Left Elbow Hyper-extends Lowering Into Iron Cross

Hello everyone,

I've been training for the Iron Cross on the gymnastic rings part time for over a year now.

I've hit an issue in that my left elbow hyper-extends under the levered force of my bodyweight as I lower into it. I reach a point where the discomfort in the joint causes me to stop the rep long before I reach muscular failure in the prime movers (latimus dorsi, deltoids and pectoralis major I believe).

Due to this, I rarely train on the rings and instead opt to train the prime movers with a training device that supports the elbow. This is further increasing the gap between what my muscles are capable of and what my elbow joint can take.

I cannot hyper-extend the joint by any other means and don't have any other joints that hyper-extend at all.

Could this be a muscle weakness in the stabilising muscles of the elbow? I have pretty strong biceps although my triceps are only moderately strong.

I would only use an elbow brace as an absolute last resort or if I was convinced it would aid in strengthening the joint which I suspect it would not.

Thanks in advance, this is an amazing resource!

Richard

Hello again,

Is there anyone who can help me with this?

Someone suggested that hypertrophy training the bicep would shorten the muscle thus inhibiting my elbow from hyper extending. Please advise.

Thanks,

Richard

Hi Castleclimber

Sorry you haven't had any replies to your query. Unfortunately this takes me way beyond my area of practice. However I thought I would say a few general points, however.

I think you should get advice from a physio who is expert in your sport. Can you find someone who is used to dealing with male gymnasts? They may have seen this problem before and may have a helpful contribution to make. I imagine it can't be that uncommon on the iron cross - but as I said it isn't my area of expertise

Just with building up the biceps, before you get to that I think a biomechanical opinion of what you actually do in your performance would help. The problem may be somewhere else in the kinetic chain - that is the you are getting an excessive elbow extension moment due to the movement and the alignment of another joint complex or complexes (eg the shoulder girdle during your performance. You need someone to do a video analysis of what is happening while you do it and then do a really thorough examination of your upper arm and body muscles/joints. If the problem lies elsewhere simply building up the elbow flexors may be unrealistic and could effect your symmetry and performance.

If however you have measurable weakness on that arm in the biceps that is a different matter. However even then the weakness may be a result and not a cause - that is the pain and inflammation to the elbow is affecting the function of the muscle.

All the best with getting help and with your sport.

Hi gcoe,

Thank you for your response to my thread. I've been looking around for a specialist in London but have not been successful so far. I've contacted a gymnast friend of mine who may know of one.

I'll take your advice and get a recent film together of my cross attempt and show it to a coach. If it's technique that's steering me wrong, that would be brilliant. I had considered it but am untrained for making such observations and could have missed something easily.

Thanks again for your advice, I will post again when I make progress with this.

Richard