Yeah, first thing to do is widen your grip. Also, check out the bar placement videos. They may shed some light on the issue. Make sure not to jack your elbows way up, either. Play around with wrapping the thumbs, too.
Member
Radial Nerve Pain or Tendinitis...or?
I laid off of SS for a while to explore a other programs a few months back because I'm a lazy pile of shit. Before I stopped, however, I can remember experiencing some pretty deep pains in the lower part of my biceps, right where the brachialis is. The pain caused consistent resets in my bench; I couldn't lower the bar without experiencing severe pain in that area. I thought it was the bench causing it (since that's usually when the pain was most pronounced). While I was experimenting with other programs, however, I didn't once experience the pain again until I squatted heavy two days in a row. I noticed that it is aggravated by pulling my hands in tight (to promote thoracic tension and to prevent bar slide) once under the bar. Once it "flares up" just about anything will make it worse, especially quick pulling or pushing movements (like playing with a 70 pound Pitbull, for instance...).
I've started SS once again, I'm only on my second day, and the pain is becoming quite pronounced once again, causing me to miss my last 2 reps of my 3rd set on bench.
From what I remember, I'm not the first in the forums to report this sort of problem. Has anyone had any success in preventing and/or managing it? Are we even sure what the hell it is? Someone ran the radial nerve idea by me, and it would make anatomical sense (I think), but I'm not experiencing any other symptom associated with radial nerve damage or aggravation.
I think I'm going to experiment with pulling my arms in SLIGHTLY less hard, since that is when it's aggravated the most, unless recommended otherwise from one of you fine coaches.
Thanks
(Oh, and if it's relevant:
Age: 23
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 179 (and rising)
Kcals: 4,000
Squat: 275x5
Bench: 230x5
DL: 345x5
OHP: 135x5
PC: 165x3)
✓ Member
Yeah, first thing to do is widen your grip. Also, check out the bar placement videos. They may shed some light on the issue. Make sure not to jack your elbows way up, either. Play around with wrapping the thumbs, too.
Member
Awesome thanks. I tried widening but it didn't help. But then again it's already aggravated so doing much of anything bothers it. I took one training day off, so I'm going to try the thumbs around grip next.
Do you think tucking the elbows too much could cause elbow problems like this? At the bottom of the bench, from the side view, the elbows should be directly beneath the bar, not behind correct? I think I've been tucking too much and I wonder if this is a cause/contributor.
Thank you for the response Tom.
Member
Totally fucking worked, thumbs around. Not a bit of pain. (Sensei Feigenbaum mentioned, but didn't necessarily recommend, hanging from a chin up bar or doing some light presses in between sets. I did some of that before squatting, but I'm convinced it was thumbs around.) Thanks Tom!
✓ Member
The elbows, particularly the point of the olecranon process closest to the feet while lying down, will probably be slightly in front of the bar at the bottom of the bench. When I say "in front of the bar" in this context, I mean "towards the feet." This is a similar position to the start of the press.Originally Posted by Dlk93
✓ Member
There are some people for whom this is a magic fix. Doesn't work for everyone and can make things worse for some people, but it is definitely worth trying.
Member
My thinking on this came from this article: Tucking the Elbows for Bench - You're Probably Doing it Wrong ? Stronger by Science
I feel like I've been tucking too much also because my triceps seem to be disproportionately strong relative to my chest. For example, my close grip bench numbers are the same as regular bench. I'm thinking there's a coorelation between tucking and this disproportion (not sure if strong tri's cause the tucking or other way around).
✓ Member
As with many of Nuckols' articles, I don't agree. Flaring your elbows out is not a cue I would give in most cases. The potential to impinge the tendons of the rotator cuff goes way up when the elbows abduct or "flare out." Many people do not need to specifically think about their elbows, either way. Taking a grip on the bench press that allows for forearms that are approximately perpendicular to the ground when looking at the top of someone's head, while touching the correct place on the chest usually allows the elbows to take care of themselves. Without actually seeing your bench press, however, all of this is conjecture. The chances that your have a triceps/chest imbalance are low, too. How anyone would even diagnose such an imbalance, along with the pathalogical implications of such a situation, is far from settled.
Last edited by Tom Campitelli; 06-24-2017 at 10:40 AM.
Member
Well if someone was tucking way too much, what other cue would one give her other than "flare the elbows a bit more"? I agree it's probably not a common problem, but in the instance that it is, what other cue is left?
I'll try to get a video of my bench because I am curious about this. I'll post in another thread if that's ok. I haven't even benched in a couple weeks because of the elbow pain from the squat. Ill give it a go next week. Should the angle be per the sticky or different for this particular problem?
✓ Member
That would be a fine place to use that cue. However, very few people tuck their elbows too much unless they are consciously trying to do so. Flaring the elbows, however, is fairly common and is often accompanied by the bar shifting towards the face on the way up. This is mechanically advantageous in many ways because it brings the bar closer to the shoulder joint. It is not desirable, however, because it reduces the space between the humerus and the acromion process. It increases the chances of grinding some of the tendons of the rotator cuff between those two bones. I cannot remember the last time I cued someone to flare their elbows.
Posting Permissions