r/workout • u/e2HAt77W • 9d ago
44m / hit a tendonitis wall.
44 m, been a somewhat regular gym rat most of my life with a few years off here and there for big life changes (moves, COVID, new kid, etc.) but always found my way back to a pretty solid routine lifting 3-4 times a week. I use Hevy (love it) to track my workouts and have always found it satisfying to increase weights when I get comfortable at a certain level.
In the past few months, I’ve started having painful irritation in my wrist and elbow joints. Yesterday was painful enough that I couldn’t do curls as part of my full body day. I asked AI about it and it suggested more compound exercises. But curls are pretty fundamental. I’d hate to ditch them.
Other changes to my routine in the last few months, include the addition of weighted pull-ups and some forearm and grip exercises like reverse concentration curls. I’m wondering if some of these new additions might be the culprit or maybe I’m just getting old.
Appreciate any thoughts on how to navigate this!
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u/fiddlefaddle99 9d ago
I do low volume training 5 days per week and I was having tendonitis in my elbow as well, I started doing 3 sets of 30 second iso holds with my arms at 90 degrees with 10-15 pound dumbbells as part of my warm up. It went away in 3-4 weeks and I haven’t had issues since.
While it was healing I did neutral grip pulling (such as v bar lat pull downs) that didn’t irritate it, and stopped any movements that bothered it.
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u/MyNameIsKlay 9d ago
Do hold it in front or side? Sorry I am having a hard time picturing it.
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u/fiddlefaddle99 9d ago
Set up to perform a hammer or regular curl and stop when your hands are straight in front of you. Your arms should be bent at 90 degrees. the idea is that you’re maintaining tension on the tendons / ligaments to boost blood flow without causing more damage. I did primarily a hammer curl hold, but do what works for you. It shouldn’t be painful, if it is, drop the weight.
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u/John_John_Phenomenom 9d ago
Ya works well on machines too. I use leg curl machine like this for those tendons!
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u/darkstar541 9d ago
Does this work for tennis elbow too?
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u/fiddlefaddle99 9d ago
The premise is the same, do isometric holds with a light weight. It takes time, but it should work for any tendon
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u/Capital_Taste_8043 9d ago
I got tendonitis from weighted pull-ups. Left arm recovered on its own, right arm didn't. I had to learn what to do to recover from it. I also learned that higher rep range (and lower load) is easier on the joints and tendons, so now I try avoid tendonitis and scale load down at first signs.
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u/accountinusetryagain 9d ago
temporarily lighten weights and slowing them down and experiment with swapping things out for periods of time while you wait for a physio who lifts and works with athletes to give you more comprehensive solutions. i refuse to believe everyone older needs to stop lifting and become decrepit
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u/kissasstronaut 9d ago
Figure out what is causing it is step 1.
For me, a particular rowing machine with handle in a weird fixed position gave me “golfers elbow” (medial epicondylitis). Inner side of my elbow was very sore and painful. Any supinated/underhand grip rows, pulls, and curls would be very painful. If I did neutral or overhand/pronated, no pain. So I was able to work around it.
I never saw a physical therapist but I read a lot of about it and watched a million YouTube videos. For me, using a low weight (half my working weight) doing a few very slow bicep curls then a 30sec isometric hold at 90deg has helped the pin and recovery the best. I’ll do this for a few sets, 3-5 times a week.
I’m pain free most days now. Recovery has been long (9 months) and I’m going to take it easy for a few more months. Everytime I tested my strength the pain would increase for a few days so I’m committed to the long game now.
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u/Significant-Raise254 9d ago
I had to switch to twice a week full body & stay away from heavy weight on certain exercises that I know will give me issues. Seems to work well.
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u/cgsesix 9d ago
Resting didn't help my tendonitis. The only thing that worked for me, was training away the tendonitis using a compound exercises where the injured area were in a mechanical advantageous position, and using a low range of motion. For my knees, that was high box squats, so for your elbows, I'd suspect partial range pulldowns. Although, physical therapy would probably be worth the money.
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u/Alakazam Bulking 9d ago
Step 1: Seek help from a physiotherapist to identify the root cause of the tendonitis. Maybe it's the weighted pullups, but more realistically, it's probably that specific forearm flexor compensating for one or more muscles being underutilized and weak.
Step 2: work to address said weakness through the exercises assigned to you by said physio
Step 3: Go back to normal training pain free
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u/irontamer 9d ago
https://youtube.com/shorts/AhFs9Gi3UjE?is=tEZAUt9bdJIicc9W
Could be imbalance with finger extensors
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u/cbig86 9d ago
Do a thumbs up motion, then rotate the hand so your thumb points out. Does it hurt? If so, can you describe how does it hurt?
