I've had elbow problems in the past, mostly tendonitis like pain. I didn't get any popping, but I did get a lot of pain.
First, take a week off training anything that bends or otherwise aggrovates those elbows. All tricep and pressing movements.
During this time, take a lot of anti-inflammatories. I'm not a doctor, so I won't advocate dosages here. Please use what a doctor recommends, or what the instructions say. However, I will say that what I did was take 800mgs 3x a day for a couple days, and then 800mgs 1x a day for the rest of the week. Obviously stay away from alcohol during this week. I went easy...I've known people who have taken much more than I took here. I am not recommending that though, but it has been done.
Ok, now, after this week.
Your training has to change, my friend. You, like me, do not have resilient elbows. We have to be smart about how we train. How were you training before? I bet I have an idea, and that has to stop.
This is what your training will look like from now on. You will pick one of these programs that I list below, and you will follow it completely. You will not subsitute any exercises. The possible programs are:
1.) HST
2.) Bill Starr's 5x5
3.) The Super Squats program
4.) Grizzly's Program
5.) Animal Mass's program (MINUS ALL TRICEP EXTENSION MOVEMENTS).
As you will notice, these programs only use compound movements. These are your friends. Compound movements, even heavy ones, are MUCH easier on the joints than tricep extensions and comparable isolation movements.
For your triceps, you will only be training various kinds of bench pressing, close grip benching, various overhead presses, and close grip presses. Maybe even (in fact, this is a good idea) some close grip board presses. All tricep isolation movements are dead to you. They will only reinjure you, and they are NOT necessary for growth.
To prove this, I will encourage you to look at the triceps of any powerlifter or bench press specialist. They all have excellent tricep development, and this is a result of compound pressing movements.
One last thing. You will go to
www.elitefts.com and look around for things called "mini bands". Order these. Do "mini band tricep pressdowns" for 1 set of 100 reps, 3x a week...maybe mon/wed/fri. This will be the only "isolation" movement you will do. It will flush a lot of blood and nutrients into those elbows, help them heal...and build up their work capacity and tolerance to volume. This will protect them in the future.
Who am I to give you this advice?
I am a 21 year old lifetime natural powerlifter who weighs 170 pounds. A couple years ago I had very bad tendonitis-like pain in my elbows from poor training. After following this advice, I have no pain at all and bench 300+ pounds...which is a lot more than I could bench before the elbow pain.
Just post again bud if you need any clarification.
