Elbow Pain after Back Lever work

[Howell]

I'm having elbow pain after working the back lever exercises. After getting down from about 10 seconds of the hold my elbows feel a little tight and slightly painful. The main part of the pain goes away after I straighten my arms a few times, but I have some lasting tenderness through the rest of the day.. especially if I push my arms down on my desk as if I'm doing an iron cross. Is this pain part of conditioning my elbows as coach instructs? Or do I need to back off to a different exercise to get ready for back lever work? I could easily push though the pain if it isn't a problem.. I just want to make sure I'm not getting tendonitis or something. I can do handstands, supports and planche work without any of these problems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_asV8412W4

[Philip Chubb]

Did you get your 3x30 second German Hang first? If not, that is a prerequisite for back lever training. Back levers put a bit of stress on the tendon. If you try German Hangs and those aggravate you as well, lower the rings to the point where your toes just barely touch the ground. You can use them to take small amounts of weight off your German Hang until it feels good enough to eventually do it regularly. I hope something here helps!

[Marlon]

You definitely want to back off from back lever work. If you are having elbow pain thats lasting on through the day from back levers you are probably developing tendonitis. Like Philip said, if you don't have a 3x30 second german hang yet you should start working on that, but go slowly. If you still have elbow pain in the german hang just take a week off. Ice, massage, rest etc. and re-assess how your feel at the end of that week. A lot of the static positions and exercises in coach's program are very difficult on the joints and connective tissue, but you should never be experiencing pain while training, it's unnecessary and means that you are working beyond your limits either in volume or intensity. Trust me, i'm dealing with tendonitis in my wrist and my elbow as well right now, Tendon's take a really long time to heal. even if the pain is minor and something you could easily work through, its not gonna be worth it in the long run if you push it to the point where it becomes something major.

To be honest, even if you weren't having any pain in your elbows I would advise you to take a step back in your back lever training. Paying very close attention to form is what's going to allow you to progress in the long term through gymnastics training, and while your hips are extended beyond a tuck your a sacrificing a flat back/hollow body position for a very significant arch which means that either your shoulders, chest, and lats aren't strong enough to support you with that degree of extension, or your core strength is lacking.

[Howell]

Thanks for the advice to you both.

I tried the 3x30s Germans, they were easy and felt fine. Actually my elbows felt loose afterward. As for the back lever work, I backed off to the tuck hold and concentrated on form. I found that it put considerably less pressure on my elbows and I didn't have further pain. So I'll continue to do just that in my workouts, loosen up with the Germans and then work the tuck back lever.

Thanks again!

[Joshua Naterman]

Be careful, just the fact that you felt pain before means there is an injury lurking beneath the surface. If the tuck isn't aggravating it you may be fine there, but keep doing at least one set of the 30s german hangs. They help develop flexibility and connective tissue strength in the anterior shoulder girdle.

Take at least a full SSC before you do a tuck max hold. I would actually do 2 SSC before you max, and just increase your hold times by 5 seconds for your sets so that you give everything plenty of time to heal. If you start to feel anything similar to the elbow pain you were recently worried about you'll need to take some time off from the back lever work completely. It may be worth it for you to just do tuck BL once a week to maintain your hold by using your current work sets and do GH the rest of the workout days for a few weeks just to be safe. It's up to you, just pay close attention to how your elbows feel either way!

Hydrotherapy will help too, hot/cold to pump blood through. Always end on cold for the first few weeks. After that it's your choice, but many people think that cold is the best choice to end with no matter what.

[Jonathan Nasman]

This is really helpful information guys. I've been having a bit of elbow pain in one elbow in BL while trying to progress to SBL. I think I may have gone too quickly from the ATBL to SBL. I'm going to ease up and focus on building joint strength.

It's always hard to focus on the foundational / more basic stuff when you want to progress so badly, but I know it's ultimately worth it for long term health and form.

[Joshua Naterman]

You'll make the mental shift eventually. I have just recently made some more mental shifts that have me enjoying myself a lot more. It is hard to learn to just enjoy where you are at, but that is what you must do. If you are dissatisfied you will have a powerful urge to move on from whatever is dissatisfying, and if that means moving from the right amount of training to training that is a little too advanced it will lead to trouble. I'm having a lot of fun with my XR supports, HeS RLL, HS holds, L sit work, and FL prerequisite work. I'm also doing rehab work on my shoulders and elbows, and in many ways I am doing as well now as I was when I was at my strongest, and this time I'm just feeling awesome!