Bicep pain when doing pull-ups and tumbling - since 1 year!

[Katharina Huemer]

I did Acrobatics/Tumbling for a long time, but started with gymnastics a little later. I am doing really fine, I am quite strong (50 push-ups, 20 hanging leg raises, press handstands etc) but I always get severe problems with my biceps.

It usually starts when doing pull-ups or when I work on bars, 10 minutes is enough to get it started. It is a sharp and pulling pain in my biceps, feels like near the bone. 
Then I sometimes have dull and pushing-like pain on the inner side of my elbow and sometimes on the "back" where the tricep tendon attaches, which just flares up whenever it wants to.

If I train through this, it gets worse and worse each session, it even hurts when doing handstand-pops. When it's really bad, it hurts in my elbow and spreads down the whole arm. When I bend my arm, I get horrible sharp pain in the biceps and even muscle spasms. 

There is no redness, swelling or tingling and it doesn't hurt when I touch it.

I have been to several doctors, but no one could help me. All they said was it might be a nerve, a tendonitis or some sort of overuse injury.

But I really wanna know wha the cause of this problem is!

[Mikkel Ravn]

In all likelihood, too much work too soon. You need to build strength and work capacity slowly, and much more so when you know that you have tendon issues.

For this reason alone, you should get the foundation series. It starts out gently, but finishes brutally.

[Connor Davies]

You haven't adequately prepared your elbows for the stresses you are placing on them.

 

As Ravn said Foundation would be the best option for your goals.

 

You should stop training pullups, even any bar work if your elbow pain persists outside of training time.

[Christoph Pahl]

The reason is most probably a biceps too short wrt. the brachialis. In this case you should train your brachialis more than your biceps, and stretch biceps more than brachialis. Unfortunately they cannot be strengthened or stretched completely independently. Although "buy foundation" might be the best answer for 80% of the questions here, I'm a bit sceptical that it fully covers in the best way special problems like yours. 

[Connor Davies]

Although "buy foundation" might be the best answer for 80% of the questions here, I'm a bit sceptical that it fully covers in the best way special problems like yours. 

I had the exact same problem as OP.  Foundation did wonders for rehabbing my elbow and building up the brachioradialis muscle.

[Katharina Huemer]

I had the exact same problem as OP. Foundation did wonders for rehabbing my elbow and building up the brachioradialis muscle.

Thanks for all your answer! I really wanna get rid of it, and I would Try F1 but I just don't dare to buy it. I am a girl, I am from Austria and I don't have any Equipment at home, just parallettes and a pull- up Bar. I don't know what this "Foundation" is about! Is it exercises? How do I know how I should Progress with it? Just trying those exercises one after the other? How strong should I be at the beginning and how strong at the end? How long does it take to finish? I just have no idea!!! And how should F1 help me to recover from my injury? Is there a stretch or rehab Program as well? I would be happy if Someone could give me some answers cuz I might buy this F1-thing 😜

[Mikkel Ravn]

F1-F4 is a program that ends with seven gymnastic strength goals:

 

The front lever

The manna

The single leg squat (and more)

The straddle planche

Hollowback press

Rope climb

Side lever

 

Google these, if you don't know what they are. It sounds like you've got most of the equipment required. You'll need a set of rings, the rest can be improvised to begin with, but at some point you'll need a set of stall bars too.

 

F1 consists of very basic exercises, so you don't have to be strong to begin with. It is a program for beginners, but many advanced trainees are also doing it, because it is a requirement to be able to safely train the more advanced programs that are coming out soon.

 

F1 could help you recover your injury, by forcing you to tackle exercises that are less about strength, and more about endurance. Over time, the endurance element is toned down, and true strength exercises are introduced, so that you are forced to prepare your body for the demands of heavy strength training. 

 

In addition, the F-series are full of mobility exercises that have to be mastered in order for you to move on. That can help to remove some of the deficiencies that we all have, which are often the underlying causes of an injury.

 

Edit: There are other girls doing the F-series too, so you're not alone - and your question about how to do the program, well, you start from the beginning, and the course will tell you what to do.

[Katharina Huemer]

F1-F4 is a program that ends with seven gymnastic strength goals:

 

The front lever

The manna

The single leg squat (and more)

The straddle planche

Hollowback press

Rope climb

Side lever

 

Google these, if you don't know what they are. It sounds like you've got most of the equipment required. You'll need a set of rings, the rest can be improvised to begin with, but at some point you'll need a set of stall bars too.

 

F1 consists of very basic exercises, so you don't have to be strong to begin with. It is a program for beginners, but many advanced trainees are also doing it, because it is a requirement to be able to safely train the more advanced programs that are coming out soon.

 

F1 could help you recover your injury, by forcing you to tackle exercises that are less about strength, and more about endurance. Over time, the endurance element is toned down, and true strength exercises are introduced, so that you are forced to prepare your body for the demands of heavy strength training. 

 

In addition, the F-series are full of mobility exercises that have to be mastered in order for you to move on. That can help to remove some of the deficiencies that we all have, which are often the underlying causes of an injury.

 

Edit: There are other girls doing the F-series too, so you're not alone - and your question about how to do the program, well, you start from the beginning, and the course will tell you what to do.

Oh, that sounds great!

