Elbows and Dumbbells

armymil

I've been doing standing benchpress, lying down benchpress, standing bicep curl, and standing shoulder press with dumbbells. I'm not sure which one is the culprit but I have a slight bruise feeling in my elbows. Not sure if it's a joint pain or an undeveloped muscle. Wondering if anyone has had this issue and if one of those exercises is easily done incorrectly causing elbow issues?

Thanks.

alyssamiller77

I've been running into a number of people with the same issue (including myself). If yours is the same as mine it is just below the bottom portion of the bicep nearest the elbow on the inside of the elbow. As best as I've been able to determine, for me I think it's a strained tendon and is a result of exercises targeting the bicep (curls and such). I can do all the other exercises I always did without any pain but curls and similar bicep isolating movements have been painful. I had to take a long break from any bicep related activities (tough because many exercises at least incorporate the bicep) just to get to the point where it didn't hurt during unrestricted movement. I'm to the point now where I can do curls with low weight and high reps. I've found I still have to focus very intently on isolating and using only the bicep muscle to avoid re-aggravating the injury.

Sl1ghtly

I think an extended recovery period followed by heavy low rep work would be best. High reps, especially for a beginner, can be harsh on the joints.

You don't have to 'feel the burn' to get results.

armymil

Bummer. I always look forward to the bicep curls during my full body workouts. I also just recently read that it could be complete elbow extension too. So I bet taking it easy for a week with low reps and perfecting my form might be the best option.

armymil

Oh and I already do heavy low reps currently.

Mapper18

Sounds like golfer's elbow. When I had the problem I switched to hammer curls and could do those without pain. You can get a strap that goes around your forearm to help relieve the pain.

Sl1ghtly

Whatever the issue is, time and form should solve the problem.

monty619

how do you do a standing bench press.... lol.

but i think ur problem lies within the fact that you might be new to lifting, once you lift consistently for a longer time you will be able to have that "mind muscle connection" and your arms will be just tools in order to hold the weight and ur muscles will do most of the work instead of your joints... could also be the result of bad form or too much weight.. if by heavy low reps ur saying like 3-5 then its way too low and yea you might have joint problems if you have too much weight on the bar as opposed to a higher rep range of 6-12 for muscle hypertrophy

armymil

Blah, I was typing quickly and meant lying down bench press.

And I'm doing 6 reps, 2 times.

And I'm using dumbbells.

monty619

Blah, I was typing quickly and meant lying down bench press.

And I'm doing 6 reps, 2 times.

And I'm using dumbbells.

i would shoot for a few more reps with a lower weight, maybe ur joints and bones are just not used to the heavy weight... and to be honest you will build more muscle with that higher rep range just go to failure with 8-12 reps. maybe its a question of lifting form but elbow, shoulder, knee, ankle pain should not happen while lifting correctly. could also be a pre existing injury and you might need to take time off