Can you feel it? Back to school is in full effect and there’s already a hint of Fall in the air! The Ice Hockey pre-season is getting close, and Halloween 2024 won’t be far behind that. Soon we can celebrate cooler temperatures, meaning that us hosers and fellow northerners can train hard without the risk of melting. In short, the year is about to get even more awesome!
All this means that Breakthrough’s 2024 Tactical Strength Challenge is fast approaching and our team members are already fantasizing about their deadlifting PR’s, looking forward to the hero-making effects of our signature kettlebell ballistics training and anticipating reaching new heights with Pull Ups, Flexed Arm Hangs and Inverted Rows. This fall will be our mark our 10th year of hosting TSC’s at this location, and actually our 14th year of presenting and training for the event. Not too shabby. With so many years of event prep behind us, we realized that have tackled many diverse challenges associated with participating in the contest. Our experience has taught us how to minimize problems with blistered hands, overtraining, back issues and now most recently overcoming cell phone / computer overuse.
Medial and lateral epicondylitis (aka Tennis or Golfer’s Elbow) are not new conditions to plague athletes and especially those of us who like to practice a high volume of pull ups, chin ups, rows and flexed arm hangs. What is new, however, is that it is hitting a much higher proportion of our training population, and it strikes us long before the volume of work could even really be considered “high.”
Years ago, my personal best result in the Pull Up event at the TSC was 24 repetitions. When I prepped for that contest, I used the much loved Fighter Pull Up Program; a protocol using multiple “ladders” of reps. At the time, I was spending far fewer hours typing at the computer and scrolling on the phone. As such, I practiced pull ups 5 days a week at a volume of 50+ repetitions per day and my elbows didn’t bother me once. Nowadays, there’s considerably more time spent using technology to communicate, create training programs, and consume continuing education and entertainment content on portable devices. I must confess that my elbows are now “finicky” whenever I practice more than 30 reps in a session and my grip strength fatigues way faster than it should! I’m pretty sure there’s a connection. Training for one hour, even five times per week, is still less than 5% of the week’s waking hours. It just isn’t fair that we should have to take away from the training we do in that precious 5% to accommodate the already massive amount of time spent overusing our devices. Seems like our priorities need an adjustment!
It wasn’t that long ago that we were doing a lot less unconscious “infinite scrolling” on our phones. But everything from grocery shopping to social media and using multiple apps to constantly communicate with others now involves considerable touchscreen use. It’s so prevalent that I’d guess most of us would still be shocked to discover the actual number of minutes spent holding and using our devices. We use them for work, and then as soon as we can, we use them for amusement. For most of us, even attempts to track our app usage seems to have no effect on actually minimizing the time spent with technology. There’s literally a thing on the phone that we can use to supposedly help minimize our use of the phone. Strange days…
If you’re reading this on an iPhone right now, humor me and try this. Go to your “Settings,” then go to “Battery” and check out the section at the bottom labeled “Battery Usage.” This will show you the percentage of battery power your phone has used for various apps in the last 24 hours and in the last 10 days. Whoa. So that’s where all my time goes! I was surprised to see that even the app we use to deliver our training programs, “The Bridge Athletic,” which is active for the entire hour that we’re training, multiple days per week, is still less than 1% of the battery usage. This gives us another perspective on just how much of the week we spend in training compared to other activities.
With all this said, the unfortunate truth is that the design of our devices and our use of them is not likely to change dramatically for the better any time soon. Tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and epicondylitis are all conditions we now have to live with and must learn how to prevent or, at least, reduce in some way.
So let’s start fighting back! The problem, although multifaceted, can be considered a huge case of overuse and under-recovery. Athletes have always struggled with this issue but our modern, tech-heavy lives have added a new twist. Ligaments, tendons and connective tissues just can’t be expected to recover properly from hard gym training while they’re engaged in activities like constant typing and scrolling between sessions. When we return to training, these tired areas are still inflamed and not at all recuperated and yet they’re being vigorously taxed once again with the gripping of bars, barbells and kettlebell handles.
Consider this; what if in the hours immediately following a hard training session, we could try to minimize repetitive stress activities that keep our tired muscles and connective tissues working? Seems so obvious that it just might help. Imagine cooking on a gas barbecue at high heat and then instead of turning it off, you just turn the heat down to a low setting and leave it. That barbecue will remain pretty hot and it will run out of gas. Don’t let this happen to the muscles and tissues in your arms! After a training session, try actually resting. At least for awhile. That means no gaming, typing, scrolling or even watching amusing or educational content on a handheld device.
Now let’s address the elephant in the room. Is the simple measure described above even really possible with our current lifestyles? What if constant tech use is now simply unavoidable? Well then, at the very least we can look to our ergonomics. We can check in on our keyboard posture, for example. If our wrists are bent at a jaunty angle while typing for hours, might that not be a greater source of stress than flexed-arm hangs or rows a few times a week? How about the bent elbow position we all assume while texting and other device use? Take into account the cumulative effect of that throughout the week and compare that to the 5% or less time we spend in the gym. It’s too big a topic to get into here, but you get the idea. Do a little research (using your nefarious devices!) and make sure there isn’t a big no-no in your computer setup. If you have to do a lot of phone or tablet use, invest in cases, stands and gadgets to make holding and scrolling less cumbersome.
Okay, so what if my elbows just keep hurting, but I don’t want to have to stop training entirely, what can I do? In this case we have to consider immediately reducing volume and intensity, at least. Bent arm positions in hangs can become straight arm hangs for a bit, and the intensity of KB Cleans and Rows can be toned down or even become bodyweight exercises like Body Saws and Side Plank variations until the discomfort drops down a few notches. Use the time saved on reducing those lifts to Incorporate corrective exercises into training. “Tyler Twists” with the Theraband Flex Bar (https://www.theraband.com/products/flexbar), wrist exercises with the Iron Mind Wrist Defender (https://www.ironmind-store.com/Wrist-Defender-Soft-Weight/productinfo/1438/), flexion and extension stretches from Yoga, hand expansions with little rubber bands (https://www.ironmind-store.com/Expand-Your-Hand-Bands153-10-Bands/productinfo/1376/) and Indian Club work can all help. Turn to the tried and true tricks to reduce inflammation as well; cold therapy (a dixie cup filled with water and frozen in the freezer makes a great anti-inflammatory massage tool), and eating anti-inflammatory foods like leafy greens, fatty fish, tomatoes, olive oil, almonds and walnuts, etc. while avoiding the inflammatory ones like refined carbs, french fries and sugary soda. Self myofascial release techniques and tools can help a lot too, of course. At Breakthrough, we are proponents of the excellent Yoga Tune Up Therapy Balls (https://www.tuneupfitness.com/shop/massage-balls/yoga-tune-up-therapy-ball) and Roll Model methods.
As we charge bravely into our increasingly tech-reliant future, we’ll need to be even more mindful of the repetitive stress effects our activities have on our bodies. Recovery from training is much more than just nutrition and sleep, it’s also massage, anti-infammation, stretching and now what you might call repetitive stress avoidance! Our bodies are incredibly adaptive, but that’s a knife that cuts both ways. The adaptive resources we possess are limited and they will prioritize the activities that we do most often. Unfortunately, there’s no way we can match the number of minutes spent doing pull ups to the number of minutes spent on the computer and phone, so we’ll just have to work on striking a more favorable balance. With this in mind, I will stop with the typing, you can stop with the reading and scrolling, and move on with your recovery. Then we can all meet up at the gym for more good training!