Triceps work omission

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Howdy Drs,

How detrimental would it be to my pursuit of increased 1RM bench performance if I were to remove direct triceps work completely (i.e. on GPP days) from STR I programming?

Not so important, but you may read below for context as to why I am asking.

I am currently on my 3rd run of STR I (1st week), my elbow (the pointy, medial part of the bone that you would use to elbow someone in MMA or muay thai) has been giving me some issues for the past 3-4 weeks or so. It feels like a bruise when I apply pressure on it, though the pain is quite mild. I have no idea why it started to hurt, nor do I recall ever hitting it on anything. I did try reducing RPE targets as well as frequency/volume for direct triceps work, but it hasn’t really gotten better so I’m kind of lost at the moment (since benching doesn’t seem to aggravate it).

It only seems to bother me when I do more triceps focused work (i.e. a bit on close grip bench variations but especially on triceps press/pushdowns). While the pain is manageable in that I can still hit the RPE targets with pushdowns (at slightly lighter loads), it does make me think that I’m somehow making it worse.​ I have no interest in trying other triceps exercises. Skull crushers and movements that stretch the triceps bugs my shoulders, and I’ve never liked kickbacks due to the lower back component.

TIA!​​
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2

While I don’t think that you’re making it worse, I do think that finding some way to train them would be helpful for recovery and improving performance. It’s kind of like having knee pain and avoiding squats, which is not what we’d recommend.

I’d favor 1-arm tempo press downs and/or overhead extensions from a low cable pulley. Kick backs would work and I would argue pretty confidently against any significant low back component - the weight is very light and the low back isn’t really doing much of anything.

In short, I’d do something that you can tolerate as your entry point and go from there.

3

I kind of forgot about the whole entry point thing for whatever reason. I’ll try out your recommendations and see how it goes. Thanks again!