Talk To Me Johnnie,

After taking Rips barbell cert I have been low bar back squatting and am managing to move more weight- excellent.  Then I discovered CrossFit Football and have added more weight to my back squat- awesome.  My problem is massive pain on the medial side of my right elbow.  I have sought treatment and been diagnosed “golfers elbow” or medial epicondylitis.  I have done some research on the Internet discovering I am not alone and others suffer the same pain from low bar back squatting.  While not a common problem it is not uncommon either.   There is a considerable difference between the 1RM of my high bar back squat to my low bar back squat.  I would like to continue to low bar back squat and keep adding weight.  Are you aware of this problem and can you provide any advice.

Thanks,

 

Ryan

ELBOW PAIN#1
Ryan,

Since we don’t squat with our elbows we should be able to squat relatively free from elbow pain, right? Most elbow pain I’ve experienced after squats is linked to what happens to my hands during the set. Pain has either resulted from squeezing too tightly, cocking my wrists, or pushing my palms into the bar. You are going to have to experiment with multiple hand placements and a couple of thumb configuration tweaks in order to find a non-elbow hurting position. I’ve also noticed that other activities that involve the elbow being flexed for extended periods of time (video games, typing, peeling bananas, polishing billiards trophies, spanking etc.) seem to directly correlate to elbow pain after squats or other heavy activities. Recently I dealt with a similar problem by making sure four of my fingers were wrapped lightly around the bar and my thumb firmly (not excessively) touching space in between the 1st and 2nd knuckles on my index fingers, with a width that provides enough shoulder tightness for the bar to not crush my scapulae. Like a sorority girl in Cabo, experiment and try not to fuck yourself up too much in the process

Nate