Looking for advice

[Fausto]

Guys

Last night I did my first w/o of my second week of 5's and man...my joints were killing me, mostly the elbows, along the forearms (felt like a shin splint but on the arm) while I was doing the bicep/tricep routine.

I feel fine today tough, none of the joints is really hurting, except a dull apin on my one elbow (he, he....I have tennis elbow

but who said I must give up

).

Make no mistake, I am no sucker for punishement, I strap up and oil up fairly well before starting, so I not cold mad, just ...well...asking

for advice

 

[jvroig]

Heya, Fausto  
Let's start with a few basics.
Did you skip the 15's on this cycle?  If so, then on your next cycle, don't skip them. The lactic acid build up will help in the healing and make your joints ready for the upcoming heavy loads.
But you did that already, right? If you did, then the answer, i'm afraid, might be that you are actually handling more weight than you should. I'm speaking both from knowledge and also from experience. I also had problematic elbows once, and my shoulders, too. Man, some time ago my right shoulder always screwed up during heavy benchpressing and DB flys. I started studying everything i could about bodybuilding, and then found out i really have to lessen the weights a bit (despite protests from my ego). After that, i was soon up to the same weight, then up to even more weight without my shoulder ever bothering me.
Hope this helps. Good luck, Fausto  
- JV

 

[9to5lifter]

Joint problems could be the result of very frequent training and/or too much volume. My joints started to hurt last cycle when I tried 5-6x a week full-body with the same volume per workout as in my normal 3x a week program. After returning to 3x a week again, the pain was gone. During the post-5's, I also tried 6x a week with a 2-day split this time and I was fine. Just make sure this is not your case.

As strange as it may sound, your nutrition (and/or recuperation) could be the problem. Sometimes we cheat in order to compensate for our lack of strength (I did this weight easily the last time, why does it feel so heavy now?) and this can easily lead to bad joints/injuries. The answer of course is that the "lack of strength" is really lack of carbohydrates or lack of concentration.

If this is your normal routine, however, you can only do what jvroig recommended. Good warmups, longer rest periods and maybe less weight. Good luck.

 

[Bryan Haycock]

Quote[/b] (Fausto @ July 19 2005,6:42)]Last night I did my first w/o of my second week of 5's and man...my joints were killing me, mostly the elbows, along the forearms (felt like a shin splint but on the arm) while I was doing the bicep/tricep routine.

In my experience this is often brought on by doing barbell curls. Switching to dumbbells usually clears this up but it takes several weeks.

 

[Fausto]

Good show guys, thanks

First JV

Quote[/b] ]Did you skip the 15's on this cycle?

No sir, did not. How could I? I know that the lactic acid helps against this very thing, and this good ol' elbow has been around for a while, if you know what I mean

Quote[/b] ]and then found out i really have to lessen the weights a bit (despite protests from my ego).

This dang ego, I whish I could catch him and put him in a box

...

You know you could be right, maybe I am just going too fast, for the last two cycles I have cut the rest to a minimum, and eliminated all zigzagging, ending up with my last weight at 120% of my 1 RM.

But as this is all assumed not exactly verified or validated it could be 100% and I could be off by a bit

This was partly caused by the fact that without the zigzagging your initial weights become rather weightless if you know what I mean.

My progress has been good so far, though and I am one happy guy, maybe what i need is to give some isolators up.

Bryan - thanks for the advice, I think you are right, at Drapper's site someone said they resolved this by doing hammers instead, and YES...the Scott curls with the EZ bar really HURT like hell, so I guess "EGO here you go its you or my elbow"

Thanks again guys.

By the way I found a new way of doing weighted chins, I needed to add 20 Kgs, my baby weighs just enough and he likes to "train" with daddy, Jonathan! Climb on daddy's back, WOW I must get a camera guys, its worth a buck, seriously, the giggles too!!!

 

[Captain Crunch]

Fausto,

This is why I have decided like we talked about in another thread to keep my isolations movements for arms in the 10-15 rep range once I reach the 5's. I was getting the joint pain as well and it was hurting my compound lifts. Now I don't get the pain and my compound lifts are going through the roof. I have actually seen more gains in size in my arms since I stopped doing the heavy isolations. Maybe a case of over use.

Mike

 

[jvroig]

Quote[/b] ]I have actually seen more gains in size in my arms since I stopped doing the heavy isolations.

Yes, I've observed that myself as well. During the 10's in my last cycle, I was surprised by the increase in my arms, so I was pumped and thought "dang, if the 10's can do this, how much more in the heavier weights!". Unfortunately, when it came to the heavier weight weeks, my arms surprisingly didn't grow squat.

Hahaha, well, it was ok, I had to cut the last week short anyway and start SD early because I felt an injury coming on and CNS fatigue

-JV

 

[Fausto]

Cap'n

Quote[/b] ]keep my isolations movements for arms in the 10-15 rep range once I reach the 5's. I was getting the joint pain as well and it was hurting my compound lifts.

You know, one easily forgets

, it is true, I quite remember, and you say you are doing just dandy?

I am going to cut back a little and I am also going to follow Bryan's advice and change go hammers, maybe just for one set to keep the momentum.

My gains are good, 1.5" on my guns in two cycles, but certainly not worth the discomfort, so I am going to tweek this and see what I get, maybe I am slowing my gains after all!

You guys are the best...thanks

Ciao