Tendonitis workaround question

[spearrmint]

Hi Cathe,

I've got another bad case of "tennis elbow" and some exercises I just can't do right now, such as side lateral & front delt raises.x( I wonder if you could give some advice on how to continue to train these muscles during the weight work. I was thinking of buying an attachment to my boyfriend's Body Solid machine where you place your elbows under pads to lift which would relieve the pressure on the joint. But aside from that, do you think somehow using the band in place of weights would do the trick?

Thanks for your help.

Joni

 

[kathryn]

RE: Tendonitis workaround

Can you do overhead presses? Those hit the three muscles of the delts. (IMO, front raises are rarely necessary, because the front delt is worked when doing chest presses, and also gets a lot of work in daily life).

You could also try to rig a band or even some ankle weights, so that the weight is above your elbow (on the upper arm) and do delt raises that way. Because of the much shorter leverage, 10# (for example) won't feel the same as 10# held in the hand (more like, 5?) but you could compensate some by doing more reps.

For example, you could get a heavy duty Lifeline resistance cord with handles (or any cord with handles), put part of the cord through the handle to make a loop to put your arm through (one one or both sides, depending on how long the cord is and if you can still stand on it and do both arms at once), stand on the middle of the cord, and lift to a delt raise (you might want to wrap a handtowel around your arm for padding). Just a thought for a way to take any strain off the elbow.

 

[spearrmint]

RE: Tendonitis workaround

Thanks, that's kinda what I was thinking about...the band idea. I'll try it and maybe load up on the overhead presses when Cathe does the front/side raises. I really like the way the side raises work the "cap", I MISS THAT!

Thanks for your great ideas,

Joni