Hi Jim
I’ve been following 5/3/1 for about a year and ran into a problem regarding tricep strength and my elbow. I suffer from a subluxing ulnar nerve, in other words the nerve/tendon pops out of the groove on my elbow under flexion, normally at around 90 degrees. I’ve had to move my hands out when benching so ring fingers are on the rings and just had to deal with it when overhead pressing.
It generally doesn’t prove a problem with OHP as the weight isn’t significant enough to cause problems, just an annoyance however it does irritate it more with larger volumes (5x5 or 5x10 for example). My bench press has suffered due to the change is grip width, and I feel my triceps have gotten weaker due lowering the weight.
Anyway, currently after I 5/3/1 bench I do FSL followed by 5x5 OHP, however I do not feel I’m benefitting from the 5x5 (and it irritates my elbow) so would like to focus on something tricep specific, which is heavy but doesn’t require me to flex my elbow to the point of problems. I’m thinking of something like heavy pin presses a couple of inches above my chest with a narrower grip, however I have no experience programming something like that myself so would like some advice, it would be greatly appreciated. If further information is needed, such as training history, I will happily supply it.
On a side note, I will never recover from my elbow problem so simply need to work around it rather than hoping it goes away. I follow all usual protocols like stretching etc. as well to keep elbow in best condition it can.
Thanks for your time.