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Thread: elbow pain from weighted pushups

  1. #1
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    Default elbow pain from weighted pushups

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    After getting my goal bench press, I've decided to try out weighted pushups for a bunch of reasons.
    I'm doing them with ~180-190kg (~418lbs) total weight, and shift the added weight up to the shoulders when I wish for more intensity.

    The problem I ran into is, my elbows have started hurting. The pain is inside the elbow crease, consistent with pain from achilles tendonitis I got before (no pain during the pushups or pressing activities, hurts in the morning the most). Initially I was doing pushups from palms, but due to limited flexibility there, my forearms would never be perpendicular to the floor, and elbow would get way behind the forearm. Could this be the cause of the pain? Since then I started doing knuckle pushups, which lets me keep my forearms close to perpendicular, and pain seems to be subsiding, but I'm still a bit worried, and would be grateful for any advice or information.

  2. #2
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    Inside the elbow crease is not entirely specific. If you must do push-ups, push up bars will allow you to do push-ups into old age.

  3. #3
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    You knuckle push-up with over 400lbs on your back? How do you safely load this much on your back?

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Will Morris View Post
    Inside the elbow crease is not entirely specific. If you must do push-ups, push up bars will allow you to do push-ups into old age.
    I did them wrong again for a week on purpose and the pain seems to be located in the front of elbow crease on the point farthest from the body.

    Quote Originally Posted by Soule View Post
    You knuckle push-up with over 400lbs on your back? How do you safely load this much on your back?
    Nono, it's my own bodyweight + weight of training partner. The actual weight is about 60-70% of that. Honestly pushups are super easy to do weighted with a person on the back, because you can tell the person to move their mass to your shoulders for increased resistance, or lower to the feet for less resistance, and measure it exactly by putting your hands on scales + once you start failing you can cheat by dropping hips which works very well as a back off set without having to wait to get the weight removed. Also way more core work than bench press. If only I found a way to do squats and deadlifts with just human bodyweight, I wouldn't have to go to the gym anymore.

  5. #5
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    Gotcha!

  6. #6
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    is she cute ?

  7. #7
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    starting strength coach development program
    I’m afraid, sometimes, the injuries people come into the clinic with are a result of their own poor life choices. If someone continues to make poor life choices, nothing I could possibly do will improve their situation.

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