Muscle imbalances in my arm?

[Jonesy]

My concern is predicated on something I read somewhere stating that one of the reasons we should do deep squats is because partial squats primarily engage the quads and ignore the hamstring leading to weak hams and strong quads that can lead to injuries when the strong quad extends the knee and the week hamstring can't adequately prevent the knee from being hyperextended.

I've been doing SS for about a month or so and I think I might be having that issue in my arms. I can tell my triceps are significantly stronger, but dont think my biceps are gaining in strength. I played basketball the other day (plan on making it my Saturday metcon) and frequently I found my elbows extending violently for various reasons and was feeling pain in them as they were hyperextending to some degree. Now I happily thought that I would never do curls again, but should I include some sort of exercises in the SS routine for my biceps? Whether it be chins, curls, or something else? Or should I not F with the program and wait until after I've plateau'd and go back to crossfit's pullup heavy routines to even out my imbalance? Or is my premise completely bogus?

[Mark Rippetoe]

No, your premise is correct. Both sides of the arm need to be trained, and this is why chins are an important part of the novice program.

[Scott Mahn]

No, your premise is correct. Both sides of the arm need to be trained, and this is why chins are an important part of the novice program.

For what its worth, IMO, your SS books do not emphasis the importance of chins in your novice program. The first edition makes virtually no mention of them at all, and the second edition treats them, along with sit-ups and back extensions, as something of an "alternative" option.

[Mark Rippetoe]

It is possible that I failed miserably in the spoon-feeding department. But please refer to pages 300-301 and tell old Uncle Rip what you see.

[Scott Mahn]

It is possible that I failed miserably in the spoon-feeding department. But please refer to pages 300-301 and tell old Uncle Rip what you see.

I see what might appear to a reader of the first edition as a personalized alternative to the primary, or stock program, offered in the coaches edition.

Just offering constructive criticism. If chins are an important component of your novice program you might consider making that clearer in future editions, lest the reader think they are just one of many possible assistance exercises one may, or may not, choose to add to the presumed "primary" program.

[Mark Rippetoe]

All my comments refer to the second edition, which replaced the first edition for a good reason.

[Jamie J. Skibicki]

There were hardly "many" assistance excersizes. Chins, pulls up and dips are the only one that work the arms. Dips don't work the bicep and pull ups, which Rip states in the book, don't work the bicep as much as chins.

You came up with the answer yourself, that your arms were imbalanced and you needed something else. You always have to think for yourself at some point, and Rip seems to have drawn a clear enough path for you follow since you came up with pretty good idea, adding chins instead of curls or pull ups. Now, my friend, is how you are going to program them in, and I believe you can do it. Let us know how it works out.

[Jonesy]

IIRC the pages Rip pointed that other poster to had a workout of

Day 1 squat, bench or press, DL or clean
Day 2 squat, back extension, chin

Or maybe day 2 had press as well and day 1 had just bench, my memory is awful.

However, I don't want to just DL once every four days and just clean once every four days. And if Day 2 doesnt have any presses I dont want to just bench and press once every four days either.

So, the plan as of a few days ago was to reread the programming and assistance exercise sections of the book with the goal and hope of being able to keep day 1 and day 2 the same as originally RX'd and add chins after the DL on day 1.

However, in my last session the squats were extremely hard as I did my 5 rep PR for 3 sets for the third session in a row. I've reached a point where my poor hamstring flexibility and shoulder flexibility have really become an issue and I really felt my form breaking down. To top it all off I'm pretty sure my shoulder flexibility issue has caused an injury in my left bicep on the outside of my arm (not front or back but side) just above my elbow probably due to having too much of the weight being unintentionally supported by my arms instead of my back. My left elbow and shoulder is also bugging me and I could not complete more than one set of the prescribed 3 work sets of bench due to these pains. So I need some time off to heal. But in three weeks I will be away from barbells for three weeks as I get married and go on my honeymoon. Even if I only need a week off to heal I don't think theres any way I will be able to squat what I was squatting my last session and I will only have two weeks before my three week break. Sooooo.... my new plan is to rest the left arm until its healed, crossfit until the wedding break, print out Eva T's list of bodyweight WODs for the honeymoon, have lots of sex for time i mean reps, and then restart my SS when I get back at 75% weight and figure out how to work in chins then. Oh and work on my flexibility throughout.