Straight to the Bar

All Things Strength

HELPING YOU GET STRONGER SINCE 2004

Review : Fixing Elbow Pain
Written By : Matt Hunt
Fixing Elbow Pain

Fixing Elbow Pain. Highly Recommended.

Being an avid gripster and weight lifter, I have experienced pains in various areas of the body. One of the biggest, most annoying areas to experience pain is in the elbow region of the arm; this type of injury can put even the strongest individual out of the weight lifting game regardless of their lifting resume!
The question that is always asked is, “How do I fix this? I haven’t lifted in weeks because of the horrible pain!
This is where Jedd Johnson’s E-book “Fixing Elbow Pain comes into play. Jedd focuses on various ways to reduce or even eliminate this pain to get any individual back to the activities they love in no time flat!

Exercise Prevention

This category covers a vast area for sure; pre-hab, preparation/ activation, and recovery methods are just a few areas covered by Jedd throughout his E-book. This is an important area because an emphasis on proper movement patterns corrects compensations that could be leading to the problem causing the pain (Jedd also addresses “antagonistic balance”).

Pre-hab exercises

From Jedd’s selection, some of my personal favorites for pre-hab include rubber band finger extensions, rice sand digs/ finger extensions, and the leverage bar rotations. The first exercise, rubber band finger extensions, requires the least amount of weights or equipment; this exercise can be completed in the office, at home, or simply on the go with a thick rubber band or a few smaller rubber bands. The second exercise, rice and sand digs/ finger extensions, can be completed with just a bucket and a bag of rice/ sand. The final exercise requires a bar a bit longer than 12″ and a light weight plate with a standard circumference. I would tell everyone how to complete the exercises but that would spoil all the fun… 😉

Preparation/ activation

A huge problem with the way our society takes on fitness is the lack of knowledge that goes around the community as far as tissue integrity and activation is concerned. This to me is the most important factor when it comes to all things exercise; without a good warm up and activation of the muscle tissue, the body cannot mechanically perform properly!
Jedd covers this topic extensively throughout his E-book. Some of the best exercises in this section include foam rolling the problem areas, SMR with a lacrosse ball, and the rolling pin SMR option. The first exercise calls for the use of a foam roller which can be picked up online through fitness type websites. The second exercise utilizes the simple lacrosse ball, putting the ball on areas that are painful, and waiting for the pain/ tightness to go away; this is a great way to take care of problems when at work or even sitting at the dining room table taking care of the bills! The third exercise takes advantage of the rolling pin; take the roller right out of the kitchen… just make sure to clean off all of the cookie dough.

Recovery methods

When people think of recovery, they think of just simply taking off from the gym… well there is actually much more to it than just sitting on the couch and relaxing the day away. As of late, this is the category I have taken a bit more seriously in my training to help with my complete progression as a strength athlete! Some of my favorites listed in the E-book include the use of a TENS unit, various compression methods, and the home-made cryocup technique. The first utilizes a specialized piece of equipment which emits electronic pulses, contracting the muscle tissue and flushing it with blood and other essentials for recovery. The second method I liked that Jedd talked about is the use of compression to stimulate recovery with various materials like rolls of rubber. The third and final method is my favorite because it is cheap and can be fixed up in just a few hours; Jedd takes a cup, fills it with water, freezes it, and then rips off the top of the cup, using it to ice areas of the body that are going through pain and discomfort.
All in all, this E-book by Jedd Johnson goes over all of the issues and prescribes specific protocols to induce recovery and enhance strength throughout the lower arms. I enjoyed this E-book to the fullest and would recommend the material to anyone seeking to improve lower arm recovery as well as strengthening those once weakened areas!

Over to you. Drop us a line on Twitter ( @scottbird ), or add a comment below.

Cheers.

 

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Written By Matt Hunt
Matt Hunt is an avid grip enthusiast and personal trainer. He is a certified Mash Monster and has dabbled in strongman, powerlifting, and Crossfit which has brought him much success in the weight room and in life. He is now obsessed with smashing grippers and intends to jump in on the pro circuit of grip within the next year. Find out more over at Matt's blog, and catch up with him on Twitter and Facebook. Enjoy.
Drawing of Scott Andrew Bird performing a deadlift. Artwork by Vince Palko.