Some weeks ago I started having elbow pain (in the point where my triceps tendon connects to the olecranon) whenever I did any type of pushing exercise that involves the triceps, so I took the advice of my family and took some time off the gym, but that didn’t seem to improve the symptoms. However, I found your articles on pain while training so I’ve decided to start lifting again but modifying exercises so they don’t aggravate my issue.
The problem is, I don’t know how to reintroduce benching in my training. I’ve thought about using a wide grip but I don’t even know if that makes any sense. So my question is: does a wide grip reduce triceps involvement so that it wont hurt my elbow?
Hey, thanks for the question. Sorry to hear about your situation.
We do not typically recommend stopping all activity completely. However there may be a time and place to change exercise selection a bit so that you can train with tolerable symptoms. For example, in this scenario you could try to reintroduce bench press via dumbbell bench press so you have more loading options beyond the weight of the barbell (45#). Hope that helps. If you need further guidance, we’d be happy to consult with you.