Elbow Hyperextension + Video

Hi. I would like Josh's or Coach's opinion on this, or basically anyone who knows how to deal with this - I'm not a beginner in here. (or at least I hope so).

How can one train ring supports and/or other straight arm moves with hyperextended elbows - I've seen a lot of guys with hyperextension doing straight arm skills, but I'm having big problems with this.

Currently I've been trying to train support holds on competition rings as the rings in my room have a short cable and the support is very easy. Basically when I get to support this happens:

I press up, straighten my arms which automatically turns out the rings, but there is no way I can get back because of the hypextension, the elbows are locked out and I can't bend my arms back, this is very annoying, but I can deal with it. The problem is training the support. I've tried lots of ways with this but had no serious results over the last 2-3 months. I can hold it for like 15-25 seconds depending on how fresh I am, but no matter what the pressure on the elbows is very big.

Is there a way how to deal with it? I suppose I just should do the supports until it gets easy but this takes a lot of time already.

My current straight arm strength level:

FX L - 35-40s (building up 60s and 3x30s)

AT BL - 30+s (I have full and straddle BLs too but I don't train them - too much elbow pressure, leads to nowhere)

Straddle FL - 5s

No planche (not training it at all)

No HS presses (building those up slowly as well)

Thanks.

What do you mean the BL doesn't lead anywhere?? And I'm not coach or Josh, pretty far from it actually, but I have some decent elbow hyperextension too. I never really had the problem with support holds that you describe though so i cant help you there. Are you putting pressure on the rings properly?

Coach has said that people with excessive hyperextension tend to have hang ups with their ring strength but I think not usually until advanced SA strength elements. Freaky thing about hyperextension at the elbow is as your SA strength increases, you'll notice a seemingly more prominent hyperextension too. I have anyway.

I'm no expert but I'll give my opinion anyway. Sounds like lack of elbow strength (which perhaps you need more of with hyperextended elbows?). Maybe try turning the rings in before trying to bend your elbows.

One of the other coaches at my gym who is studying physiotherapy asked her tutor about this

She said its not good to have kids weight-bearing through excessively hyperextended elbows because they are hanging on their ligaments which can eventually become more lax and may eventually cause neuropraxia (stretching) of the ulnar nerve which is bad.... this is not common but when it does occur, its usually in gymnasts! She said to make sure they had adequate arm strength so support the ligaments and elbow joint... wrist flexors/extensors, elbow flexors/extensors etc... :)

I'm not sure how specific this is to kids but I hope it helps.

Could there be a lack of strength in your biceps and brachialis compared to triceps that make it harder to flex the arm from that hyper extended position?

tim53 said:

Could there be a lack of strength in your biceps and brachialis compared to triceps that make it harder to flex the arm from that hyper extended position?

I doubt that, I would say my biceps is strong enough, I'm also doing a lot of prehab there - brachialis curls, biceps curls, rope climbs, high TUT straight arm work, etc...

mirroredrain said:

What do you mean the BL doesn't lead anywhere??

I found that 30+s holds work the best. Which is pretty hard to get in half lay or lay right now

I think I'd still search in the direction of biceps strength. Maybe you could practice going into a support on rings with your arms not fully extended, then extend them as slow as possible while still being able to bring them back, and then progressively increase the extension until you can control it on all of your joint's ROM? (All this while keeping your usualy biceps training, and maybe adding more pull-ups and chin-ups progressions.)

This one's for Coach. I don't know what a gymnastic coach would do in this situation. I have very little experience with elbow hyper-extension.

I'd like to hear Sommer weigh in on this as well. I've been experiencing elbow/ulnar nerve issues for the past 5 months. Either I'm not getting adequate rest, or I've been overtraining, or my program has holes. But my technique has been good with elbows fully locked out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_L-iJP2XPA

video, notice getting in and out of the support position. I also added some muscle ups, rolls, and maybe even some back levers at the end so you know my strength level.

Nice slow muscle ups Falcon, well done!