Mark Rippetoe

Translated by Hari Fafutis SSC, this beautiful version of SS:BBT3 is ready right now. Amazon will have it up as soon as they complete processing the listing. In the meantime, we ship anywhere in the world.

FatButWeak

I'm assuming you have hired Mexican weather girls or Lydia Valentin to model the lifts? Otherwise, I'm not buying.

Mark Rippetoe

We will not sell it to you.

mbdonner

A friend with an elbow problem can’t chin. Would dumbbell curls be a substitute?

Mark Rippetoe

Lat pulldowns would be the sub.

Cromwell

Over the past several years, I've struggled with persistent biceps pain and elbow pain. It has been variously diagnosed as C7 radiculopathy, biceps tendonitis, golfer's elbow, and/or tennis elbow. I've had MRIs, physical exams, and x-rays. The primary problem is that it completely inhibited my ability to progress the bench press and the press, and secondarily at times was a choke-point for my squat. Chins were also a major struggle--and I could not really progress to unassisted chins due to the pain.

I've read almost every post on this board (and others), including several that I started. I received lots of good ideas, and I played with most of them. I used a combination of exercises, which finally brought me relief in the past four months. Here are the exercises that helped me the most:

1. The pin-firing approach that I assume you're referring to--I did chins but using assistance bands liberally. Obviously, these were sub-maximal reps, but it enabled me to do a lot of reps. I typically aimed for an assistance band that enabled me to do between 12-15 reps for three sets. I did these once a week.

2. Hammer curls. For whatever reason, hammer curls aggravated my situation less than barbell or dumbell curls. I typically did these once a week, in the 15-20 rep range for three sets.

3. A series of physical therapy suggested stretching exercises (you can look them up on youtube or elsewhere for the actual movement): (a) Radial Nerve Glides, 5-8 reps, 2-4x per day, 5-7 days per week. Hold each glide at extension for 3-5 seconds; (b) wrist extension stretch (median nerve glide), 5 reps 4x per day, 5-7 days per week; (c) wrist flexion stretch (same as extension reps); (d) prone shoulder end range lift off (10 seconds on, 10 seconds off, for 5-8 reps 3x per week).