suck it the fuck up and let time catch up with it.

D) see if wraps help..it works for old people, why can't it work for me.

I've though about and what I want to do. I don't think my back and chest days are enough to maintain my arm size and strength. Benching on the flat bench either regular ol' benching or close grip really bothers it but, benching on the smith doesn't. I'm thinking it's because I'm not having to balance it as much and can focus more on my positioning and such. IF I chose to bench on the smith for awhile at least until the pain is non existant, how much strength do you think I'll lose? I asked a few trainers to make sure the answers were consistent and they say the bar is 45lbs and is the same weight as the flat, it just obviously takes out the stabilizing effect. If I Do dumbbell exercises after, that should maintain MOST of my stabilizers right?!

Lay it on me guys. I don't want to hafta take time off at least time I'm off cycle and done with my pct.

[Bluto]

i havent read any previous posts of your elbow problem so i dont know the cause of it, and which exercises that hurt etc

to me arms isnt as important as other muscle groups so i personally would probably let go of arms exercises if i was fine with exercises for rest of the body. maybe you need direct arm work to grow, but you should at least be able to maintain what you allready got by the work you do for back and chest/shoulders. if you ignore it and do arm works and matters get worse, that will affect your performance of bigger, more important muscle groups and thats even worse.

if you can find exercises for the arms however that doesnt seem to bother it, being different angle or whatever, that might be worth trying though. not sure i would wrap it, but i would at least make sure to keep that area warm.

[Hedgehog]

I would suggest you take a week off from all excersises that bothers the elbows.

Treat it with ibuprofen gel for a couple of days, 5-6 days.

Then get back into training, but do some adjustments to your training.

You seem to be into powerlifting type of training, so I suggest you drop all direct biceps and triceps work, except 2 sets each week for biceps and 2-3 lighter sets of French Press or similar but with a moderate weight.

Then stick with the heavy benchpress work, such as regular benchpress, board work, chains and close grip.

For shoulders, do perhaps one set of presses, then do 2-3 sets of side raises, bent over raises, rotator cuff, mix it up a little. Do 3 sets for shoulders each week, and none for the front delts, those get hit plenty with benchpressing.

That should really fix your problem.

I would be very surprised if you had a problem if you followed my suggestion. It's just a matter of downsizing the trauma that your elbow is getting.

One more thing: Keep your thump on the same side as the rest of the fingers when you squat. You will find that this relieve a lot of the pressure the elbow gets when squatting.

Good luck

[thewickedtruth]

i havent read any previous posts of your elbow problem so i dont know the cause of it, and which exercises that hurt etc

to me arms isnt as important as other muscle groups so i personally would probably let go of arms exercises if i was fine with exercises for rest of the body. maybe you need direct arm work to grow, but you should at least be able to maintain what you allready got by the work you do for back and chest/shoulders. if you ignore it and do arm works and matters get worse, that will affect your performance of bigger, more important muscle groups and thats even worse.

if you can find exercises for the arms however that doesnt seem to bother it, being different angle or whatever, that might be worth trying though. not sure i would wrap it, but i would at least make sure to keep that area warm.

today I had no issues beyond working on the flat instead of the smith for my closed grips. It's been a few hours since and I have no irritation. I know skull crushers are out for good. They are the ones that irritated it for awhile. Ibuprofen makes a gel? I'm going to take both of your suggestions and look at my workout and switch it up to be better accomodating. I've always decided to stick with the weights I'm moving now and stop trying to progress so fast. I need to give my body time to catch up and adjust to the weights i'm moving now and not try and make massive weight jumps every couple of weeks and force a change. Especially now that I'm comign off.

[Hedgehog]

Ibuprofen isn't a brand, it's the active ingredient.

Just like ketoprofen is in some other gels.

Just go to a drug store and ask what kind of non-prescription anti-inflammatory gels they have. ketoprofen or ibuprofen, or diklofenak, they are all fairly equal at non-prescriptive strength IMO.

The best part is that you're not upsetting the stomach or the liver or kidneys either.

[dizzleman06]

I want some opinions on this and suggestions.

