1 month of arms, no rest days. Am I stupid?

[tatiana92]

@pirocks Could you elaborate where your pain was exactly? I am fighting since 3-4 months. I did excessive arm workout everyday to get to a point I have a cracking sound with pain whenver I straighten my arm. I also have hypermobility.

 

[pirocks]

@tatiana92 It was the inside of my elbows on the forearm side. Tbh that sounds kinda bad, I would speak to a physiotherapist

 

[agapegrace]

@pirocks I have arm injury in both arms started in one wrist now it’s both arms now up to shoulder it’s so depressing had to stop working and I’m 15

 

[richardblank]

@agapegrace Have you seen a doctor and physical therapist?

 

[agapegrace]

@richardblank Yup

 

[jesuslovesme]

@richardblank Does it matter how heavy things are? At some point 20lb bicep curls is going to be an endurance exercise rather than progressive resistance.

I'm really trying to ask generally, but about this person's specific situation.

And just some other thoughts I'm having, wouldn't this problem arise from doing daily running or pushups or pullups? Those all have significantly higher weights than 20lbs.

 

[richardblank]

@jesuslovesme The load is absolutely a variable, alongside countless other variables. In general, lighter weights/higher reps are friendlier to tendons than heavier weights, but endurance training can absolutely still induce tendon breakdown. We can see this clearly in the running population, wherein overuse injuries are the most common type (for example, Plantar Fasciitis), something I myself received in the last year from running too hard and too much for my own good.

In fact, running wisdom is very clear that a runner should be careful when increasing mileage - only doing it at a slow rate and never running through pain.

To be clear, none of these things are certain to cause injury. An experienced individual doing a few pull-ups a day in the "grease-the-groove" training style may not receive any injury, but an unexperienced individual going to failure every day is much less likely to be physically capable of taking that training load. Additionally, you cannot understate the impact of lifestyle variables such as nutrition, sleep, and stress levels. Things that an inexperienced, underweight teenager is likely not taking much care of.

 

[dvz]

@richardblank Totally agree. I’m 28 right now and this happened to me last year, where I was training my upper body heavily without rest. I ended up with severe wrist tendonitis, tennis elbow and tricep tendonitis. It is taking me a long long process to fix all the issues and to be able to go about my daily life without pain.

 

[richardblank]

@dvz I hope things are improving for you. I'm dealing with finger pully overuse right now that I got rock climbing. It's a pain because it effects my pulling movements.

I've had elbow tendinitis too, fortunately I recovered from that with sufficient rest and care when getting back into the gym. I still can't do preacher curls pain-free, or any movement where my bicep is directly loaded in a stretched position, but otherwise I'm good.

 

[melvinmecham243]

@richardblank I got tendinitis from excessive lifting at work. It felt like stabbing on my shoulders. I couldn’t even sleep on my side. I haven’t been in that position in about 1.5 years now and I stretch daily but I still feel the pain but not as much.

 

[jimmy622]

@bobgunn Yes. Aside from the obvious risk of overuse injury, you should also strive to develop a balanced body. You should train all muscle groups and all the four kinds of movements viz horizontal pushing; horizontal pulling; vertical pushing; vertical pulling. Rest is not a luxury, it's a necessity.

 

[vegasdaisy]

@bobgunn Yes, please rest. Also, technically you are underweight. Are you eating in a slight surplus in calories?

 

[bobgunn]

@vegasdaisy I eat around 2,200 calories a day and around 60 grams of protein.

 

[vegasdaisy]

@bobgunn How long have you been doing that? And are you gaining any weight? If more than a few weeks and no weight gain, consider increasing to 2,300 to 2,400. You won’t get stronger if you’re not gaining muscle, which requires more calories. Also maybe up the protein to at least .8 g per lb body weight. So at least 90g protein

 

[liveoak]

@bobgunn Double that protein

 

[bobgunn]

@liveoak double? what foods do you recommend? I don’t take any protein supplements at the moment, so all the protein i’m getting is just from my diet

 

[heyden]

@bobgunn Dairy, eggs, fish/meat. You can easily get 30g protein from dairy, 30 from eggs en 40 from fish/meat. Add some rice/oats and some beans/chickpeas and you easily go beyond 120

 

[granite09]

@heyden 30 from eggs is like 6 eggs a day nah ? I think at 4 ish you end up with too much algumin (in the eggs white)

 

[remainannonymous]

@granite09 You can get 6 or more from a single large egg. So 4 to 5 eggs should be plenty.

 

[harpazo_woohoo]

@bobgunn Are you against protein supplements? Something like whey protein is very well researched and has no side affects. It’s just the protein part extracted from milk. That can make it a lot more convenient to hit your goals