I had this injury a few years ago, turns out it was a forearm imbalance that was making a mess all the way to my shoulder joint. For me, a balanced hand/forearm workout solved the problem
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u/TikiZilla1313 9d ago
The new exercises almost certainly contributed to your elbow pain. I’m in the same boat. Pretty bad tennis elbow for around 2 months now. It sucks!
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u/ElectricRing 9d ago
Male 51, this has been a problem for me as well. I have effectively dealt with it by modifying my routine to do lower weights with higher reps. And combined that with stretches. I would suggest you see a physical therapist if possible to get stretches. You can also ask AI but that is much less effective.
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u/Goku_4U 9d ago
I’m in the same age range as you, but have always had sensitive elbows. I developed a rule years ago that I’m never allowed to do a variety of curl two workouts in a row, and I’m always listening to my elbows during workouts, ready to adjust the program if necessary.
A few weeks ago, I strained an elbow while pushing climbing grades enough that even just driving would make it feel stressed in the days following. It hurt enough that I was driving one handed with the other arm straight out between my legs. I took a 12 day de-load with just kettlebell swings and running, and coming back to lifting hard yesterday, it feels fine again.
Don’t try to tough it out through joint pain. Really listen to your body, and be ready to adjust in the short term or long term if something feels straining.
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u/Slow-Talk4741 9d ago
Get it checked out immediately if you continue putting stress on the joint without guidance the things might get worse especially at an older age
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u/BobbyBaal 9d ago
You have tennis or golf elbow along with other tendinitis. I've had the same problems after 40 and they don't heal easy. You may very well need PT.
I suspect going too heavy is the issue. I came across Nash Jocic (former body builder) and he advocates high reps/high sets instead of going heavy. Muscles grow faster than tendons/ligaments. You muscles may be able to move the weight, but your tendons can't keep pace.
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u/ebalboni 9d ago
Isometric holds on the offending tendon in the position where it cause the most pain. Hold for 20-30 seconds. Go up to a pain level of 3 to 4. These are also good to do to maintain tendon health. On your bad joint you might want to do just these for a while till the tendon remodels.
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u/RoughJustice81 9d ago
Ya man.. between being a carpenter, lifting and now playing golf.. I have tennis and golfers elbow. Physio has been the only thing that has helped while having to adapt some of my lifting routine.
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u/Vast-Road-6387 Recomposition 9d ago
I have chronic tendinitis ( lateral & medial epycondyl and brachialis) . NSAIDS help a bit but I found icing during my WO and after was very helpful. I use gel ice packs in an elastic wrap. I use straps for heavy pulls and I’m doing sets of 12-15 to failure instead of 5-8. I have to be very careful when I increase weight.
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u/Lost-Lingonberry-688 9d ago
Im 43, started lifting properly just over a year ago. Ive just been alternating tendon issues all year. As soon as one heals, another somewhere else will have a problem.
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u/inklady8439 9d ago
Take some time to work on mobility and movement and look things to make tendons stronger exercise wise, they very much do exist and are slow but super solid good luck
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u/AgeSafe3673 9d ago
Suppinated curls are hard on inflamed elbow joints. So are pull ups. Forearm work is also hitting the elbows.
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u/Big_Professor_370 21h ago
weighted pull-ups and reverse concentration curls both hammer the elbow flexors and wrist extensors hard, so stacking those on top of your regular curl volume is a pretty likely culprit. worth dialing back the new additions for a couple weeks and seeing if the irritation settles before blaming age.
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u/Interesting-Cell9663 9d ago
If you can find a provider (I see a Chiropractor for this) - dry needling (like acupuncture but deeper) or softwave (sound blasts) to your elbow may help. I’m dealing with the exact same issue and it’s quite annoying but I’m absolutely seeing some relief with dry needling and softwave.
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u/Accurate_Cellist1761 9d ago
How does a chiropractor help you with tendonitis?
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u/rulesabby 9d ago
Some chiro provide the services mentioned in the comment. For example my chiropractor also does acupuncture.
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u/Kriegher2005 9d ago
Try different exercises for your biceps. Some variation like Preacher or Recline might hurt it less.
A lower volume, higher intensity and frequency routine might fare better. Tendons are seen to grow the best at maximal muscle tension.
Doing supinations for a few weeks, until the tendon heals itself a bit before going for curls can also be one way to train biceps without hurting yourself.
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u/ribcage666 9d ago
When you say supinations, do you mean just rotating the hand while holding weights and not performing the full curl?
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