Hi guys, new here. Been lifting for 2 years. Got good gains. Not many injuries till now besides a slight inflammation in knee and wrist sprain when I stacked it on a rainy day. But now I have, as the GP said, slight epicondylitis, also know as golfers elbow. It only started with a dull pain 3 days back. GP said don’t lift heavy and take rest if possible and nurofen. Now I am a huge fan of heavy underhand barbell rows and straight arm barbell curls (I sometimes bent my wrist on the last rep to push it out which is probably made the golfers worse), both of which will aggravate this tendon as it requires a lot of grip. I will rest a week but I still have a few question to work around it so I don’t get it as soon as I recover
For bent over barbell rows, will an overhand grip reduce the medial aggravation? Or should I get wrist straps for underhand?
Instead of straight arm barbell curl, can I do EZ bar curls or will that also aggravate my elbow? How about preacher curls, hammer (I dont go heavy on preachers ~15kg per arm)?
For triceps, I will stop doing lying tricep extensions as these make my elbows sore but can i continue doing barbell close grip, tricep cable pushdowns and how about bodyweight dips?
For chest, I do heavy dumbbell bench and I would hope this doesnt aggravate the elbow much? if it does, should I do a neutral grip or regular to reduce this?
Any other exercises I should avoid? Like OHP or dumbbell seated press? Cables flies fine?
Sorry guys, its a bit of questioning but I have never had many injuries so I am clueless about working around them and skipping gym completely is a pain so in the week off gym I am thinking of doing legs twice or something and doing non aggravating exercises.
Combination of soft tissue release, strengthen the forearm extensors (fingerband openings, fist into bucket of rice and open fingers out), Maybe layoff the curls for a bit and switch to machine rows so you can hold on to the handles with a cup grip to avoid hard flexion of the hands.
I used to get this too, avoid pretty much anything with a supinated grip (barbell curls, underhand barbell rows, underhand chin-ups, etc.) and try using a lacrosse ball (or baseball if that’s all you have, or at least a tennis ball) to release the muscles in your forearms and upper arms. Give extra attention to anything that hurts more than the rest. Also, flys and tricep extensions can aggravate this, particularly any sort of behind-the-neck extension.
Ah I see, Ive heard about soft tissue release, Ill just need to find out how to do it. I will surely strengthen the extensors. Im thinking of doing high rep Wrist curls. Ill lay off the curls for a week and see how that helps too. Ill try to use a cup grip. Thanks for the ideas mate.
Ah got ya. I am gonna avoid flyes and tricep extensions then for a while. Ill just use cable tricep pushdowns and close grip presses and dips. unfortunately my gym doesnt have machine row so I am thinking maybe overhand grip row with cup grip? Ill try and get wrist straps if I need. Hahaha ill have to buy a lacross or tennis ball. really appreciate the input mate
Pushdowns are still a form of tricep extensions. If they don’t bother you then you can do them, but they were a problem for me. Dips and close grip bench never gave me any issues either.
I have no idea what a cup grip is, but there are a lot of different row variations that don’t require a supinated grip.
Cheers mate. If I really focus on the triceps and stop right before straightening I won’t feel any pain . I can still go heavy even without hurting on this. But I am completely taking out triceps extensions for 1 month or 2. Dips was fine yeah and close grip kinda felt more difficult cos I had to go quite slow for me and to avoid pressure on elbow and I stopped right before lockout . Preachers, and dumbell curls went fine. Ez bar felt weird kinda too but not as bad as barbell curls in aggravating it. All shoulder exercises felt fine including ohp . A bit of pressure on elbow in front raises but not too bad. I’ll take this week off and do legs twice this week . Thanks heaps for input mate