Tennis Elbow - Bench Press

[boothy1987]

I've recently started getting a sharp pain right about where the tricep/elbow meet. It feels as if it is actually in the muscle rather than my elbow. I only feel on the bench press when lowering the weight (we're only talking 50kg bench aswell) and after yesterdays session it was painful to touch all night and still is this morning. I've never suffered from this before so it has purely been brought on by me starting to lift weights and so must be a form issue with my bench press

Anyone know of any glaring form issues/mistakes that can lead to pain in this area?

[cliffe_mafia]

Concentrate on your form with less weight (or none on the bar). When the bar is touching your chest your elbows should be at right angles. Make sure your elbows aren't flared. When pushing or pulling the bar keep your elbows under your wrists - forearms perpendicular to the floor when the bar touches your chest.

http://stronglifts.com/how-to-bench-press-with-pro...

has some good pointers.

[pilchardthecat]

Can't comment on the form as i have experienced this in the past too. I have long forearms and i think this is a physiological problem with doing the bench press

Heavy/low reps on the bench press and weighted pullups using a wide grip cause problems for me. I now use both exercises as assistance only, and do light sets with high reps (8+) at the end of a session. My primary chest workout is a combination of standing press and weighted dips.

ps - You absolutely must rest it, or it will get worse and you will be stuck with it for months. Properly rest it.

[boothy1987]

cliffe_mafia said:

Concentrate on your form with less weight (or none on the bar). When the bar is touching your chest your elbows should be at right angles. Make sure your elbows aren't flared. When pushing or pulling the bar keep your elbows under your wrists - forearms perpendicular to the floor when the bar touches your chest.

http://stronglifts.com/how-to-bench-press-with-pro...

has some good pointers.

What does this mean:

"Elbows. Too high is bad for your shoulders. Too low is inefficient. Put your elbows between perpendicular to & parallel with your torso."

[pilchardthecat]

boothy1987 said:

What does this mean:

"Elbows. Too high is bad for your shoulders. Too low is inefficient. Put your elbows between perpendicular to & parallel with your torso."

Flap your arms like a chicken. He's talking about the angle between your torso and your arms (ie how close to your sides your elbows are)

[Hoofy]

Aye, it's confusing trying to explain up and down when someone is lying horizontal.

I'd be interested to know how you get on if you use dumbbells, OPer.

[cliffe_mafia]

boothy1987 said:

What does this mean:

"Elbows. Too high is bad for your shoulders. Too low is inefficient. Put your elbows between perpendicular to & parallel with your torso."

Where the bar is positioned - too high (above the chest - bar is over your neck or face), too low (below the chest). Ideally the bar should hover across the nipple area.

[Regiment]

Try using dumbells rather than a barbell, dumbells give you a more natural, less restricted movement but you'll need to drop the weight a bit, probably to 2x20kg dumbells.

[boothy1987]

When using dumbbells, do you still need to try and get shoulders tight and pressed back and down in to the bench?

[WTFWT]

I get this sometimes. When lifting the bar off the rest, make sure that it is resting on the heel of your hand, not in the palm which causes the ligaments on the underside of your forearm to strain. It should be a straight line through your forearm to the bar.

With me, the elbow / muscle almost clicks if I haven't got the bar quite right. If I lift it and it doesn't feel right, I put it back and then adjust my hand position a little and try again.

It feels odd and a mite unstable to begin with but you get used to it.

[boothy1987]

WTFWT said:

I get this sometimes. When lifting the bar off the rest, make sure that it is resting on the heel of your hand, not in the palm which causes the ligaments on the underside of your forearm to strain. It should be a straight line through your forearm to the bar.

With me, the elbow / muscle almost clicks if I haven't got the bar quite right. If I lift it and it doesn't feel right, I put it back and then adjust my hand position a little and try again.

It feels odd and a mite unstable to begin with but you get used to it.

You could be onto something with this one.

I have a slight problem in that if I put the bar on the pins at a height where my arms would be completely locked out then I lose all tightness when unracking. I therefore dropped it down a peg but this means I'm unracking the bar with a bend in the elbow, but it maintains the tightness.

[WTFWT]

Agreed, you want the bar at the top of your movement range when taking it off. I'd rather it a little too high, and squeeze my shoulder blades etc to reach and release it, than too low. Otherwise just ask someone to spot you. Most people are more than happy to do it, despite the hardman posturing that goes on!

[boothy1987]

WTFWT said:

Agreed, you want the bar at the top of your movement range when taking it off. I'd rather it a little too high, and squeeze my shoulder blades etc to reach and release it, than too low. Otherwise just ask someone to spot you. Most people are more than happy to do it, despite the hardman posturing that goes on!

I workout at home in the garage so don't have a spotter unfortunately

[Hoofy]

boothy1987 said:

When using dumbbells, do you still need to try and get shoulders tight and pressed back and down in to the bench?

Yes, to avoid damaging the shoulders you should "lock" them in place. You don't want fked shoulders as well as elbows.