Low bar - bicep tendonitis

[joshwaaa]

Hi,

You may or may not have seen my thread on Ripp's Q&A. But I have some questions re low bar and I fear of getting reamed by Uncle Ripp.

I have developed a good case of bicep tendonitis in both elbows when starting Low Bar the same time I started TM. I Have been slowly learning where to put the bar to stop it moving about and rolling.

1. How much forward lean should there be when just standing with the bar? I seem to need a bit of forward lean and cant stand straight upright with the bar or it will Roll down my back.

2. Does one need to push real hard with the palms on bar to jam it in position? There seems to be a fair bit of debate on how to actual hold the bar, some ppl have suggested to white knuckle the thing, others just say to hold it in the palms in classic rip style.

3. Does anyone have experience with the ibuprophen protocol and when I can do it again? Should I wait 1 month or so?

prefer responses from intermediates that squat around 400lbs/180kg for reps. I only start having problems when the weight hits about 160kg/350lbs 5 * 5


cheers,

Joshwaaa

[Rezart Erindi]

Hi,

You may or may not have seen my thread on Ripp's Q&A. But I have some questions re low bar and I fear of getting reamed by Uncle Ripp.

I have developed a good case of bicep tendonitis in both elbows when starting Low Bar the same time I started TM. I Have been slowly learning where to put the bar to stop it moving about and rolling.

1. How much forward lean should there be when just standing with the bar? I seem to need a bit of forward lean and cant stand straight upright with the bar or it will Roll down my back.

2. Does one need to push real hard with the palms on bar to jam it in position? There seems to be a fair bit of debate on how to actual hold the bar, some ppl have suggested to white knuckle the thing, others just say to hold it in the palms in classic rip style.

3. Does anyone have experience with the ibuprophen protocol and when I can do it again? Should I wait 1 month or so?

prefer responses from intermediates that squat around 400lbs/180kg for reps. I only start having problems when the weight hits about 160kg/350lbs 5 * 5


cheers,

Joshwaaa

I can help you since I've had the bicep tendinitis myself, and I can respond to the questions you asked, but since 400 lbs is my 1RM, I am not qualified to respond.

[joshwaaa]

Hi Leonidas,

It was not my intention to put anyone offside, it was only my preferance. My thinking was that an intermediate would have the experience, and someone with similiar poundages may have shared the same problem.

I am interested in your experience if you care to post.

cheers,

Joshwaaa

[Rezart Erindi]

Hi Leonidas,

It was not my intention to put anyone offside, it was only my preferance. My thinking was that an intermediate would have the experience, and someone with similiar poundages may have shared the same problem.

I am interested in your experience if you care to post.

cheers,

Joshwaaa

Yeah I know, I was just fucking with you.
On to the responses than:
1) There should be some forward lean when standing in the low bar position, as the bar has to be over the middle of the foot. So that's not only normal but necessary. I suggest you look at the figures of the squat on the book, and you'll see some the same thing.
2) It has been my experience and others (see this thread started by Sami: http://startingstrength.com/resource...t=14589&page=1), that you should not push real hard on the bar with your hands. Also I suggest to lookup Rip's squat video on youtube.
3) I think that you can rerun the protocol after 1-2 weeks off, but really, you should fix this before it takes that much.

As I said in this thread:http://startingstrength.com/resource...t=25269&page=1
I suggest you try varying your grip, begin shoulder dislocates in the warmup, or even better, Defranco's warmup (which you can find in Sami's thread), and foam rolling. These have helped me a lot.

[joshwaaa]

Thanks,

I have read all of ripp's books, the figures look more upright then I can get. In this video for example: http://vimeo.com/11913431?ab , when ripp returns to the starting position he squeezes his glutes and he looks pretty upright. Perhpas its just a postition im not use to due to high bar....


I have done a fair bit of searching on this forum and have already read Sami's thread. With the information from sami's thread I was able to find a position that stopped the bar rolling and reduced pain, but I am still obviously getting the pain in my arms. I am doing shoulder dislocates before starting.

I seem to get the most upper back tightness when I push on the bar. I have tried just forcing my shoulders back, but the bar still seems to roll.

I am currently putting my grip just inside the notches of the knurl. I am trying to hold it the same as ripp in the video. I put the bar just below the bone (spine of scapula) and try to rest the bar on my whole back and rear delts... However if I stand up to forcefully, the bar wiggles and moves. The rack at my gym also sucks, the uprights and hooks are on an angle rather then flat so I have a hard time getting 180kg out of it which I think fuks with my start position and can sometimes move the bar if Im not forceful with my hands.

[Gunnhild Bruno]

It's hard to give you any meaningful help unless we can see what you're doing. But my squat will never be 400#, so what do I know?

[Steve Hill]

It's hard to give you any meaningful help unless we can see what you're doing. But my squat will never be 400#, so what do I know?

Well, I can squat 400, so...

What spar said. Before the part about her squat never being 400. Post a fricken' video for god's sake.

You also need to post what all your stats are (age, height/weight, what your other lifts are).

[joshwaaa]

Big thanks to all, I believe I may have figured this out with a bit of trial and error.

My arms were already f'kd and hadn't healed properly from initial low bar issues. As a result, I wasn’t being forceful enough (holding the bar tight and keeping upper back tight) which was making the situation worse. In other words I was trying to protect my arms, which was killing me.

Today I successfully squatted 180kg * 5 with no issues. Just needed a bit of anti inflammatory gel, deep heat, fuk loads of paracetamol (ibuprophen if you can). I have also been taking about 20 fish oil caps a day.

Some queues that helped:

• elbows back n up
• Weight in palms, hold bar with authority, jam the bar!
• chest up
• stay tight, no wiggling

All of these obvious, but there you go....

P.S. apologies to spar and all, perhaps I should have just said "intermediate" rather than a weight.... live and learn.

[CJTX]

I had a similar problem with bicep/elbow tendonitits about a year ago. FWIW, heavy barbell curls (~5 rep sets) seemed to make my elbows much more forgiving to small issues with arm position in the squat. Not a liscense to squat with your arms under the bar, just a little insurance in case you have a few bad sets. Good luck! It can be a frustrating problem.

[RobCor]

Thanks,

I have read all of ripp's books, the figures look more upright then I can get. In this video for example: http://vimeo.com/11913431?ab , when ripp returns to the starting position he squeezes his glutes and he looks pretty upright. Perhpas its just a postition im not use to due to high bar....

I think Rip's uprightness might actually be attributable to his kyphotic spine. Since his upper spine has that curve, the bar is over his mid foot when his back is mostly straight.