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Kettlebell How to train when discomfort ?

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Anders

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Hi,

So I am doing S&S 3-4 times a week. Two of the days are done "easy" using 24 or 24 an 28, either one hand or two-handed. My sleep is quite suboptimal with most nights sleeping under 6 hours, some nights also sleeping less than 5 hours.

I have achieved timeless simple some months ago. I am now doing six sets of 36, and four sets of 32.

When training my weak link seem to be hamstring endurance/strength, not the grip.

For one week I have felt some slight discomfort in my forearm that could resemble golfers elbow. It is however not close to the tendon attachment, but around five centimeter away from the tendon attachment in direction of the palm. I feel discomfort not pain. It is mostly discomfortable when I squeeze the area. I have taken two days off and trained lightly with the 24 kilo for one week, but I still feel the discomfort.

What would you recommend me to do ? Should I just try to train 1h swing and see if it is painful ? Should I train with the 32 and the 36, but do it 2h ?

At the moment I am following a sleep program to improve my sleep, but it is possible that it will take several months before my sleep is improved.

All answers will be helpful.

Anders
 
@Anders - I found when I swung a heavier weight I was ready for I would tug too much with my arm, so they’d be slightly bent position. I found this to quickly lead to some achy elbow-areas on the inside. So that being said, I would recommend ruling out form issues as the first step. Two hand swings usually didn’t aggravate it and let me train while letting it calm down.

That’s all the thoughts I have. Just my experience, I’m no SFG! Good luck.
 
For one week I have felt some slight discomfort in my forearm that could resemble golfers elbow. It is however not close to the tendon attachment, but around five centimeter away from the tendon attachment in direction of the palm. I feel discomfort not pain. It is mostly discomfortable when I squeeze the area. I have taken two days off and trained lightly with the 24 kilo for one week, but I still feel the discomfort.

Is the discomfort in your brachioradialis?

If you do a reverse grip curl, does it cause discomfort?
 
There's a chance that one link compensates for another link, and overgripping and tension in the forearm is a result of excessive arm work to favor the hamstrings insufficiency.
So to say - rest, and a lot of sumo deadlifts or weighted hip bridges/thrusters to strengthen the hams and then recheck if that was the case.
 
So 2 days/week using the 24 and 28. 1-2 days using the 32-36?

I would reset and Deload. Take 1 week off. Instead of doing S&S do light aerobic activities. Come back 1 week later healed. On your heavy day(s), just use the 32 and start building back up slowly with the 36. Ir even reset back to the 28 and spend a month building back up to the 32/36.

Eric
 
If possible, can you upload a vid of your swings

1. 30 degrees from the front

2. From the side

I've found making small adjustments allow other muscles to come into play and not let the hamstrings do all the work
 
Yes. I use liquid chalk when doing one arm swing. It is very efficient, works almost like glue.
 
Hi,

So I am doing S&S 3-4 times a week. Two of the days are done "easy" using 24 or 24 an 28, either one hand or two-handed. My sleep is quite suboptimal with most nights sleeping under 6 hours, some nights also sleeping less than 5 hours.

I have achieved timeless simple some months ago. I am now doing six sets of 36, and four sets of 32.

When training my weak link seem to be hamstring endurance/strength, not the grip.

For one week I have felt some slight discomfort in my forearm that could resemble golfers elbow. It is however not close to the tendon attachment, but around five centimeter away from the tendon attachment in direction of the palm. I feel discomfort not pain. It is mostly discomfortable when I squeeze the area. I have taken two days off and trained lightly with the 24 kilo for one week, but I still feel the discomfort.

What would you recommend me to do ? Should I just try to train 1h swing and see if it is painful ? Should I train with the 32 and the 36, but do it 2h ?

At the moment I am following a sleep program to improve my sleep, but it is possible that it will take several months before my sleep is improved.

All answers will be helpful.

Anders

I had similar discomforts in my forearm that lead to further pain and setback for a few months. The location changed every now and then, so definitely something was compensating. You need to start exploring your wrist and grip mobility/strength in various positions and directions. Do stretches and find the the most hurting angle so you will know what position you need to get it stronger in. There had been a couple of forearm pain threads lately that address those kind of issues.
 
I think it is in my brachioradialis.

When I'm had brachioradialis issues, it's helped me reduce discomfort by using myofascial release (foam rolling or stick) on my forearms, generally, with extra attention on the brachioradilis.

It hurts like a mofo, though....
 
Hi,

So I am doing S&S 3-4 times a week. Two of the days are done "easy" using 24 or 24 an 28, either one hand or two-handed. My sleep is quite suboptimal with most nights sleeping under 6 hours, some nights also sleeping less than 5 hours.

I have achieved timeless simple some months ago. I am now doing six sets of 36, and four sets of 32.

When training my weak link seem to be hamstring endurance/strength, not the grip.

For one week I have felt some slight discomfort in my forearm that could resemble golfers elbow. It is however not close to the tendon attachment, but around five centimeter away from the tendon attachment in direction of the palm. I feel discomfort not pain. It is mostly discomfortable when I squeeze the area. I have taken two days off and trained lightly with the 24 kilo for one week, but I still feel the discomfort.

What would you recommend me to do ? Should I just try to train 1h swing and see if it is painful ? Should I train with the 32 and the 36, but do it 2h ?

At the moment I am following a sleep program to improve my sleep, but it is possible that it will take several months before my sleep is improved.

All answers will be helpful.

Anders

I really suffered with forearm pain around my elbow, caused by (stupidly) moving up to a 24 while wearing a heart rate monitor watch around my wrist, putting it in the wrong position and damaging some of the tendons. I tried all sorts of exercises and stretches without much success. I then tried a wrist band from Amazon and found this has really helped, to the point of the pain almost disappearing. They’re not expensive, may be worth a go. Good luck!

Ionocore® Tennis Elbow Strap - Golfers Arm Support Brace with EVA Compression Pad - Fully Adjustable & Lightweight Pain Relief Forearm Protection - for Golf, Home & Gym Weightlifting https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XC9TW57/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_O2ilFbAC1J53A
 
There is another thing: The discomfort is in the left forearm. It is also in my left elbow that I have some discomfort. And my left shoulder is a bit more unstable than the right shoulder, and I guess therefore my left trapezius is more stiff than the right one. It seems to be that everything on the left side is not working as well as on the right side.

I am not sure how I could fix this.
 
There is another thing: The discomfort is in the left forearm. It is also in my left elbow that I have some discomfort. And my left shoulder is a bit more unstable than the right shoulder, and I guess therefore my left trapezius is more stiff than the right one. It seems to be that everything on the left side is not working as well as on the right side.

I am not sure how I could fix this.
Had the same issues. The pain was popping out in different locations, from wrist, forearms, elbow up to my shoulder. That is a sign that your other muscles are compensating the weak links.

Take a step back in weight. Avoid back to back training days for a while. Take the time to explore the pain in different, light excercises and stretches. Evaluate which ones cause pain or stiffness after and who I don’t. For me it was only the getup causing it.

It is going to be a set back but just don’t muscle through it without finding and addressing the weak link as it will get worse and will last longer. And don’t panic, you’ll get through it.

Read this, and the related article:

 
I thought that these three exercises might help: Wall-sliding, arm bar (starting with 12 kilo) and kettlebell pullovers with 8 kilo. Taking some days off and starting with 28 kilo again might be a good idea. I also think that improving my sleep might help improve the recovery of my tendons too.

**
My experience with training injuries is as follow. I have primarily experienced too sorts of pains. Quite intense, stinging paining my shoulders when I was younger. This was situated in one of my shoulders and lasted for a couple of days. It was very difficult to train through it so I just gave it complete rest. This pain was in the days when I trained with bench press and dumbbell side raises. After a couple of days with rest the pain went completely away.

Then the second type of pain which has been more diffuse. This pain was in my left shoulder when I was 16, in my elbow and now in my forearm. When I was 16 I was told it was impingement, but I never had the typical feeling of coldness or sticking in the fingers, it was simply the mild diffuse discomfort in the left shoulder. I took a break of four years and nothing changed.

Based on this I think my general impression is that diffuse pain/discomfort never goes away with rest. Still I think reloading and starting with 28 might be a good idea since it maybe can "spare" my forearms a bit and it will be easier to motivate myself for such a "light" training. And I think such "light" training is appropriate for me considering the reduced amount of sleep I am getting.

**
Two weeks ago I started to do some suitcase carry. That went fine. Then I introduced some bottom up work with the 8 kilo and 12 kilo. That did not go well. For some reasons I think my forearms cannot handle bottom up work.
 
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If you have a bar, do a few chinups (not pullups). I find these help with resolving nagging arm pain.

+1,

But you should explore excercises that make your fist open. Even pushups helped me a bit.

Pullovers and arm bars are really a t-spine and back mobility drill. I don’t see how they would help your arm, and forearm especially.
 
+1,

But you should explore excercises that make your fist open. Even pushups helped me a bit.

Pullovers and arm bars are really a t-spine and back mobility drill. I don’t see how they would help your arm, and forearm especially.

I am just thinking that I might have a problem with the left side of my upper body, and that maybe there is a stability problem in my shoulders that is leading to problems in my forearms. I cannot be certain but it appears to not be more than a coincidence that all my injuries and discomfort are located on the left side, and never on the right side.
 
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