[Bobling]

A couple of months ago I noticed my elbows were hurting whilst resting between climbs, the pain is right inside the elbows (left slightly worse than right) - i.e if you put your thumb and forefinger on the inside and outside of  the elbow the pain is equidistant between the two.  It is not a sharp pain, more of a dull throb - kind of like the pain you get in your wrists if you get RSI from typing too much.  I had an enforced rest through a running injury for about six weeks and thought that that amount of rest would cure it, but apparently not as it flared up again almost immediately.  I have had a couple of sports massages now and as long as I climb no more than once a week it doesn't seem to appear, but if I try to climb more frequently it does.  But I really want to a) try and work out what it was and b) climb whenever i want to, but more than once a week I mean what's the point of going to Font for a day's climbing?!

Anyone have any ideas/similar problems?  All thoughts appreciated...

Oh, and I now know for a fact - sport is bad for you.

[dave]

sounds a bit like font elbow.

[SA Chris]

Sounds like what plagued me for a while, like Dave says; font elbow? Hurts a lot, especially when hanging straight arm on slopers? I rested it for 5 month, while working for a ski season, thinking it would recover, but hurt as soon as I started climbing again, which, I believe now, was due to muscles/tendons shortening.

I stretch my inner elbow quite a bit now, and it hasn't really bothered me for a while, but I haven't really climbed hard for a while.

[Bobling]

Thanks for the info - so where do I find out a bit more about Font elbow?  Does it have a medical name? Any known cures? Any other sufferers out there who can help? Questions, questions, questions....

[unclesomebody]

all you need to do is learn how to stretch properly as part of your warm up and it will go away.  Just google for stretching exercises and find some that stretch the muscles along the top of you forearm and inside your elbow.

[webbo]

get the book pain free by pete egoscue. i've used the exercises and my elbow is relatively pain free :wink:

[Bubba]

Also, there's a great stretching site here

[T.H.]

Sounds like a classic case of tendonitis to me.  The usual way to stop it reoccuring is to warm-up better and rest better.

However, I used to get this REAL bad, and the way I got rid of it was to train my antagonists.  I always thought this sounded a load of nonsense, imbalanced joints and all that.  But I started training my triceps and I haven't had a twinge since.

Just one more suggestion for you.

[dave]

yo THZA, whats the best (read easiest) way to train triceps, without access to multigym-pulldown flavaz. i got some free dumbells, a theraband loop, a woody and a fingerboard. hit me with some shit onetime.

[Bubba]

- Pressups
- Dips using a strong sided chair
- Them things where you put your arms behind you on a bench, sit down with legs straight and press up and down with yer arms.

[Fingers of a Martyr]

Them things where you put your arms behind you on a bench, sit down with legs straight and press up and down with yer arms

they rock. 3 sets of twelve nice and slow and don't move the arms below right angles and your triceps will feel like they've died (in the best possible way though).

[SA Chris]

Or lie on your back, elbows in the air, and lift the dumbells from above your head (no ide what its called)

[Bubba]

Some people call them Skull Crushers for the obvious reason.

Tricep kickbacks are good too.

[a dense loner]

triceps extentions perchance. stand there with one arm vertical, put other hand behind head n support arm from goin back, lower arm to right angle n extend back up to just before locking out. we are talkin about strong triceps here so take time to do them. also lie on back n do virtually the same thing, this is a bit more awkward wi dumbbells, get a small barbell n do it two handed. you'll soon look like willenburg.
if you're normal :? your triceps will be weaker than your biceps at first. this will quite soon turn around. then you will be able to go n kick chalk in peoples faces

[dave]

triceps extentions perchance. stand there with one arm vertical, put other hand behind head n support arm from goin back, lower arm to right angle n extend back up to just before locking out.

yeah i've tried them before, they are just a ballache to do with any kind of weight cos your arm tends to flop all over the place. thats why i want tricep excersises that are "easy" to do, i.e. don't require amazing body control to do them. i've half been thinking of riggin up me own pulldown bar in the cellar with some cord, a bit of broomhandle and a pulley or summert fixed to a rafter.

do pressups really work triceps, o though it was more shoulders and ting?

[Bubba]

Pressups will work the shoulders, chest and triceps so are a great all round exercise.

Try some tricep kickbacks - they're pretty easy to do:

[cofe]

tricep curls are what i do, do them with a lighter weight but lower (i.e. extend) them down really slowly. it's fairly easy to hold arm steady but you feel the burn after about 10 when you get the weight right - you just need to play around a bit. this apparently trains eccentric control and strength.

[a dense loner]

press ups are quite useless for working triceps. they're good to a very soon reached point. but try press ups with your hands meetin, forefinger n thumbs, shuffle feet towards you about a foot n start doin push ups. you will prob look like T.H warmin up. these are hard n will blow your little arms away

[Bubba]

press ups are quite useless for working triceps.

With all respect dense, that is bollox.

They don't isolate your triceps like kickbacks will do, but the still work them well. For a climber just trying to do some antagonistic exercises, they're a good exercise because it works several muscle groups at the same time.

[Bubba]

Dips are good too, and easy to add weight with a harness.

[Bobling]

Cheers for all the help folks, I think stretching/warm ups and strengthening exercises are the key then.  Guess I might even invest in some dumbells from the sounds of it.

[a dense loner]

with all due respect bubba, if you're goin to lambast me please put in the rest of my sentence which was "they're good to a very soon reached point". this is true., this is not bollox. they are a very good all round exercise. however they are not very good for giving you tricep strength. neither are kickbacks which only accentuate the muscle. basically pushdowns n extentions are the only things you should be doin to increase tricep strength, them press up thingies i mentioned are good, also to a point. you can then use them to warm up into your weights. the one problem with climbers is because they go to a wall they think they are strong, they then think they are strong in every part of their body. this is not so. climbers basically go to a gym n do pull ups or pull downs to show the big boys how strong they are!

[a dense loner]

ps dips are good, if you want to get strong in any one part of the body, just train that one part. then add the bigger muscle groups to totally waste that one part. ie pushdown, extentions then press ups. cos by this time press ups are harder but you can still do them cos the back will take over but you will still be working triceps.

[dave]

thanks marius gresham there. whens your next coaching weekend on? lets have it.

[Bubba]

please put in the rest of my sentence which was "they're good to a very soon reached point"

Well, I didn't really understand what that meant!

If you mean you reach the point where you can do them endlessly, then just add weight (rucksac, girlfriend, etc). We're talking stuff that's easy to do at home here I thought. Don't rate one arm pressups that much, they put a nasty strain on your spine.

I've found kickbacks very good in the past, but the best thing by far I've done is weighted dips.
 
I agree, pushdowns are good, but they're more of a gym thang, unless you wanna start messing about with pulleys and that.