Sooooo, the dreaded elbow/bicep pains are back.
what these consist of is: something randomly setting it off (on my off days) and swinging my arms, helping my friend cut down his tree and throw the branches made it feel crappy.
fortunately its going away quickly when whatever movement that agitates it, is stopped.
when im working out, usually when my tricep gets tight, my bicep feels like its getting a gnarly pump and i feel (maybe a tendon) this tight spot like 2 inches from my inner elbow joint. this is not fun but its nothing compared to what it used to be..
The break down:
back in november-ish of last year, i was having elbow/bicep/shoulder pain that was so bad "speed work" was miserable, quick DB movements were super painful *still are actually i believe* and it was so rough that my squats were just pointless. what ended up happening was I dropped my bench number down, re learned to bench, completely stopped squatting, and just started deadlifting a shit ton. I would still squat, but it would be on the "V squat" machine, where ur feet are at a weird angle, and your back can go forward or back depending on how you pressed against the shoulder pads. at this point i was trying to do some krazy westside shit when i should of just been doing 5 sets of 5 of all the main lifts or something just to learn to work hard. but whatever, i got my head out of my ass eventually.
so now that i think about this, thats probably why im squatting 330 at best, and deadlifting probably over 465 now. but I always deadlifted better than squatting. "always" haha Ive been lifting like 2 and a half years. still a baby.
I started researching all kinds of stuff, got the voodoo bands that kelly starrett makes, those are awesome, but i dont think they were solving my problems. they helped with blood flow, but were not the key. i was doing lacrosse ball therapy, and that kind of helped. what really eliminated alot of the shoulder pain (which was rear delt) and the elbow pains when I did my regular heavy bench, was realizing that im not huge, and that im not a geared lifter, and moving my hands in. BAM! instantly I was a tad weaker, for a few weeks, but no more shoulder pain, and elbow pain was minimal after a few weeks. I was also regularly doing band deflections *i think thats what they are called* donnie thompson has a video on youtube about it, they work wonders. and he says they work better than elbow sleeves, I dont have elbow sleeves so i wouldnt know, but these WORK!
I now bench by setting up my thumbs on the end of the knurling, and get my spacing, then tuck them back next to my hand, so idk maybe 3 inches from the end of the knurling? im not sure, but you know what? it works, Im progressing, set a PR in my recent first meet, and I keep improving, so screw it, why over think it.
what these consist of is: something randomly setting it off (on my off days) and swinging my arms, helping my friend cut down his tree and throw the branches made it feel crappy.
fortunately its going away quickly when whatever movement that agitates it, is stopped.
when im working out, usually when my tricep gets tight, my bicep feels like its getting a gnarly pump and i feel (maybe a tendon) this tight spot like 2 inches from my inner elbow joint. this is not fun but its nothing compared to what it used to be..
The break down:
back in november-ish of last year, i was having elbow/bicep/shoulder pain that was so bad "speed work" was miserable, quick DB movements were super painful *still are actually i believe* and it was so rough that my squats were just pointless. what ended up happening was I dropped my bench number down, re learned to bench, completely stopped squatting, and just started deadlifting a shit ton. I would still squat, but it would be on the "V squat" machine, where ur feet are at a weird angle, and your back can go forward or back depending on how you pressed against the shoulder pads. at this point i was trying to do some krazy westside shit when i should of just been doing 5 sets of 5 of all the main lifts or something just to learn to work hard. but whatever, i got my head out of my ass eventually.
so now that i think about this, thats probably why im squatting 330 at best, and deadlifting probably over 465 now. but I always deadlifted better than squatting. "always" haha Ive been lifting like 2 and a half years. still a baby.
I started researching all kinds of stuff, got the voodoo bands that kelly starrett makes, those are awesome, but i dont think they were solving my problems. they helped with blood flow, but were not the key. i was doing lacrosse ball therapy, and that kind of helped. what really eliminated alot of the shoulder pain (which was rear delt) and the elbow pains when I did my regular heavy bench, was realizing that im not huge, and that im not a geared lifter, and moving my hands in. BAM! instantly I was a tad weaker, for a few weeks, but no more shoulder pain, and elbow pain was minimal after a few weeks. I was also regularly doing band deflections *i think thats what they are called* donnie thompson has a video on youtube about it, they work wonders. and he says they work better than elbow sleeves, I dont have elbow sleeves so i wouldnt know, but these WORK!
I now bench by setting up my thumbs on the end of the knurling, and get my spacing, then tuck them back next to my hand, so idk maybe 3 inches from the end of the knurling? im not sure, but you know what? it works, Im progressing, set a PR in my recent first meet, and I keep improving, so screw it, why over think it.
also doing "sled work" helped. at the end of workouts, I did 2 sets each of tricep extensions, front raises, and face pulls. i just used 2 straps from 2 ratchet straps and attached em to a 35lb plate, and walked the length of the workout room and back. thats one set. I am going to start doing those again, and they feel great.
so as of right now, the elbow pain is not bad, no where near what it was. im 20 minutes or less back from the gym and its non existent.
so what am i going to start doing:
less DB work, atleast until this goes away. I will eliminate DB work.
I was starting to do incline DB presses, I will now do incline BB work instead. once this is better I will phase it back on or cycle it.
I am going to stop doing JM presses, these reign hell on my triceps which effects the bicep, and I think this is the biggest cause, because nothing else makes it hurt like this. JM's are awesome, I see how they work and the great benefit, but my elbows are bitch made, and can only take so much.
I will start doing sled work at the end of the workout. I really dislike being there longer than an hour, because I dont want to dilly daddle, but this is essential I think.
I have been Neglecting my shoulders. I think I do need to work in some high rep rear delt work too. I think my front and sides get enough from benching, and military press. but we will see as i progress. as long as these numbers keep improving, we are good. but I do not want to keep patching something if I can fix it.
