[cofe]

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

damn, i'm assuming it'll be at wimberry  - i'd love to go but i'll be too busy doing the nose again at burbage

[T.H.]

If you really want triceps of steel get yourself four concrete blocks.  Place them about a foot from a wall, two stacked on each side with a gap big enough for your head then do a hand stand with your hands on the blocks, resting your legs against the wall (or just balance there if you're a circus monkey).  Then start cranking.

This obviously works your Triceps big time, it also builds up your Deltoid (the muscle that caps your shoulder) which is going to further increase the balance of your shoulders, what with us all having Lats we could use to fly with.  The concrete blocks allow for the full range of movement to be worked.

You must all have an image of me looking a right weirdo whenever I train, which is probably very accurate.

[cofe]

words fail me.

TH warming his legs up down the wall, by pulling a train:



but its ok, we don't think you're a weirdo.... :clapclap:

[dave]

then a couple of atlas stones to get the arms going.

[account_inactive]

I found that breaking my legs and then using a wheelchair and crutches for a long time game me awsome pressing strength.  Problem being that you are adding extra weight to your arms making it harder for the fingers to compensate.  I haven't seen any tests on this but it made a difference to me compared with just putting weight disapated throughout the body.  Its something to do with Physics as Stu Littleflair he's a boffin :frank:

[Tim Heaton]

If you want exercises for any bit of the body all you have to do is click on the corresponding part on this page and it comes up with a million and one suggestions.

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/MMale.html

I would suggest doing the ones in bold which also say they are the compound exercises i.e. work several muscle groups rather than just the triceps. Personally I have found weighted dips (shoulder width grip) to be the best but vertical pushups are also good, I also quite like close grip bench press. If you are beastly strong then you could try planche pressups a la olympic gymnasts:

http://www.drillsandskills.com/images/display?path=planch.jpg

Do a pressup from this position - how????

Loads of other body weight exercises you can do are also to be found on this page:

http://www.drillsandskills.com/skills/cond/upper

They seem to work for gymnasts and on the T.V. they look nails so should work for mortals too.  

[T.H.]

           

Great pictures.  I might try those exercises next time I train.

[MrBlue]

just to add to the confusion...
any advice for clicking elbows? when doing my antagonist exercises (dips/pushups) my elbows click, which is a bit offputting. mostly when doing pushups actually...

:roll:

[account_inactive]

Clicking is fairly normal, especially in joints and not usually anything to worry about as long as the clicks don't get progressivly louder or worse!  

.............................But then again I'm no Doctor

[T Nagler]

The clicking in my elbows is getting progressively louder and worse!  They sometimes lock at about 120 degrees when I'm trying to straighten them (not when climbing), and when I bend my arm back and straighten it smoothly with momentum it makes a loud clicking noise (very audible to those around).  This clicking noise is getting louder and last time it happened it made an extremely loud and this time dull clicking noise (like throwing a large stone at a hollow log!)  :shock:  :freak: !

Has anybody elce had this/ hurd of this?!

[dave]

think clicking is just air bubbles trapped somewhere in the joints, don't think its owt to worry about unless it is painfull. most joints in my body will crack upon request since i was at junior school (toes, ankles, knees, shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers) and its not causing me any problems.

[account_inactive]

Trev, I'd go and see a physio :shock:

At your age that's not a good sign and although it probably will not stopping you climbing now its going to in the future.

think clicking is just air bubbles trapped somewhere in the joints, don't think its owt to worry about unless it is painfull. most joints in my body will crack upon request since i was at junior school (toes, ankles, knees, shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers) and its not causing me any problems

This is true apart from when things start to get louder after each click or pop.  Why would an air bubble start making a louder noise?  A lot of the noise is cause from substrate tissue being inactive and then stretched back to full range

[dave]

my clicks tend to tail off after the first one or two. pretty sure i once got a fiver out of my big toe  :

[Fingers of a Martyr]

They sometimes lock at about 120 degrees when I'm trying to straighten them (not when climbing), and when I bend my arm back and straighten it smoothly with momentum it makes a loud clicking noise

mine will occasionally do the exact same thing, but only really first thing in the morning. but the clicks aren't getting louder, they're not painful and they've been doing it for ages now. in fact i just did it now. :D
my mate's elbows also do same thing.

[MrBlue]

This is true apart from when things start to get louder after each click or pop.  Why would an air bubble start making a louder noise?  A lot of the noise is cause from substrate tissue being inactive and then stretched back to full range

i asked my physio about this, as most of my joints click...

if it's a 'popping' sound then it's air bubbles,

if the sound is a louder 'crack' then it's either bone catching on the tendon or bone catching on bone as the joints move. the more you click the joints, the more they click. my fingers started with the odd click, i thought it was fun to crack them and now i can pretty much crack every one at will - not good.

it' the same with my neck; my physio cracked it to release tension across my shoulders, it now cracks of its own accord, which is or isn't a good thing. cod liver oil seems to help add some cusioning to it, but i guess you just have to be careful.

i originally asked about my elbows clicking as it was putting me off doing my antagonist exercises, something i really need to do to stop a shoulder injury recurring

[JR]

think clicking is just air bubbles trapped somewhere in the joints, don't think its owt to worry about unless it is painfull. most joints in my body will crack upon request since i was at junior school (toes, ankles, knees, shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers) and its not causing me any problems.

not necessarilly true...

It can be caused by loose ligaments, or ligaments that have been overstreched and cause the joint to move slighlty out of line.  Not necessarilly serious and not necessarilly injury related.  Essentially a very toned down version of what ive got in my elbow.  If the clicks a bit duller and deeper than say the usual, morning clicks its more likely that.

[JR]

if the sound is a louder 'crack' then it's either bone catching on the tendon or bone catching on bone as the joints move. the more you click the joints, the more they click. my fingers started with the odd click, i thought it was fun to crack them and now i can pretty much crack every one at will - not good.

Thats what im syaing too essentially

[T Nagler]

Fingers- Don't mean to allarm you but mine don't hurt either, and I had it for a while before it got any worse!

[Fingers of a Martyr]

for me, a while = 6 months
u?
see below.

[Fingers of a Martyr]

basically elbows click if i've been sitting with my arms crossed for a while etc and then i stretch them out fully.
however they used to lock like u described but they've stopped doing that after doing all those tricep excercises.
i can also click neck and fingers at will as well. :?

[T Nagler]

About 6/8 months!  And its only recently been geting worse!   Never realy train my tryceps though (don't do much specific training at all) so should probably start (especcially as I'm about to start training harder/smarter!).

[T Nagler]

Did your fingers and neck start to click when you started climbing?

[Fingers of a Martyr]

whenever i go to stretch my fingers out they all crack. i honestly can't remember when it started. a good while ago though.

did u go and see a physio trevor?

[unclesomebody]

that is a very bad sign.  I would definitelt start thinking about long term training and not pounding the board every day because it sounds like you're doing yourself some damage.  I know it's hard to say "i will train effectively over the next 12 months, but at the end be strong" because you always want to go and "train".  However, it's totally ineffective because you'll get injured and have ot take time off.  Better to train smart for 12 months than train mega hard for 6 months then have torest for 6 months.  Just listen to your body!  If it's poppin and crackin then it probably isn't happy!

[T Nagler]

Fingers- No I havn't seen a physio yet, but I've started doing some trycep stuff after my climbing sessions.  If it dosnt sort its self out after that then I think I will deffinetly have to go!  And while im there I should probably get my: knees, abs, fingers, general postureseen to too! :shock:  :shock:  :freak: