That Stupid Elbow Pain Came Back
Alright so this whole tennis elbow thing? Yeah, it showed up again last week. I was just doing some regular curls, nothing crazy heavy, and BAM – that sharp, annoying pain right on the outside of my elbow. Felt like a little demon was stabbing me with a fork every time I bent my arm. Super frustrating, right? I refuse to just stop training my biceps though. No way. But pushing through it like before? Yeah, that obviously doesn’t work. Time to get smart.
Digging Around for Answers (Besides Giving Up)
Started looking online. Usual stuff: “rest it”, “ice it”, blah blah. Not helpful when you actually wanna do something. Then I remembered some old gym bro talking about modifying grips for elbow trouble. Decided to dig deeper into that. Came across this idea of using super strict form and some odd-looking grips specifically for folks like me with this fork-stabbing pain. Found a couple of supposed “tennis elbow friendly bicep drills”. Figured, screw it, let’s experiment. Worst case, I waste a session.
My Bicep Grind with the Stupid Elbow
Warmed up like usual, focusing extra on my forearms and triceps for some reason – read that it might help. Didn’t touch the straight barbell, that thing screams “elbow pain” for me.
Drill 1: The Rope Hammer Curl on the Cable
- Attached a rope to the low cable pulley.
- Grabbed the rope ends with a neutral grip – palms facing each other.
- Stood close, kept my elbows glued to my sides like they were welded there.
- Pulled the rope up slowly, focusing on the squeeze at the top, feeling it right in the belly of the bicep.
- Lowered it down even slower. Seriously, made the lowering part take forever.
Felt different instantly. Zero sharp pain! Just a deep pull in the muscle. Weird, but good weird. Okay, promising start.
Drill 2: Drag Curls with an EZ Bar
- Grabbed an EZ curl bar. Those wavy bits just feel kinder on my wrists and elbows somehow.
- Took a closer grip than usual, hands almost shoulder-width.
- Instead of curling out front, I dragged the bar up my torso. Kept my elbows pulled back behind me the whole way.
- Really focused on keeping my upper arms totally still, just dragging the bar path over my stomach and chest.
This felt super awkward at first, like I was doing it wrong. But the key thing? No fork-stabbing! The bicep burn was intense though. Okay, weird trick number two is a maybe.
Drill 3: Isometric Holds at the Top
- For this, just used some dumbbells. Pretty light weight, like 30% of my usual.
- Did a standard dumbbell curl, but when I got to the top position, muscles squeezed tight…
- …I just held it there. For a long, uncomfortable time. Like, 5-8 seconds per rep. Felt the burn get ridiculous.
- Lowered slowly, shook out the pump, went again.
Surprisingly brutal for such light weight! The hold makes your biceps scream without needing the explosive pull that murders my elbow. Smart pain-avoidance hack.
The Aftermath (No Fork in Sight!)
Finished the session. Did 3 sets of each drill, kept the reps around 12-15. No sharp elbow pain during the workout. Just the good kind of muscle fatigue. Later that night? Still no stabby fork feeling! Normal next-day bicep soreness? Yeah, absolutely. But the elbow itself felt… quiet. Like it was finally taking a nap instead of protesting. Still feels okay a couple days later, which is a miracle compared to before.
These drills look kinda goofy and feel awkward, I won’t lie. They force you to slow way down and use weights that feel way too light. But they actually let you work the muscle instead of the angry tendon. Gonna keep hammering these stupid tennis elbow drills for the biceps for a while. Seems like a decent trade-off: lighter weight, stricter form, no fork stabbing = keep making gains. Happy enough with that.