Tendonits??? Any advice is appreciated.

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: Tendonits??? Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks much for your evaluation; I definitely have not studied this stuff that much so I do need to revise my workout. The doctor that did the hand xrays was saying stay away from anything that "pulls" on your fingers such as lateral rows, lateral pulldowns, handling heavy barbells and dumbells because of the pull on the fingers. This doc then recommended my dynaflex gyroball that I do really like using once a week. but I have religiously worked out for 6 months and have made gains and my fingers are good. As for the "pulling" weightlifting movements I am doing lateral pulldowns of 15-20 reps at 80-90 pounds, and lateral rows at 80 pounds 15-20repsx3sets, curls 65 pound dumbell at 15-20x3sets.

So I appreciate your feedback and wisdom here. deadlift 400 lbs for a couple reps is functional! I wish I could do that and reach my practicing/playing guitar goals, that is truly the dream, I am glad you realized yours! cheers :beerchug: that is really incredible.

Thanks brutha, solid advice here, I play with the lightest possible gauge, my fretlight guitar needs a setup and is standard tuned, and my number one Gibson SG Standard is no issue here as it has the lightest possible gauge and is tuned to C# standard and has no fret issues.

I know machines can vary, but even so, why are you barely doing much more weight for your back work exercises?
Work on getting that back stronger and get into a lower rep range (8-10) with a bit more weight and make the curls a bit less of a priority.

Very off topic, but curious : What string gauges are you rocking for C#? I've been using a 54 for the 6th string lately and love it (25.5 inch scale)

Proper weight lifting doesn't involve the delicate muscles of the hands, wrists and elbows to the extent that most people think it does. The problem is when you move those tendons and muscles individually and repetitively. Like when you do bench presses for example. The tendons and muscles of the hands, wrists and elbow are all working together simultaneously. The problem with guitar playing is that you are moving things individually and in isolation from the other muscle groups.... that is what leads to injury.

This is also why I suggested compound movements at the gym... that way you aren't moving anything individually and everything operates in a "team" effort.

And overtraining leads to elevated cortisol levels... elevated cortisol levels due to overtraining lead to excess and chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation can lead to tendinitis.

Sometimes we have tight and neatly planned areas around joints... bursa sacs exist to reduce friction between the joints.

Inflammation can INCREASE the friction between joints and IRRITATE the bursa and delicate soft tissues surrounding the joint(s).

In fact, inflamed and irritated soft tissue around a joint is the definition of tendinitis.

So, my advice of using sound and proven methods to avoid overtraining is to help you. No "bro-science" here... just actual science.

Some good advice here about over use and tendinitis, but you've gone a bit broscience on the overtraining thing yourself though.
A lot of guys in the gym probably wont experience overreaching, let alone overtraining. A genuine overtrained state is incredibly unlikely to ever happen to a guy the gym for 60-90 minutes, 3-4 days a week doing a typical routine. You need way more volume and intensity, over a long period of time to get there.
At worst, everdrone may overreach (very commonly and rather erroneously referred to as overtraining), and even so, that only takes a few weeks to recover from and resting and recovering at that point will stop overtraining from occuring. The signs of overreaching become obvious anyway (irritable, a lot of fatigue, interrupted sleep, possibly get sick more often/more easily etc) Continuing to train very heavily rather than resting in an overreaching state is what will lead to true overtraining.
One can get issues with tendinitis caused by gym activities without even being in an overreaching state anyway. You could do too many curls, get forearm tendinitis from overuse and/or bad form, but your CNS and rest of your body could/physiologically be fine and you wouldn't necessarily be in an overreached state.

 

[dr. ad]

Re: Tendonits??? Any advice is appreciated.

+1 on resting your hands and wrists, and taking glucosamine, chondroitin, and krill(or fish) oil

maybe you should focus on cardio for a while? hitting a heavy bag could be a good option; you need to keep your wrists straight, and it pretty much leaves your thumbs out of it.
i've had this problem a long long time ago, i was just pushing too hard with the weights and wasn't looking after my hands. all the muscles connected to the thumb (grip) got really sore and really weak.
thankfully i was in a pretty good relationship at the time.

not to step on anyone's broes, but could your grip/technique be a contributing factor..?

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Tendonits??? Any advice is appreciated.

Not sure that heavy back work is a good rec. I've sprained three knuckles and hurt both wrists a few times when I was training for boxing tournaments on the heavy bag. This was through 16 oz gloves and with a properly wrapped wrist. Even if you don't break knuckles, the impacts can make your joints in your hand hurt. That's one of the few types of exercise that caused injuries preventing me from playing guitar.