Left tricep severely irritated form low bar squat.

[Stigsrud]

Hello, fellow lifters!
Thanks in advance for any advice.

I've had a lot of trouble with my left triceps when I squat. It gets really irritated, and it can hurt quite bad. The more weight I have on the bar, the more it hurts. When I did my 3x5rep PR, it hurt so bad I couldn't do anything but lay down and fight in order to keep from crying out loud in the gym. I finished the 5th rep of the 3rd set tough. When it gets real bad, it extends in both directions, both to my shoulder and my elbow, on the outside, in the "tennis elbow spot". I've tried to switch my grip up in different ways to avoid carrying the weight of the bar in my hands, but rather on my back, but my triceps still gets irritated. This might be because it never really healed though.

As the gyms closed I wasn't able to squat for a month and a half and it just opened back up again. During the down time I was able to, press, deadlift and power clean, with good progress. My triceps was fine. I also did a lot of chin ups, and I thought this had healed my tricep, even tho i did 3 sets till failure, and not the 20 sets of 1/3 max reps. When the gym finally opened and i could squat again, my triceps pain immediately returned. Clearly is hasn't healed. Today's squats fucked up my triceps so bad that i could neigher bench press nor deadlift afterwards. This also happened before the shut down. I might have started too heavy after the down time. I started out at 140Kg (308 lbs) after the reopening, and my heaviest before the shut down was 145Kg (319 lbs).

I'm thinking of switching to high bar squats for a while, as they don't seem to aggravate my tricep, at least as long as i do the 20 sets of chin ups routine to heal my triceps. I've mostly heard Rip talk about this as a way to heal golfers elbow, but i thought it might help my triceps too.

I'm still struggling with my low bar grip, and i thought I'd rather return to that after healing my triceps. I've attached a video of my last workset today in case someone wants to take a look at the technique, grip in particular. I think my elbows are way up, but i did not notice that during the set.

I might also add that it's been suggested to me that it can simply be due to overload as a result of rapid progression. My 3 sets of 5 squat went from 90Kg (198lbs) to 145Kg (319lbs) in a month and a half. Perhaps my arms couldn't adapt as fast as my legs and back?

I'm 1,86m (6"1) and 100-102Kg (220-225lbs), and neither my BW nor my height has changed much during my LP.

5x141Kg Squat | Left triceps irrritated - YouTube

[Mark Rippetoe]

Your grip is too wide. Look up the videos about grip and elbow pain.

[Stigsrud]

Thank you for the response, Mr. Rippetoe.

I have watched a lot of those videos, both SS videos and others. I can't really get my grip much narrower, however. But I suppose i just have to put in the work and do the stretching. Or maybe just do high bar squats. I understand it's not optimal, but neither is not being able to do the other exercises after squatting either.

Stigsrud

[Mark Rippetoe]

It would be better if you had an actual diagnosis.

[Stigsrud]

Are you saying I should go to the doctor? I've listened to your podcast for a while, and have nearly gotten through all of it, and did not see that coming. Do you mean for the possible triceps tendonitis or poor shoulder mobility?

Again, I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my stupid questions.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Get a therapist to look at it and tell you precisely what structure is inflamed.