help! popping elbow!

[stevemac]

I got this nasty popping in my elbow, its only there when I do tricep excercises or any type of bench press. has this happened to anyone before? what can I do about it? it hurts only when lifting and I had it for a few weeks now. any help is appreciated bros.

[Freddy]

I've had elbow problems in the past, mostly tendonitis like pain. I didn't get any popping, but I did get a lot of pain.

First, take a week off training anything that bends or otherwise aggrovates those elbows. All tricep and pressing movements.

During this time, take a lot of anti-inflammatories. I'm not a doctor, so I won't advocate dosages here. Please use what a doctor recommends, or what the instructions say. However, I will say that what I did was take 800mgs 3x a day for a couple days, and then 800mgs 1x a day for the rest of the week. Obviously stay away from alcohol during this week. I went easy...I've known people who have taken much more than I took here. I am not recommending that though, but it has been done.

Ok, now, after this week.

Your training has to change, my friend. You, like me, do not have resilient elbows. We have to be smart about how we train. How were you training before? I bet I have an idea, and that has to stop.

This is what your training will look like from now on. You will pick one of these programs that I list below, and you will follow it completely. You will not subsitute any exercises. The possible programs are:

1.) HST
2.) Bill Starr's 5x5
3.) The Super Squats program
4.) Grizzly's Program
5.) Animal Mass's program (MINUS ALL TRICEP EXTENSION MOVEMENTS).

As you will notice, these programs only use compound movements. These are your friends. Compound movements, even heavy ones, are MUCH easier on the joints than tricep extensions and comparable isolation movements.

For your triceps, you will only be training various kinds of bench pressing, close grip benching, various overhead presses, and close grip presses. Maybe even (in fact, this is a good idea) some close grip board presses. All tricep isolation movements are dead to you. They will only reinjure you, and they are NOT necessary for growth.

To prove this, I will encourage you to look at the triceps of any powerlifter or bench press specialist. They all have excellent tricep development, and this is a result of compound pressing movements.

One last thing. You will go to www.elitefts.com and look around for things called "mini bands". Order these. Do "mini band tricep pressdowns" for 1 set of 100 reps, 3x a week...maybe mon/wed/fri. This will be the only "isolation" movement you will do. It will flush a lot of blood and nutrients into those elbows, help them heal...and build up their work capacity and tolerance to volume. This will protect them in the future.

Who am I to give you this advice?

I am a 21 year old lifetime natural powerlifter who weighs 170 pounds. A couple years ago I had very bad tendonitis-like pain in my elbows from poor training. After following this advice, I have no pain at all and bench 300+ pounds...which is a lot more than I could bench before the elbow pain.

Just post again bud if you need any clarification.

[stevemac]

That is great stuff, thanks a lot. any second opinions?

[Hogg]

Originally Posted by stevemac

That is great stuff, thanks a lot. any second opinions?

The only thing that I would add is a possible explanation of the popping noise. Sometimes, a tendon encounters an air gap over the range of motion which causes it to make that clicking sound. This can be from tendonitis, from possibly a misaligned joint, etc.

I wholeheartedly agree with freddy. Skull crushers and the like are the enemy. Close grip bench is your friend. Also, certain types of pulley pushdowns - well, only one, the rope handle with your hands straight up and down - can give you some relief. Here is an exercise for you: Put your left pointer finger on your right triceps tendon, now flex your right tricep and turn your right wrist while it is flexed. Notice your right triceps tendon moving as you supinate and pronate your wrist? The natural position of our hands are palms facing at our sides. When you do skull crushers, your palms are turned down creating an unnatural line of pull. That is the basic explanation of what is going on. If you need specifics, I'd have to pull out a kinesiology book to give you the medical terms of what is involved.

[Freddy]

Its been a week...how ya doing? Take those anti-inflammatories like I said?

[Jeremy88]

hey man,

i know what you mean about the elbow popping, mine does it ALL the time, but, theres exercises that ive canceled out of my routines bc i just cant do it, my elbow gives out, i cant do nose breakers, thats the main thing that kills me, i used to struggle w/ close grips, but doesnt bother me nearly as bad, a thing that helped me was "glucose chondroitin" if spelled correctly, its an anti-inflammatory, it wont cure it, but it definitely helped some....and the guy who posted, who weighed 170lbs benched 300+ congrats man!!!! i havent competed yet, but my stats are....bodyweight: 168-170....BP= 240-250 deadlift: 420 (without wraps) squat: 570 (parallel) its my pet peeve, still struggling w/ the bench, but its getting better, hell, i can powerclean more than i bench, yesterday, i powercleaned 200 for 8 reps, 215 for 4....doubled 225....Adieu