Rehab with light loads: can you benefit from more volume to "make up" for low loads?

SITUATION: I have tendinitis in both elbows. It’s painful to pick-up my 12-lb cat with one arm.

I’m using higher reps and tempos, avoiding certain movements (e.g., pullups) and ROMs (e.g., lockout on bench) that aggravate my elbows.
Yesterday I alternated deadlifts with 450 to 490 lbs for 1 to 2 reps with slower-tempo reverse grip bench with only 125 lbs for 20+ reps. My god, my glutes are on [IMG2=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“src”:“https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/ta9/1.5/16/1f525.png”}[/IMG2] after bench and I’m breathing almost like I do after an Echo bike interval. (Today I feel fine as normal.)

I’m on week 12 of Powerlifting 2 and I kept bench at 5 sets as prescribed. But instead of doing 1 to 3 reps per set, I did 128 reps over 5 sets.

QUESTION: I rested much longer than usual between sets because of the high-rep benching. (Not a problem since I train at home.) Should I do fewer sets of bench if I’m using higher reps? My thought was: A 125 lbs bench probably isn’t that stressful, and if I can’t do heavier loads, I might at least get some hypertrophy or conditioning from the volume.

I think you might answer: The extra volume might have those benefits provided:

  1. You’re not worsening your injury.

  2. You can tolerate and adapt to it. (Consider gradually increasing your rehab volume and frequency and observe its impact on your rehab and recovery.)

  3. The extra fatigue from the rehab volume may compromise your peak strength at the program’s end. But that’s okay because rehab requires a long-term perspective.

Hi Kevin! Can you share with me why you chose 20+ reps/set for bench?

Hi Hannah, I was trying to use a low load with a slow tempo, to not aggravate my elbow tendinitis.

Thanks for clarifying. Changing the rep range and adding tempo are both great options for reducing overall load on your elbows. I would likely advocate for staying more in the 8-12 rep range if that is tolerable. Otherwise, you may ended up swapping an intensity problem for a volume problem.

Thanks Hannah. To my original question though, if I can only do light, high-rep pressing right now, should I do the same number of sets as prescribed? The intensity is low, but maybe I’ll get some muscular endurance or hypertrophy benefit?

Or better to do an extra-slow tempo like 6-1-6?