I started lifting hard and working on gaining muscle mass for first time earlier this year. I started by just lifting smooth and heavy, 3-5 reps, 3-4 sets and was seeing decent results, increasing weight and lifting heavier than I ever have.
Then I started the lifting stated here with the explosion lifting. I had decent success for the first couple of weeks, and raised my max again. Then one day, on a bench press, I felt something in my right elbow, something I may have had before a couple of years ago.
Its something like a ligament strain, and hurts pretty bad whenever I straighten or start extending the right arm with any force. So bench-pressing is out of the question, so are pushups, and so is a full golf swing because of the extension.
It is finally getting better after about 2 months of total rest (except for a little slow swing golf here and there) and working on chest by basically doing mini-flies, pulling in with my biceps on an ankle strap… cant do regular heavy flies because of my shoulder problems.
So if I am going to get injured lifting like this, should I give up on it? Or should I just try to be more conservative with the weight, but then whats the point? Maybe I need a better warmup routine?
I have been doing maybe a jog or some quick aerobic to get my heart rate up, then one warmup set with about 50% of my max, and then going into it. I doubt any stretching would have helped this type of injury.
My body has been injury prone over the years, and it is a sad thing when I get injured while trying to get stronger. I have been training my body for golf and tennis in the past, so its always been medium weight with 8-10 reps max for lean strength.
Thanks.