Squat Form Check + Persistent Elbow Tendonitis

[Notorious]

This is 270x5 done on the intensity day of the TM. I finally got around to posting a video because recently my elbow tendonitis has flared up from squats and it won't seem to go away. I had it about a year ago and it went away after I fixed my carry position and took a bunch of ibuprofen for a while. This time I've had it for more than a month and it really isn't getting better. I've been icing, taking a lot of ibuprofen (1.6 grams/ day this week), and focusing on squatting with shoulders shrugged and elbows raised.

Bicep work, wrist extensor work, and deadlifts all seem to lessen the pain, I have been doing these in some form every workout (except deads). Pressing doesn't bother it, but my power cleans have gone to shit.

Here's the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-JsV3ZQGz8

Some things I see (or don't see):
-The angle is pretty shitty so you can't really see my stance, depth, or knees at the bottom. I'll try to get another video on Monday.
-On reps 4 and 5, I am pushing my ass back a little which is causing a GM.
-Reps 4 and 5 look like they *might* be a little high, but I think it's just the angle.

Are there any other form changes I can make? Anything I can do to get rid of the tendonitis? Maybe narrowing my grip? (I've tried widening, which didn't help)

Thanks!

[Mark Rippetoe]

You're going onto your toes pretty bad as you come up. But I don't see anything from this angle that would cause the elbow shit. Once it's there it is damned hard to heal, but chins have work for me recently. Narrowing might help.

[ThePhoenix]

I had the same tendonitis problem. I got rid of it by switching to a cambered bar for backsquatting- you will notice a difference the first time you use the bar. I don't know how Rip feels about this though (not sure if it changes the mechanics of the lift). ODing daily on ibuprofen and swallowing whole bottles of fish oil at time also helped the situation.

[MAD9692]

My elbow tendinitis wont go away for shit and I've had it for the past 4-5 months. I tried scaling back my volume of squats, got a massage, tried Ice, Ibuprophen, fish oil, etc - nothing really works. I can't do pullups anymore and chins seem to really aggravate it so I've been doing kipping pullups instead. (which I hate). I have had some results w/ 400m farmer carries with 35lb dumbells; however the minute I chin the pain comes right back.
So for me the remedy is pretty simple; I can follow the program-but I cant do any Pullups/Chins or I get tendinitis.

[LudwigVan]

I struggled with elbow/shoulder pain from the squat for a long time. It was a bitch. What I think finally helped was shoulder dislocations (done consistently morning and night) and weighted chins. Good luck.

[Notorious]

Does it look like I'm coming onto my toes for all of the reps? I'll admit I occasionally feel the weight over my toes on very hard reps (see rep 5), but most of the time it feels balanced over my midfoot. How did reps 1-3 look?

[Philds]

I'm wondering, isn't the bar held a little to low? I did that for a couple of times, and I felt it in my elbows.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Does it look like I'm coming onto my toes for all of the reps? I'll admit I occasionally feel the weight over my toes on very hard reps (see rep 5), but most of the time it feels balanced over my midfoot. How did reps 1-3 look?

How would that affect your elbows? The bar might in fact be just a pube low on your back.

[Notorious]

An update on the elbow situation: I have definitely been carrying the bar too low. I took a break from low bar squats a while ago and I guess I just forgot where the bar goes when I started them again. It's weird because there is actually a "shelf" down where I was carrying it and I never had any shoulder discomfort.

Today I squatted 275x3 with the bar higher on my shoulders and without coming onto my toes. I am slightly weaker, but elbow pain was very minimal. I'm pretty sure it will go away soon. Thanks everyone!