Weekend:
A fair amount of heavy outdoor labor: trenching and putting in water pipe. But I used a power trencher for the vast majority of it, and had plenty of help, so I managed to rest the elbow to a decent degree. It still hurt like hell though.
11/2/2020, Monday
Still no program, but did something I’d wanted to do for a few weeks: tons of incline bench press. Incline press
105x10x10. About 90 sec rest between all sets. Dips
5x5, bodyweight only. 60-80 sec rest. Tricep extensions
With dumbbell in both hands, seated/reclining. There’s probably a name for this lol. 3 sets in the 12-15 range, 45#,55#,55#.
If I’d had more time I’d have done some pulling movements, so it’s good that I didn’t. I think the elbow needs all the rest it can get. It hurt really bad unracking every set of incline press, but didn’t bother me after that.
11/2 update:
If DOMS is a meaningful indicator, I had a solid workout yesterday. My triceps were crazy sore just 12 hours after the workout. 24 hours later and that soreness is deep.
On the downside, my elbow is painful. Had to ice it last night but that brought little relief. Maybe all the tension, even pushing instead of pulling, irritated it. Will have to monitor closely.
11/3
Wednesday
Poor sleep last night.
Pre-squat leg curls, light. Didn’t seem to make a difference, but I’ve seen it recommended and wanted to try.
Squats: warmed up, then started doing doubles.
225x2 was good.
245x2 depth was lacking. Sad!
135x22 - that was good. It felt like nothing was on my back. Had to catch my breath a couple times though.
Good morning: 115, 2x12
Messed around with leg curls, leg extensions, and glute machine.
11/6, Friday Press
45x5; 65x5; 85x5; 95x5;
105x3; 115x3;
125x1; PR tie? Definitely post-appendectomy PR
125x1;
125x1 sloooow grind;
120x1 slow grind;
115x3.
5 sets of 75x10. Last couple sets were tough! Bradford press
2x8 with just the bar. Never tried this before, kinda cool constant tension on the shoulders. Overhead squat 10 reps with the bar Cable delt things
Sort of a single-arm Y-raise, ish. Trying to get some rear delt in there.
This felt freaking great. I was able to hit that top single 3 times, and then survive 5x10 afterward. That’s the fun part about not being on a program - when you feel good, you can really dig in.
3x10 at “7.5” on the stack.
I think I finally figured out my “program” for the next 3 weeks: “one lift a day” by Dan John.
He doesn’t give percentages, but it goes like this:
Pick whatever lifts you want, as many days as you want, one lift for each training day;
Week 1: 7 sets of 5
Week 2: 6 sets of 3
Week 3: 5, 3, 2.
Intensity is supposed to be such that you are totally wiped. I figure I’ll do bench press or incline press Monday, squats Wednesday, Press Friday. It gives me 3 weeks of not having to think very much about it (i’m super busy in real life, so that’s good) and no pulling movements, so my elbow can get better maybe. It’s god-awful right now, just sitting around the house and I have ice on it.
Yes I will start Monday.
Thanks, I’m glad yours isn’t this bad. I’ve read some folks on this forum who say that it flares up, and they lay off pulling for a few days, and it calms down… IDK what my problem is.
If you read the very first posts in this log, they are about the tendonitis - nearly a year ago. And I’d say it’s worse now.
11/9/2020, Monday
One Lift A Day Week 1, Lift 1:
Week 1 is 7 sets of 5, and Dan John recommends supersetting with a fast light movement, specifically pushups for bench press and jumps for squats. Bench Press
Every set immediately followed by five pushups and 20 light band pullaparts.
175x5; 175x5; 175x5;
165x5;
175x5;
155x5;
165x5.
Afterward, I did a farmers walk with a pair of 55lb DBs. And two 20-sec pec squeezes on the swiss ball.
I woke up with my elbow hurting as always, but lately it’s not just the medial epicondyle - it’s the back of the elbow too, which is aggravated by pressing movements. It’s a different kind of pain back there, but I assume it’s caused by either compensating movement patterns or just some sort of inflammatory radiation effect (made that up but it makes sense to me).
So every set of bench press felt like my elbow was going to explode.
@boilerman No. After 2 cortisone shots, the likely efficacy of future shots is reduced. And they have the potential to cause tissue degradation so it’s preferred to avoid them.
But I think the reality of the situation is, the elbow needs real rest. I have not given it that. Even with eliminating pulling and gripping (but you see I still did a farmers walk, light though it was), I have so much activity outside of the gym: Sunday morning I spent two hours digging a trench. Really beat up the elbow. Saturday I spent a couple hours running electrical wire and installing outlets and switches. That’s not “max effort” work but it takes a toll.
Maybe it would be a good idea for me to rest from all upper body training, as well as try to quit doing extra construction projects, for 3 weeks… but I’m going to keep going on this path a little longer.
Update 11/10, Tuesday
Nice tight DOMS in my chest. Good.
After work yesterday, I picked up half a yard (about 1000lbs) of gravel and put it in the trench I worked on the day before. That means shovel from truck to wheelbarrow, push wheelbarrow uphill, shovel/dump into trench, repeat, repeat, repeat. It was less gruelling than Sunday’s work though.
Point is, no rest for the elbow
Sorry to read about all the elbow problems you are fighting. That must suck majorly. Tendonitis is just so debilitating a condition to have.
I had it myself some years back and these days it just one more thing to train around. But nothing anywhere near the severity of what you are experiencing. (Now, I am one of those flare up, and fix by some rest, guys that you mention, but back then I had my arm in a sling for a few weeks to force myself to rest it.)
For what it is worth I think a good long pause from lifting, would probably be a very good thing for your elbow. Right now you just keep aggravating it. Think of the long perspective - better to rest now and heal to lift another day, than to run yourself down trying to lift through pain.
Just my 2cents and I know that this is not what you want to hear.
Sadly, I think you’re right.
I’m going to continue this “one lift a day” plan since its only 3 weeks, and the volume drops off sharply after this week.
I will resist the temptation to do “extra work” once the programmed work is done (last time I added farmers walks, what’s wrong with me?).
Then after week 3 I’ll stay away from weights for 3 weeks, then reassess.
Its 5:40 am, I just woke up, and am icing my elbow because it’s been hurting all night. Squats coming up, shouldn’t piss it off too bad.
11/12/2020, Thursday
Bought a 40lb weight vest yesterday. The plan is to use it during my upcoming lifting hiatus, after OLAD week 3.
So this morning I put 10lbs in it and walked 1.1 mile (neighborhood lap) to see how it feels. It was fine, didn’t really feel weighed down at all.
DOMS update:
I am definitely sore from yesterday’s squats. not debilitating, but I definitely feel it - primarily in my inner thighs.
Weighted vest walks sound like a great idea to get in some extra work… those squats are def DOMs worthy.
Btw I’m trying a new approach to the tendonitis issue. I bought a therabar on amazon and it should be here Saturday… it gets rave reviews. It might be something you’d want to look into for some relief?
Same on both accounts haha. Even if mine gets 15-20% better I’d call it a successful purchase. Anything to start BB or even DB curling again, and pain free benching would be great. I’ll let you know after a week or so of use.
Maybe the true fix is to always have leg DOMs so it takes your mind away from the elbow pain
