small pain in elbow...

yioooo!

 

So I've started training straight arm strength movements since a month now, and I have to say that progression came faster than I thought.

 

However, I have a very slight pain in my elbow... Nothing major, it doesn't even bother me and doesn't affect my training performance at all.

However, I'm still worried since elbows are very easily injured.

 

I asked one of advanced street workout guys that work out in my park (he can do planches, levers, etc.) and he basically told me that it's only my elbow getting used to straight arm strength and that eventually it will get stronger and the little pain will fade.

 

Is this correct? Or should I be worried?

the elbow has a lot of areas. what's bothering you? bicep tendon, brachioradialis, med. epicondyle, lat. epicondyle, etc...?

What sort of straight-arm elements? Are we talking planks and handstands, or are we talking straight arms on rings?

 

A bit of adaptation time is normal but pain is not often a good thing.

We're talking basics here, no ring. So planche, levers and l-sit.

MT nordic, I don't really know all these parts lol definitely not the biceps tho, it's really at the joint area, in the elbow, a very slight but still existing pain.

Btw I just had like a flashback and I think I experienced the same thing a year ago when I was learning bar muscle ups

Maybe someone else can chime in to help. I'm not really picturing where it is bothering you.  If it is the elbow joint capsule, you may be risking significant injury with pushing through that.  It sounds really subtle right now, so just pay real close attention to your body, and perhaps take a step back to some more basic moves to give it time to adapt to the stresses you're putting on it.  Remember, it takes the connective tissue months to adapt to stressors, whereas the muscles adapt in weeks, so your strength can quickly outpace your supporting connective tissue and lead to injury.

Hmm okay I will slow down a little, thank you!

I'll make some research when I can mabey I'll find the exact part that hurts and it will be easier to seek advice

Your elbow is sore because you are training elements that you are not yet ready for.

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Coach Sommer said:

Your elbow is sore because you are training elements that you are not yet ready for.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Thank you for answering, I completely removed planche training in my workouts. I now work only back and front lever, I think it's safer for my elbows

hype said:

Thank you for answering, I completely removed planche training in my workouts. I now work only back and front lever, I think it's safer for my elbows

Keep planche, remove back lever (yet another reason to get foundation)

Hmms said:

Keep planche, remove back lever (yet another reason to get foundation)

That would depend on the hand position of the planches he does. The planche with hands backward is harder on the elbows than the supinated grip back lever.

Hmms said:

Keep planche, remove back lever (yet another reason to get foundation)

I would tend to agree. I've noticed far more people complaining of elbow issues from bl + pl than fl + pl.

B1214N said:

That would depend on the hand position of the planches he does. The planche with hands backward is harder on the elbows than the supinated grip back lever.

For the hand placement, My hands are not backward, they are almost straight, just a little rotated to the right so it's easier on my wrists.

And for back lever I use the standard grip that everyone uses

So I should work pl+fl instead of bl+fl? Cause I'm really really close to a full back lever right now, I can hold the straddle with no problem...

Also, I seem to not feel anything when working BL, and then when I get to the planche, the little pain appears. So mabey the planche is the problem? (Btw I'm at advanced tuck planche if that matters)

Hype, how long have you've been training planche? I started foundation over a year ago and am only at the beginning of the tuck planche work. What I'm trying to say is that you're probably progressing way too fast for your own good. You need to build your tuck planche volume to a very high level before proceeding. And before even doing that, you need to be able to do a ton of planche leans. Sounds like you're dabbling, instead of really squeezing every last drop of benefit from each exercise. If you race towards your end goal, your impatience may bite you in the arse when your progress begins to stall. Just saying.

Thank you for your advice, and I think you're right, I'm rushing it too early.. I've decided to go back to frog stand holds and make sure everything is solid before attempting more advanced stuff.

As for Bl, I've decided to keep it since I'm already at the end of the progressions anyways (I can hold a full b-lever a good 5 sec) and it doesn't bother my elbows like the planche..

Full Back Lever will be way harder on your elbows than Tuck/Adv Tuck Planche. Perhaps take a break from the Back Levers and work on Front and Planche.

Hype, take it from someone who have been in your shoes: A screwed up brachialis in the elbow will set you back two months if you're lucky, perhaps a year if you're not. The back lever is deceptive because it is not hard in terms of strength, but is very hard on your connective tissue. So you feel like you can hold it, and you feel somewhat triumphant for it, but meanwhile your elbows are slowly blowing up. Once the pain is there, just taking a week or two off makes no difference. You'll have to start completely over, and this time MUCH slower than before.

 

So your choice is this: Go slow now, or be forced to go slow later.

 

At this point in your training, you should not do exercises which you cannot do 10-30 good reps of, or hold for at least 20-30 seconds. If you cannot do this, the exercise is most likely too hard. Is this boring? Perhaps. Is it sexy? Definitely not. Think of it as an investment. The flashy stuff comes later. This sucks if you're really dying to show your friends something cool, but that's the state of things.

From Hype's words, it doesn't sound like it is a brachialis and biceps problem since he doesn't feel any pain in the supinated grip BL. We still haven't found out which part of the elbow and tendons he is hurting at, but I guessing he could be a hurting at the tendon of the brachioradialis or other forearm elbow flexor since he said it hurts when he does planche work with the hands forward which is mainly where the stress goes to at the elbow with that hand position.

 

Cautiously try a variation of a pronated grip BL to see if you get the same discomfort or pain at the same area as in the planche work you do Hype.

i'm experiencing a similar problem during planche, so i've stopped with it. but my approach was get the mastery over F1 an F2 and i've never had problems. my joints are prepared. my pain came out after loosing a grip during rings swing.

In this section of the elbow there is about 3 to 5 fascia layers that usually leads to pain when elbow in extended. nothing serious of course.

you should avoid straight arms exercises for a while and see a physio to check the problem. if is brachioradialis fascia i can show a very good stretch position, this because the brachioradialis could be stretched with both internal and external hand rotation, but without specific test you cannot know where is the problem.

you have to notice that if you did not have an accident BUT the pain came out with skills practice i think you are not ready for this intensity as previously posted by Coach.

Could you send me details of that brachioradialis fascia stretch, it maybe one of the things I need to sort out my forearms.

Actually I CAN hold all previous holds for 30 sec.. Like I said I'm far from a beginner in bodyweight training and I know that everything needs to be mastered before progressing.. For instance, I have worked ONLY on pull-ups dips and push-ups (STreet workout basics) for a whole year non-stop before even attempting a muscle up. I reached very high numbers before trying more advanced stuff (25 pull ups, 45 dips, 70 pushups). Also, I have always done everything with strict perfect form and made this a priority, quality over quantity always.

BUT i agree with you that feeling a pain is clearly not normal, and it means that I must have done something wrong.

Now I'm a little scared cause like you said, an injury may reduce my capacities forever..

May I ask more advice from you guys? What should I do? Completely stop BL and PL training? Go back to easier holds and master them for even longer? Plz show me the good way I'm a little lost now :/

P.s. i know that foundation would be my best bet, but for money and equipment issues I can't get it. So any other advice besides get Foundation is appreciated

As for back lever, yeah I read that it puts more pressure on the elbow too but strangely it's rly not my case, back lever feels very smooth for me compared to the planche which seems rly taxing on my elbows

Wierd

Well did you try a pronated grip back lever yet to see if you get the same pain in the same area as you would in the planche?

B1214N said:

Well did you try a pronated grip back lever yet to see if you get the same pain in the same area as you would in the planche?

Not yet, I'm rly busy this week and same thing for next week cause it's my final exam period at college.. I'll try it as soon as I can and post some feedback here