Had really bad elbow tendonitis, and it just kept getting worse so I decided to see an ART practitioner. He helped a ton, including these tips that have helped me be able to get back into it:
1-Ice after lifting or at other times, as mentioned
2-Aleve, as mentioned
3-Neoprene sleeves in combination with something like Biofreeze keeps the elbows warm and keeps some of the pressure off of them. At this point I really only need to use them for push type exercises.
4-Warm up your elbows extensively before lifting. I usually do quite a bit of band work followed by some light/medium weight cable pushdowns with my elbows at various angles until I feel my elbows are fully warmed up.
5-Identify and cut out the problem exercises. For me, this was definitely skull crushers. I used to be able to do them and think they can be a great tricep exercise, but if they hurt, stop. Other exercises that can (these may or may not apply to you) put unnecessary pressure on the elbows include: preacher curls, non-supinating dumbbell curls, chin ups, barbell presses. If these or other exercises hurt, find a substitute, or choose a range of motion that does not hurt the elbows (locking out=pain for me).
6-You may just have to take a few weeks off completely until it at least gets under control.
Hope this helps, in fact I’m icing my elbows as I type for preventative measures.
[quote]TBT4ever
5-Identify and cut out the problem exercises. For me, this was definitely skull crushers. I used to be able to do them and think they can be a great tricep exercise, but if they hurt, stop. Other exercises that can (these may or may not apply to you) put unnecessary pressure on the elbows include: preacher curls, non-supinating dumbbell curls, chin ups, barbell presses. If these or other exercises hurt, find a substitute, or choose a range of motion that does not hurt the elbows (locking out=pain for me).
6-You may just have to take a few weeks off completely until it at least gets under control.
[/quote]
Totally agree here. I remember now that skull crushers were a complete bitch
5-Identify and cut out the problem exercises. For me, this was definitely skull crushers. I used to be able to do them and think they can be a great tricep exercise, but if they hurt, stop. Other exercises that can (these may or may not apply to you) put unnecessary pressure on the elbows include: preacher curls, non-supinating dumbbell curls, chin ups, barbell presses. If these or other exercises hurt, find a substitute, or choose a range of motion that does not hurt the elbows (locking out=pain for me).[/quote]
What about weighted dips or any form of decline? These have been causing pain in my arms under my biceps and I am wondering if it is tendonitis. Oddly, curls never seem to be a problem…
What about weighted dips or any form of decline? These have been causing pain in my arms under my biceps and I am wondering if it is tendonitis. Oddly, curls never seem to be a problem…[/quote]
Even though the majority of my pain was directed towards tricep exercises (especially extensions), I found cutting out/modifying some of the above bicep exercises really helped me out, at least in the short term, as I can now do them with no pain.
Back to your problem, to me that doesn’t sound like any tendonitis I’ve ever had (not saying for sure its not), but again I’d say cutting out/modifying those exercises that hurt is a good idea. For instance, do you keep your elbows in or out when doing dips (eg triceps vs. chest focus)? If one hurts but not the other, I would recommmend cutting it out at least in the short term.
I should have posted this earlier, but my progression was basically:
Take off 3 weeks (tough to do, but necessary in my case)
2 weeks in the gym, but taking it easy
After that, going back to nearly full bore, and slowly incorporating some of the problem exercises back in (except I will never do skullcrushers again). For instance, I found close grip BB bench to be a good exercise again with medium weight, but found it hurt too much to go really heavy, so I had to wait before I could do that.
But the main thing to remember with tendonitis, is that it is NOT an injury you can just fight through. It only gets worse. That being said, depending on severity you don’t necessarily have to completely stop working out, but you do have to be smart, which includes a) exercise selection b) equipment to reduce the stress (eg neoprene sleeves and biofreeze) and c) proper rest and rehab (eg ice, ibuprofin, ART, etc).
[quote]Sepulnation wrote:
LiveFromThe781 wrote:
if you want to hit the tricep muscle right by the elbow do skull crushers.
Skull crushers may be one of the culprits that started it all!
[/quote]
maybe. but in my experiences everytime i do them the only pace i feel stress is the muscle almost on top of the elbow. when i do tricep exercises thats not the area i want to target though so i dont do them anymore.