I fked up - bicep tendonitis

[joshwaaa]

Ripp,

I fked up. I didnt DTFP. I was doing mid bar squats until about 9 weeks ago where I started TM and began doing low bar. While learning low bar I put my arms in shit positions and developed bicep tendonitis in the front side of my elbow. I have tried to man up and train through it as best I can and have taken some ibuprophen on and off...

2 weeks ago it got so bad I had to stop. I did the iburpophen protocol for 1 week while doing some light DE stuff and chins which made my arms feel good.

Last week I did my 5 * 5 squats and my arms felt ok. I did 5 * 5 press and my arms got sore, I remeber one rep going wide and struggling to get it up. On Intensity day my arms were pretty sore but I pushed through and got all my reps for squats and only 3 reps for Press. The next day the bicep tendonitis was back pretty bad so I had to take some diclofenac potassium...

Today I was due to bench, but my arms were sore before I started. I did some PCs, then tried to bench and failed. I could only grind out 2 reps out of my scheduled weight. I tried to squat, but after warming up to my first set of 5 it was too painful and I couldnt hold onto the bar and unrack... Im pretty frustrated and pissed off at myself, but I guess thats my own fault...

1. What should I do from here? should I stop pressing for a couple of weeks and just do squats, DLs and chins? I was going to try and do my 5 * 5 squats tommorow.

2. After doing the ibuprophen protocol, how long should you wait before doing it again?

3. I am not entirely sure, but I think the volume of pressing may have been a contributing factor. Should I do 3 *5 instead of 5 * 5?

4. I am still working on low bar, I have gotten better at getting my back to hold the weight and just use my arms to pin it. Remebering to put the bar just below the spine of scapula and try to rest on deltoids, But it still seems to take a fair bit of arm to hold it in position and stop it rolling around. especially when trying to unrack. Any cues, ideas or thins I should look out for?


Thanks,

Josh

[Mark Rippetoe]

What is your height, bodyweight, and age? How long were you doing the linear novice progression?

[joshwaaa]

Body weight: 86 kg (~ 190 lbs)
Height: 5'7
Age: 25
Deadlift 5RM: 190 kg (418 lbs)
Squat 5RM: 177.5kg ( ~ 390 lbs)
Bench 5RM: 110 kg (242 lbs)
Power Clean 3RM: 85 kg ( 187 lbs)
Oly Press 5RM: 77.5kg ( 170 lbs)

I have been training with weights since I was 16 and I have wasted alot of time and progression on BB crap. I tried SS but couldnt recover between sessions so I started an intermediate program based on Starr's H,M,L and I have been training this way for about 8-10 months.

[Mark Rippetoe]

It has been my experience that the problem is caused by squats, and will heal if the squat bar-carry is fixed. You should be able to train through it otherwise after the ibuprofen protocol is followed for 5 days.

[Roland Conde]

I'm just going to toss in my opinion / experience and agree with Rip here. I've found that placing the bar properly on your back and making sure your grip isn't too narrow fixes this. Reread the section of the book regarding grip and if you find yourself very inflexible with the issue persisting widen it a bit.

[joshwaaa]

I think I am getting the bar placement correct. My grip is just inside the notches of the knurling. I am holding the bar with my palms and trying to keep my elbows up.

I tried squatting last night and I am having issues getting it out of the rack ( could just be my sore arms). The rack at my gym is like this: http://www.integritystrength.com/Free-Weight/HF310.html . The uprights and hooks are on an angle and they are not at optimum height. I am fighting to get the bar out and it then makes the bar move which I think is fuking up the rest of the set.

The gym has a set of single adjustable uprights outside with flat hooks that I might try. I am not sure what weight they are rated too though ...

I am going to try pushing harder on the bar with my palms to keep it tight. I seem to need a fair foward lean while just standing with bar so it doesnt move/roll...

[Aslin]

I've had this problem. My advice would be to make sure none of the weight is being supported by the elbows during the squat.

It will hurt for ages after finding this position, tendonitis in my experience takes forever to heal; but it will eventually subside.

[swiminator]

I had the exact same problem a number of months ago. When I read that "you should use a narrow grip", I interpreted this to mean a grip width that was far too narrow (slightly wider than shoulder width), not realizing that it meant narrow compared to an extra wide grip. This put a lot of strain on my shoulders and elbow. The pain got so bad as the weight increased a number of times, I could not complete my presses or bench presses. Dropping the weight back and widening my grip width to just inside the ring markings fixed the problem almost immediately. I also started to incorporate shoulder dislocations into my warmup that dramatically improved my shoulder mobility.

[oenamen]

I am going to try pushing harder on the bar with my palms to keep it tight. I seem to need a fair foward lean while just standing with bar so it doesnt move/roll...

For what it's worth: I have had some trouble with this myself. Eventually I settled on thumbs around, which allows me to get my elbows higher. I also try and pull the bar down ("break the bar"). Pushing up with your palms sounds like an awful cue that will aggravate your elbows.

[elVarouza]

I have also had this problem. There are two things I've found that always cause elbow pain.

1. The bar rolls, even a little bit, as you unrack it. I suggest, before unracking the bar, to apply a decent amount of force to it to ensure it will not roll at all when unracked. If it rolls, even a small amount, reset and unrack it with no bar movement.

2. Asymmetrical bar or grip. Make sure the bar is as perfectly symmetrical across your back as you can get it. The rings on the bar are a good indicator. Sometimes if the bar has been asymmetrical for awhile you won't notice, and it may even feel "weird" for it to be perfectly symmetrical. I went through this phenomenon a couple of years ago, and placing the bar properly centered on my back completely fixed my elbow pain.