Inner Elbow and Workout

[Promax]

A friend and I have been back in working out for about 5 months. I am 35 and he is 33. The past 8 weeks we have been doing the Bill Star intermediate 5x5 workout. Since we started our strength has increase quite a bit. I know eventually we are suppose to hit a point where we will not be able to increase the weight. We have not reached that point yet. The only problem we both are noticing is that our inner elbows are starting to have a little pain in them. I did some research and found that it could be that our muscles are increasing in strength faster than our tendons in that area can keep up.

We just took a week off from working out as we probably should have done sooner because we have not missed a week in 5 months. Even after a week off I still fill the tenderness a little bit in the inner elbows. It does not affect the amount of weight yet. Mainly it is irritating and I would hate to cause future problems. I was wondering if maybe we should re check our 5 rep max and start from the beginning again. My theory behind this is that for about a month we would be working with lighter weight as we work back up to the 5 rep max. With the Bill Star 5x5 plan you get back to your 5 rep max in 4 weeks. I was thinking this would take some of the load off for about a month.

Just curious what others thoughts are about this ???

[Hawkwind]

Nothing wrong taking a week or two off or with backing things up a bit if your body needs to catch up. I have to do it quite often. (I'm 47) Also...I supplement to help prevent pain.

If you are curious:
I use Yucca, Cissus and bromelain to help prevent joint problems. Yucca and bromelain are both natural anti-inflammatories, and cissus promotes strong joints tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and muscle.

When I remember I also take a glucosamin/chondroitin/MSM combination.
*Do not use chondroitin if you have shell-fish allergies unless you know that the product is using bovine trachea instead of shellfish/shark cartilage. Anyhow...I've done that for years, but have discovered I'm doing just as well with the Cissus and yucca.

[dedication1]

I have been dealing with tendonitis in my left elbow for a couple of years now. It sucks. Tendons have little blood flow to them and take a very long time to heal. You can buy a wrap that goes on your upper arm which changes the load on the tendon. I wear one every time I work out and it deffinetley helps. If you do have tendonitis, you do NOT want that to get any worse. Unless you like cortizone shots, I'd get a wrap. By the way, the pain got alot better when I quit doing bicep curls.

[RoyceDa59]

I got to a stage where my elbows are just terrible and it obviously affect how much I could lift.
Elbow wraps can help, they helped me for a while. But the only measure that you can take to prevent it getting worse is rest, and staying clear of exercises that irritate your elbows.