So which Foundation should I go for? 1,2,3? I don't really need to become like tremendously superduper strong. Just a little more to support my acro training!

A nice straddle press to handstand (at the moment I can do it from the floor) and maybe a pike handstand as well as 10 deadhang pull-ups would be great. I don't need manna or levers, but a V-Sit hold on hands would be cool.

What are the goals of F1? F2? F3?

And one more and maybe the most important question: Does this program tell me how often and how long I should go for the exercises? How many sets and reps? How can I avoid over training and how much training can I do beside it? Should I do extra abs training or will it hinder the progress?

Hope you can help, I am looking forward to buying it!

 

[Katharina Huemer]

F1-F4 is a program that ends with seven gymnastic strength goals:

 

The front lever

The manna

The single leg squat (and more)

The straddle planche

Hollowback press

Rope climb

Side lever

 

Google these, if you don't know what they are. It sounds like you've got most of the equipment required. You'll need a set of rings, the rest can be improvised to begin with, but at some point you'll need a set of stall bars too.

 

F1 consists of very basic exercises, so you don't have to be strong to begin with. It is a program for beginners, but many advanced trainees are also doing it, because it is a requirement to be able to safely train the more advanced programs that are coming out soon.

 

F1 could help you recover your injury, by forcing you to tackle exercises that are less about strength, and more about endurance. Over time, the endurance element is toned down, and true strength exercises are introduced, so that you are forced to prepare your body for the demands of heavy strength training. 

 

In addition, the F-series are full of mobility exercises that have to be mastered in order for you to move on. That can help to remove some of the deficiencies that we all have, which are often the underlying causes of an injury.

 

Edit: There are other girls doing the F-series too, so you're not alone - and your question about how to do the program, well, you start from the beginning, and the course will tell you what to do.

So sorry to bother you once more! I just saw that there is a Handstand 1 as well? What is this one about?

I am already super flexible in all my joints and muscles. Should I order H1 or F1?

[Mikkel Ravn]

Wow, that's a lot of questions 

 

Try searching the forums, and check the product pages for more info.

 

F1-4 are just individual volumes of a single course - The foundation series. Therefore they share the same goal. The goal in H1 is to be able to perform a perfect handstand for 2 minutes.

 

If possible, get both.

[Connor Davies]

Get F1 as it will address your current issues regarding elbow pain.  In the future you may want to look into H1.

[Ben Hack]

Get F1 as it will address your current issues regarding elbow pain.  In the future you may want to look into H1.

Hi Guys

I've just started F1 and H1 and so far so good. I'm coming off the back of many years of weight and body weight training but am still finding many of the F1 exercises are much harder than they look.

One of my main reasons for starting F1 was to rehab some injuries and build myself from the ground up. Much like the OP I've got elbow pain (tennis and golfers elbow) and am interested in knowing which PE's or iM's have specifically helped in fixing these problems. I'm wondering about the idea of adding in some additional iM work if that would help.

I should also mention that I took 3 weeks off any training before starting F1 so my elbow problems are currently quite mild. It seems like a good time to try and fix the problem.

Cheers

Ben

[ASNB]

I had similar elbow issues when I was lifting heavy.  The culprits were the bench press and straight barbell curls, although pullups with quite a bit of extra weight also aggravated the elbows.  It may be that you progressed to harder exercises before your elbows were ready.  

 

Doing straight arm worked has helped tremendously, in particular planches and levers.  I would suggest dropping all dynamic (push ups included) for 2 -3 months and focusing on the static positions as mentioned by other posters.  

 

it may take quite a bit of time for the issue to resolve, it took my elbows a year to heal, so dont jump back into old exercises if you are pain free for a little bit of time.

 

It might help to do some forearm and grip work, which if you do rope climbs will be enough but until you are able to, some easier exercises targeting grip may help.  

 

good luck

[Ben Hack]

Thanks ASNB

 

I think it was the barbell curls and weighted chins that did it for me. I'm actually not getting any pain during exercise at the moment. The main thing that aggravates it is wrestling with my twin boys while changing their nappy/diaper. I don't think my wife will agree to me taking 2-3 months off of this, although the idea is appealing.

 

I've added the wrist prep section from H1 and am likely to be stuck with Scap shrugs for a while so there is some light straight arm work which I'm hoping will help. I'm also doing a lot of trigger point work on my forearms which has removed a lot of the discomfort. With any luck I'm on the mend.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[Coach Sommer]

Good thinking on the forearm trigger point work.  Forearm tightness is the culprit for quite a bit of what is perceived by us as 'wrist' and 'elbow' issues.

 

Focusing on releasing the brachialis area for my own athletes did wonders.

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

[Alan Tseng]

Good thinking on the forearm trigger point work.  Forearm tightness is the culprit for quite a bit of what is perceived by us as 'wrist' and 'elbow' issues.

 

Focusing on releasing the brachialis area for my own athletes did wonders.

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

What other areas do your athletes also focus on releasing besides the brachialis?

[Ben Hack]

Thanks Coach

 

I'm assuming you mean Brachialis insertion around the top of the forearm rather than in the upper arm?

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[Coach Sommer]

What other areas do your athletes also focus on releasing besides the brachialis?

 

Bicep tendon.

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer