The Squat and Elbow Pain

[box]

Mr. Rip,

I have reserved a spot at your WFAC SSS and look forward to meeting you and Justin in person. Unfortunately, I have a pretty big problem which I would like to try to fix before the seminar.

When squatting heavy weights for reps, I experience intense pain in my left elbow. It starts out slowly, but by the third set it hurts quite a bit. This pain has become progressively worse as the weeks go by, despite my numerous changes in grip width and bar positioning. As you can imagine, the pain is blocking my progress in the other lifts as well. Hopefully you will be able to suggest something that I have yet to try:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onYXSC3qY6c

I'm still on the road to getting 70's Big. I've gone from a bodyweight of 210lbs to 260lbs in three months, but my lifts still have a long way to go.

19 years old, 6'2", 260lbs, GOMAD fanatically.
Squat - 350x5x3
Press - 127.5x5x3
Bench - 180x5x3
Deadlift - 255x5 (I know, I'm working on it)
Power Clean - 175x3x5

Thanks for your help and Merry Christmas,

-Sean

[Mark Rippetoe]

It's a grip issue of some sort. Dealt with in the book and in numerous posts here.

[gman]

I'm still on the road to getting 70's Big. I've gone from a bodyweight of 210lbs to 260lbs in three months

-Sean

50 lbs in 3 months...oh to be 19 again.

[elVarouza]

I used to have this problem. Potential causes I've experienced are:

1. Bar is asymmetrical on the back. I was squatted for nearly a month with the bar about two inches too far to my left before I happened to glance in a mirror and go "wtf?".
2. Posterior delts aren't contracted hard enough throughout the set. If the bar slips slightly on your back as you unrack it, even though it may feel secure for the rest of the set, it's going to cause shoulder or elbow pain in my experience. Bar should not move during the set.

[Tor]

I've dealt with this problem before, as well. My solution was (1) to change to a bent wrist grip, as I've talked about a couple of times in the past (this put my shoulders and elbows in a better position at the expense of my wrists... but I've never had wrist problems) (2) to lay off heavy squatting for a week while the worst of the pain subsided (I substituted Dave Draper's Top Squat for low-bar squats... this put my arms in front of my body like a safety bar squat... the best use I have found for the Top Squat, by the way) (3) to move my grip out wider, almost to the uprights on the squat rack and (4) to write on the wall in front of me 'elbows up'.

The problem has never returned and I've been able to move my grip in closer since to keep my upper back tighter through the lift.

Tor