Pain in the elbows
Of course, people who visit the gym are not 100% insured against such "sores" as external and internal epicondylitis ("tennis player's elbow" and, accordingly, "golfer's elbow") and other pathologies of the elbow joint zone, but tendinitis of the triceps tendon attached to the ulnar process is still the most common phenomenon in the "kachkovskaya" environment.
With age, the mineral exchange slows down and becomes somewhat disoriented. For this reason, external and internal epicondylitis are most susceptible to people over 35 years of age. External epicondylitis ("tennis player's elbow") is caused by inflammation of the tendons of the long and short extensors of the wrist that attach to the lateral condyle. In internal epicondylitis, the tendons of the muscles attached to the medial condyle are inflamed: the round pronator, the ulnar and radial flexors of the hand, and the Palmar muscle. Sometimes damage to the tendons listed above can be caused by stress factors, but more often the problem has a mixed nature of occurrence.
Ulnar tendonitis
In the case of tendinitis of the ulnar end of the triceps tendon, the cause is training overload. The mechanism of development of this disease is quite common for athletic training: microtraumed tissue as a result of training does not have time to recover and then undergoes more destruction under the influence of a similar load at the next training session, and so on. It turns out that the structure is not able to adapt to the total load exerted on it, as a result, it develops degenerative processes, and at a certain stage, inflammation occurs.
A bit of mechanics
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The most dangerous for the triceps ulnar tendon are exercises in which the main part of the movement occurs around the "dead" point. I explain: the "dead" point is the place where the force acting on the working muscle group (in this case, on the triceps and, of course, on its ulnar tendon) reaches its maximum value relative to other points within this trajectory. It is a long stay on the segment of the trajectory where the above-mentioned tendon is subject to the greatest tension that is the main damaging factor. As examples here, you can give such exercises as the press from the forehead, the press of the cable down, and less often-the French press from behind the head standing. As for the pressure on the forehead, the ballistic moment here, for obvious reasons, can not be present. When pressing the cable down, it is quite possible to "swing". But this exercise can be done slowly and technically, training "on the volume" and, as strange as it may seem, just when doing these exercises, it is more likely to overload the ulnar tendon of the triceps.
Concentric exercises are characterized by the fact that the maximum force acting on the muscle (and, of course, on the tendons of this muscle) correspond to the state of this muscle, close to the maximum reduced. These exercises include extension arms with a dumbbell in the slope, French press from behind the head lying down (not your forehead) and press the rope down, after stepping back from the block device (so the cable was tilted about 45 degrees (there are block equipment, which can be tilted by means of the last of these exercises, so keep that in mind)). The fact is that the muscle in its most reduced state develops significantly less strength than in a stretched state, so this type of exercise can be considered sparing for the tendon. Preference for these exercises when training for volume will protect the elbow tendons of your triceps from unnecessary overloads.
There is another group of exercises that, due to their mechanical features, tend to include a ballistic component. This group is characterized by uneven distribution of the force acting on the triceps along the trajectory of movement. When performing exercises of this group, the tendons receive a powerful, but short-term load at the beginning of the movement and actually "rest" in its remaining part, which is a good training for them. This group includes the following exercises: French bench press with an upright position of the body (for example, standing), with a barbell, a dumbbell (both one and two hands) or a rope from below, this can also include the French bench press from behind the head, since this exercise can also include a ballistic component, and possibly some varieties of the cable press down.
There are also basic exercises in which the triceps take part - these are various presses, first of all, the barbell press with a narrow grip lying down. A tight grip is unlikely to cause tendinitis, but if it has already happened to you, elbow soreness during this exercise is quite likely.
What should I do if my elbows already hurt?
In this case, we are talking only about tendinitis of the ulnar tendon of the triceps muscle, which hurts when performing triceps exercises. First of all, you need to give them a rest, remove the inflammation. It is worth using various restorative means (food additives, etc.). And since every self-respecting bodybuilder, if he has to not train something for some reason that does not depend on his motivation, considers himself "disabled", the load on the triceps should not be excluded, but this does not apply to those cases when all the exercises on these muscles feel pain. It is better to train with concentric exercises, avoiding such exercises as the press from the forehead, as well as a particularly technical and smooth press of the rope down. It is desirable to reduce the duration of the load on the tendons, it may be useful to use within a reasonable range of exercises with a ballistic component. Strength exercises are useful for strengthening the tendons. Of course, if they cause discomfort to comply with them is not worth it.