Now we all know my bullshit claims have been bothering my left elbow.

Should I...


A) skip all arm days til I feel zip.

B) work around it and find exercises that dont' aggrevate it as much.

C) suck it the fuck up and let time catch up with it.

D) see if wraps help..it works for old people, why can't it work for me.

I've though about and what I want to do. I don't think my back and chest days are enough to maintain my arm size and strength. Benching on the flat bench either regular ol' benching or close grip really bothers it but, benching on the smith doesn't. I'm thinking it's because I'm not having to balance it as much and can focus more on my positioning and such. IF I chose to bench on the smith for awhile at least until the pain is non existant, how much strength do you think I'll lose? I asked a few trainers to make sure the answers were consistent and they say the bar is 45lbs and is the same weight as the flat, it just obviously takes out the stabilizing effect. If I Do dumbbell exercises after, that should maintain MOST of my stabilizers right?!

Lay it on me guys. I don't want to hafta take time off at least time I'm off cycle and done with my pct.

Dude, I have some wraps I want you to try!  I had a little tendonitis about 2 years ago and they helped so much!  I still use them occationally whenever I am feeling feeble and damaged!  haha!

[thewickedtruth]

Dude, I have some wraps I want you to try!  I had a little tendonitis about 2 years ago and they helped so much!  I still use them occationally whenever I am feeling feeble and damaged!  haha!

Hell yeah man bring'em!

[Beener]

I used to have an arm day, where i'd do tris and bi's (duh!) and after a while i developed pain in my elbows, hurt liek a dirty whore.

So what i changed was to to tris on chest day like i'd always done. I think doing all elbow-strenuous excersises on one day would leave enough time during the week for the elbow to feel better. Personally when made my elbow hurt was the fact i'd do movements which were hard on the elbow many times a week.

After I did that, my elbow pain went away.  Doing regular bench one day, then clowe grip a few days later was just too much for my elbows.

This worked for me, might not work for you, but just thought i'd add my 2cc's as this worked so well for me.


Keep on keepin' on-

[pumpster]

The injury & rehab board is your friend! All sorts of juicy stuff on elbows, joints, total vs. partial rest, etc.

http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?board=5.0

[thewickedtruth]

The injury & rehab board is your friend! All sorts of juicy stuff on elbows, joints, total vs. partial rest, etc.

http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?board=5.0

I've been reading it. I wanted to know more about TRAINING wiht one than just fixing it. I've noticed the smith machine doesn't irritate it at all. That might help someone who has an elbow problem and doesn't want to lose too much on their benching while rehabing it. Also, I got some of that gel hedge was talking about. I keep it in the freezer and put it on post workout. Shit feels good.

[pumpster]

I've been reading it. I wanted to know more about TRAINING wiht one than just fixing it.

That's on there too actually, as far as trying to work indirectly or instead taking time off.

As far as what you've found re: good exercises to work around, don't hesitate to share here or on that board.

[thewickedtruth]

That's on there too actually.

As far as what you've found that works, don't hesitate to share here or on that board.

Don't do skull crushers. There! I shared! 

[pumpster]

Don't do skull crushers. There! I shared! 

Actually i PMd you an excellent alternative a couple of months ago that i've *never* seen you even mention trying. Open your mind, heal up then try new stuff. I've had various shoulder & elbows problems go away permently by making fairly small changes instead of discarding the exercise.

As far as stabilizer muscles, don't worry about that, it's often just a marketing term to sell equipment with no verifiable proof that it matters to a muscle. Muscles care about progressive loads. If stabilizers were really so important the barbell wouldn't even exist, only dumbbells.

[MAXX]

i have the same problem now.

elbow has started getting worse and worse the last month.

im going to lay off all tricep training for a full month maybe even two and see what happens.


and yes skullcrushers kills my ellbow to. but more so overhead dumbell extentions.

[pjs]

If a joint hurts bad enough that you have to 'work around it' you should see a doctor to find out what's wrong and how to fix it.

[JackCheze]

hear hear.... go see a doc

PS. I hate skull crushers, dips are superior