Is there a good substitute for extension?

[DerickVonD]

I have bad tendinitis in my right elbow and when I do extensions at any angle, seated, standing, lying, to the forehead, behind the head, ez bar, super curl bar, straight bar, dumbbells, I get pain. The pain comes and goes one week I'll be okay and the next my elbow feels like it's about to snap. This is very frustrating because I want to add 3" to my arms, but I can't get past 40 lbs on extensions because of the pain. I am already doing close grip bench and bench dips, I am about to buy a small dip station next month so I can do weighted dips. Is there anything I can substitute for extensions? I can only workout at home so I don't have access to machines.

 

[Doss]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNNizhvyd4c

You can make these as easy or as hard as you like. Not sure if they'll aggravate your problem, though.

I'm not saying drop the bench dips, but when I first started lifting I did a lot of those and they tore up my shoulders and did nothing for my arms. If you're okay doing close grip bench, you might want to just do more of those and it's variations. Look into J-Presses (my favorite triceps exercise).

Between close grip bench, J-Presses, dips and pushdowns, you should be able to make some gains without extensions. Good luck!

 

[DerickVonD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNNizhvyd4c

You can make these as easy or as hard as you like. Not sure if they'll aggravate your problem, though.

I'm not saying drop the bench dips, but when I first started lifting I did a lot of those and they tore up my shoulders and did nothing for my arms. If you're okay doing close grip bench, you might want to just do more of those and it's variations. Look into J-Presses (my favorite triceps exercise).

Between close grip bench, J-Presses, dips and pushdowns, you should be able to make some gains without extensions. Good luck!

Cool thanks, I can't do pushdowns because I don't drive and the closest gym doesn't have a bus that goes by it. I'll probably just wait to do dips when I get the dip stand so I can do chest dips. What are J-presses?

 

[Doss]

I didn't mention pushups with hands near together/near your sides. Great for a good burn after your heavier sets, and they can be done anywhere, anytime. Cheers.

 

[PROness]

Close grip bench press.


It's a beautiful thing.

 

[Jiigzz]

JM presses. Search youtube for variations, cant look at youtube on this comp so I cant link it through

 

[tigerdb2]

JM presses. Search youtube for variations, cant look at youtube on this comp so I cant link it through

I have a feeling this will really aggrivate his tendonitis

 

[Torobestia]

I have a feeling this will really aggrivate his tendonitis

The weird thing is that for some people, the opposite is true. I don't know what the source of their tendonitis is that dont allow them to do tricep pushdowns, dips, or ez bar skulls, but they can do JM presses just fine, but either way it's worked for some to change to JMs.

 

[Jiigzz]

The reason I suggested JM presses, as Torobestia said, is that for some people, the usual pain associated with skull crushers doesn't occur during the JM. Not too sure why, but i would speculate that its because they don't place stress entirely on the elbows like skullcrushers do and instead allow the chest and shoulders to have a partial role.

 

[tigerdb2]

The reason I suggested JM presses, as Torobestia said, is that for some people, the usual pain associated with skull crushers doesn't occur during the JM. Not too sure why, but i would speculate that its because they don't place stress entirely on the elbows like skullcrushers do and instead allow the chest and shoulders to have a partial role.

It may have something to do with the degree of flexion at the shoulder since the long head of the triceps also extends the shoulder. Interesting

 

[Bigcountry08]

I used to have really bad elbows too, but I took about 2 years off from the gym to finish up college so everything repaired nicely over that time.

A few little things that I used to do to curb the pain, and most of the time completely get rid of it would be to Always perform a major muscle group before doing triceps. I would lather my elbows and upper arms up with Bengay, and always where a long sleeve shirt or sweater. Never do bench dips, They put your arms at a to stressful of a position, and I would do extension moves last so the arms are more exhausted and you can't move as much weight so there is less stress on the joints.

The last thing I would recommend, and you probably won't like this, is to maybe take a month off from doing triceps, Benching movements, and shoulder pressing movements. It won't kill you and it won't really impede any progress especially since, by the sounds of it, you aren't making much progress right now because of the pain in your elbows. Hope the advice helps.

 

[DerickVonD]

I used to have really bad elbows too, but I took about 2 years off from the gym to finish up college so everything repaired nicely over that time.

A few little things that I used to do to curb the pain, and most of the time completely get rid of it would be to Always perform a major muscle group before doing triceps. I would lather my elbows and upper arms up with Bengay, and always where a long sleeve shirt or sweater. Never do bench dips, They put your arms at a to stressful of a position, and I would do extension moves last so the arms are more exhausted and you can't move as much weight so there is less stress on the joints.

The last thing I would recommend, and you probably won't like this, is to maybe take a month off from doing triceps, Benching movements, and shoulder pressing movements. It won't kill you and it won't really impede any progress especially since, by the sounds of it, you aren't making much progress right now because of the pain in your elbows. Hope the advice helps.

Actually I just started making real progress, since I finally got my diet down, I can do all other tricep movements but extensions atleast with a close grip. I tried just to see extension with a wide grip, like right outside the shoulders grip and I still felt pressure but no where near if I go close. Not sure what this means and I don't know what will happen if I try more weight.

 

[Torobestia]

Actually I just started making real progress, since I finally got my diet down, I can do all other tricep movements but extensions atleast with a close grip. I tried just to see extension with a wide grip, like right outside the shoulders grip and I still felt pressure but no where near if I go close. Not sure what this means and I don't know what will happen if I try more weight.

Technically, you're doing them right if you're keeping your elbows tucked/in towards your body.

 

[DerickVonD]

Technically, you're doing them right if you're keeping your elbows tucked/in towards your body.

I tried them like this like a french press but with a super bar with a wide grip. My form looked like this, so I guess you could say I was doing sort of a wide grip french press. The more my grip goes in the more pressure I seem to feel.

 

[Torobestia]

Ah, I completely misunderstood what you were saying.

 

[DerickVonD]

Ah, I completely misunderstood what you were saying.

Yeah and I noticed on a wide grip with the super bar, it prevents me from going all the way down and all the way up to lockout yeah I know lockout is bad, but I think most of the pressure in my elbows comes when my forearms are extended all the way down at the bottom and having a wide grip prevents me from going as low. I'm going to test this for about two weeks and than either stick with it or start using the jm press. Thanks for all the help guys.

 

[Oscar]

I've got the same problem, I just make sure to take some tylenol before I train it helps a little. I'd also suggest taking fish oil, glucosamine, cissus, and maybe wrapping your elbows I've also heard good things about IGF and MGF for tendon repair

 

[DerickVonD]

I've got the same problem, I just make sure to take some tylenol before I train it helps a little. I'd also suggest taking fish oil, glucosamine, cissus, and maybe wrapping your elbows I've also heard good things about IGF and MGF for tendon repair

I take fish oil. I tried wrapping the elbows same issue, but the probably is now gone if I stick to doing wide grip french presses. The range of motion I can do is less, but it's not painful at all.