Elbow Pain with Tricep Exercises (SNAP OR POP!)

What’s up, guys?Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.COM.If you get snapping or popping in your elbows, in your triceps, when you’re doing any kindof a pushing exercise, whether it be direct tricep work or some of your more indirectwork like your bench press and pushups, then this is the video that you’re going to want

to watch.Because I’m going to tell you, most likely, number one, what’s causing it, number two,that happens the most.Number 3, a way to quickly identify whether you’re prone to having this happen.And then number 4, some of the things you can do to try to help yourself if this is

happening.Now, first of all, is it a bad thing?It all depends.If you’re getting pain every time it snaps or after a few times that it snaps on everyrep, that becomes a problem.

If you never get pain or discomfort, then it could be just a pretty innocuous thingthat doesn’t really hold you back from your training.What’s really going on here?This Snapping Tricep Syndrome, you can see that as the elbow starts to flex into ourdeep portion of our Tricep Extension.

Again, this could be really mirrored in a lot of other ways.It could be mirrored in the bottom of a Bench Press, it could be mirrored in the bottomof a Dip, depends on when you’re getting your Snapping and Popping.But as it starts to flex, you’ll see that the Tricep, the Medial Head of the Tricep,which is located really low on the inside of the Elbow, that Medial Head of the Tricep

actually snaps across the medial upper condyle of your elbow.So you’ll start to see and feel that actual snapping.You can see the rubber band literally snap back and forth as it goes from flexion backinto elbow extension.And then back into flexion, and then back into elbow extension.

So what do we do about that?Well the idea again is whether or not it’s bothering you, is it becoming a problem, wehave to determine that based on the pain or weakness that you’re experiencing when you’reIf you’re getting weakness and pain, you’ve got a problem.You’re going to have to deal with it.

What do we do?Well, the first thing I want you to do is look at, first of all, identify where thismuscle is.You see right here, as I point out, it’s really this small little area on the inside of yourtriceps, way down here.

And you can see that it’s really close to the inside of your elbow, right on that joint.So when I go back into that extension, I showed you how it sort of flops back and forth, ok,right over and back.It’s kind of repositioning and then moving as we move.If your elbows, if you were to stand straight here to the camera and hold your elbows down

at your side, you can see that I have a natural angle to my elbows that goes out a littlebit.Normal is about 10 to 15 degrees.But if you’re somebody that has an abnormal angle at your elbow, now there’s somethingwrong, but if you have an abnormal angle, something greater than that, it’s called the

carrying angle of the elbow.A lot of times throwers, any pitcher will have on his throwing arm a more pronouncedangle here.That’s going to definitely leave you, definitely leave you susceptible to having this snappingtricep syndrome.

And it can lead to other things like nerve pain in your elbow too.So what do you do?Well you want to take the traditional tricep extension exercise that I’m showing you againhere.You can see that here we’ve got my arms up, going into normal flexion, going into extension

the elbows, I’m experiencing a pop every single time I come down.What could I do though?If you know you’ve got that exaggerated carrying angle, the thing you’re going to want to dois shift your elbows out more when you’re doing your tricep extensions.So you’re going to want to look more like I’m showing you here.

You can see the elbows are flared out a little bit more.Same thing on our tricep push downs.If you’re looking at a tricep push down here, I’d have my elbows flared out more than Iwould in normally because it’s just fighting your own anatomy to try to combat that snappingand try to prevent it from popping if you’ve got that exaggerated angle and you still try

to do things with your arms in line.Now is that compromising your tricep gains?No, not really guys because you still, the main function of the hinge joint of the elbowand the triceps itself is to extend the joint.So you are still extending the joint even with your elbows out to the sides.

You’re definitely doing that.You’re just not getting as much of a contribution of the long head of the triceps, which isgoing to help to kind of pin your arms into your sides a little bit closer.You’re basically still doing the job of the triceps, you’re just favoring one a littlebit less than the other two.

So don’t worry so much.It’s much more important that you actually keep your elbows feeling good so you can continueto work out than it would be to be worrying about whether your elbows are flaring a littlebit or not.Secondly, if your elbows are in a proper carrying angle, you’re not really greater than 10 or

15 degrees, but you’re still getting the snapping and popping, it could be that you’ve had someadaptive shortening in your triceps tendon that’s not allowing it to follow the propermechanics of the joint.So what you could do then is take a lacrosse ball, put it up against the wall here, takeyour elbow, dig it into the wall, and then use that to massage that tricep tendon and

to try to mobilize it a little bit more to give you more play.So there you have it guys, again Snapping Tricep Syndrome is definitely something that’snot talked about as much as it should be because it’s definitely a very common thing.It happens to at least 30% of people that lift weights.So it’s definitely something that’s common.

But whether or not it’s becoming a problem is only, only you’re going to be able to determinethat.And that is going to be gauged on whether or not it’s causing so much pain or discomfortor inflammation that it’s keeping you away from doing your workouts.Guys, we like to put the science back in strength here.

We put the science back in strength in everything we do.For our 90 day training program from day 1 to day 90 we literally coach you the way Icoach you now to be the best that you can be.Because I realize that if you get big and strong and fast but you can’t keep yourselfin the gym because you’re hurt, it’s not going to be worth a damn.

So I’ve got to make sure as a physical therapist and strength coach that I kind of wear bothhats and get you a training program that gets you in the best shape of your life but keepsyou healthy and safe every step of the way.Guys that’s what I do and I did it at ATHLEANX.COM.You can get our 90 day training program over there.

In the meantime, if you found this video helpful, make sure you leave a comment and a thumbsup below.And tell me whatever else it is that you’re ailing with in the gym, because we like todo these PT videos.I’ll cover them in a future video.

And guys, speaking of PT, a little bonus here for you.My favorite patient at the moment, my dog Charlie, the ACL tear he had 6 weeks ago.We know the old saying, what counts is not the size of the dog in the fight, but thesize of the fight and the dog.Check out my boy Charlie here.

He’s on the mend.can’t keep a good Athlean dog down, and you know with me as his owner, I’m not going tolet him.Thank you.