Elbow pain

[MrTambourineMan]

I'm on SS and I'm getting a pain in my elbows when I perform chin-ups. The pain is getting worse. Can you substitute this exercise with another one?

[ColoWayno]

I'm on SS and I'm getting a pain in my elbows when I perform chin-ups. The pain is getting worse. Can you substitute this exercise with another one?

I have the same problem. I'm just taking time off from chins until it gets better. Then I'll ramp those back up. I'll probably have to keep icing that elbow, when I do start them again, for a while.
Someone recommended hammer grip chins but I haven't tried them.

[FatButWeak]

Hey CW: Any update on this condition?

I am suffering some severe epicondylitis (outer elbow pain) that I attribute to either switching out my bench form (I am now trying to widen my grip), doing a slow negative on my last rep of my last set of presses (stupid, I know) or a recently started program of hammer chins from a dead hang on a bar that is probably 1.25 to 1.5 inches or so (slightly but noticeably thicker than a typical bar).

How did you cure yourself? Did you ever try the hammer grips?

[mikeylikey]

I had the same thing for about a year. It still gets a little bit aggravated from throwing. I finally figured out what it was.

I was never sure if it was from squatting or poor power cleans, since both tended to make it hurt. This summer I did an LP after a long layoff (had a kid) and worked up to a PR 320x5,5,5 squat with ZERO elbow pain whatsoever - and I did zero power cleans during that time. Only then did I start power cleaning again. The other night, with 155, I had a lousy rep that I didn't get pulled high enough, and tried to force it to rack, and WHAM, same exact elbow pain in my left arm. Luckily it's a week later and the pain is gone, so I think as long as I am careful I should be okay here.

Anyway, that tells me conclusively that it was power-cleaning that caused my problems. What happened (I think) is that way back when I first started lifting, I progressed too quickly on power cleans, because I had no bumper plates and was in a hurry to use 45lb plates so as to do the full movement from the floor, and never really got my form down right. I was forcing myself under a bar that I couldn't pull adequately high and that screwed up my elbows. For all I know I have a permanent issue.

There's no reason anybody should listen to me about anything, but I intend to suggest to anybody I speak to about The Program that they consider waiting till their deadlift is ~275 before thinking about trying the power cleans, that is, if bumpers are not available.

[yorick]

mikey, are you saying that you weren't getting the clean to your shoulders and catching it in a floating position, or were you failing them completely and dropping them?

[mikeylikey]

mikey, are you saying that you weren't getting the clean to your shoulders and catching it in a floating position, or were you failing them completely and dropping them?

Don't laugh ok:

I'd get the bar pulled to about sternum height, and then jam my elbows forward so that my forearms worked sort of like a deadlift jack to get the weight the last inch or two to my shoulders. All I knew was I wasn't PULLING with my arms, so I couldn't figure out what was wrong, and blamed it on elbows dropping in squats. I could feel that racking was painful, but I thought THAT was from having a high forearm/humerus ratio and bad flexibility, and figured that was exacerbating an injury that was caused by squatting. So I pushed through. Yes, I owned the DVD, and yes I filmed myself but I never caught this.

I was doing lots of hang cleans for technique practice, and then doing worksets with say 35's on the bar, from the floor, but that thew off my timing and my form was just horrible.

[yorick]

Don't laugh ok:

Hey, no laughing here. Thanks for elaborating. Most things here can be used as a learning experience.

[Tamara Reynolds]

There's no reason anybody should listen to me about anything, but I intend to suggest to anybody I speak to about The Program that they consider waiting till their deadlift is ~275 before thinking about trying the power cleans, that is, if bumpers are not available.

Or, they could just learn how to power clean correctly from the beginning. I would recommend that.

Also, you can clean from the floor with iron plates smaller than 45 lbs...

And, I could power clean 135 for reps well before my deadlift was 275 lbs...

[ColoWayno]

I have the same problem. I'm just taking time off from chins until it gets better. Then I'll ramp those back up. I'll probably have to keep icing that elbow, when I do start them again, for a while.
Someone recommended hammer grip chins but I haven't tried them.

I finally switched to pull-ups. The problem that I had for over a year is gone.

[RRod]

Have you tried adjusting your grip? Another option is to use rings or other dangling handles to do your chins.