The triceps release protocol

The triceps tension release protocol.

If you have “elbow pain” that isn’t tennis elbow. Pain to tell exactly where it is located but in an area 5-15 cm from your elbow and not in a very specific spot very close to the elbow you probably want to give this a test. As I described in the FP about the role of the triceps in fly casting we get pain in this area because of more than one reason. Power not being handled upstream in the chain being one and that the triceps is so tense that the radial nerve doesn’t glide as it should are two reasons. There can be more problems further up in the chain but releasing the tension in the triceps made a huge difference for me so I will start by sharing how to take care of the triceps.

The first thing we want to do is to massage the triceps. Here a ball like a lacrosse ball or a bandy ball are good tools. Tennis ball can be to soft, but if that’s what you have you can start with that. Place the ball between the arm and a wall. There are two spots that you probably will find the most tension in so start there. The first one being located about 4 fingers above the elbow on the outside of the arm and then an other one about 2-3 fingers above that point on the side/back of the arm. What you are looking for a spots that feels “hot”, spots that are clearly more tender to the touch. You want to find all these spots in the triceps, but don’t get closer to the triceps than 4 fingers because then you will just be massaging the tendon of the triceps which can irritate the nerves passing there. When you find one of the hot spots put some pressure there, but not much pressure, you shall feel some discomfort but still be able to smile and breathe. Stay at that point for 45-60 seconds, keep the pressure on bend and extend the arm 5-8 times. Work two spots per session. You do not want to put too much pressure on here, your task is not to crush these hot spots just tell the body that it is safe to let go of the tension.

After massage it is time for some radial nerve glides. We have removed some tension in the triceps and now it is time to help the nerve to glide better. I use this variation: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Prz3h9sbFtg

Do 15-30 repetitions here.

You might feel a difference here very soon. But you will have to continue working on this for a while. And there is one more thing you shall add here. The triceps has built up this tension for “protection”, to be prepared to handle a to big demand. We must get rid of that, the massage will do a good job but we can add one thing to further help us get rid of that tension. We must add some eccentric triceps work, with focus on control, the show the muscle and nervsystem that we are in control of the movement of the triceps. This will build “trust” and help to keep the tension away. Eccentric training means that we only do the part of the movement where the muscle is lengthening, just lowering the weight/resistance. We will use the over head triceps extension for this. Use both hands to get the resistance into the top position of the lift and just one hand to lower the weight. Do this for 2 sets with 6-8 repetitions per session. Use some resistance, but not heavy resistance, the focus here is control of the movement. I use rubber bands when doing this at home, if you don’t have that you can try with a bottle filled with water or sand. But you might need to get something heavier.

This is how I perform it in two variations with rubber bands.

First variant is the same if you use some weight instead of a rubber band.

1. Starting position.
2. From the starting position use both hands to get the resistance into the top position.
3. From the top position, use only one hand to lower the resistance. Remember control, work against the resistance.
4. Back at starting position.

1. Grab the rubber band behind your back. Notice here how I haven’t extended my left arm.
2. Extend the right arm, the arm we are going to work on, this should be relatively easy.
3. To extend the load on the eccentric part of the movement I extend the left arm.
4. Lower the right arm under control, work against the resistance while doing so.

To summarise:

1. Massage, two spots per session, 45-60 seconds per spot.
2. Radial nerve  glides, 15-30 repetitions.
3. Eccentric triceps training, 2 set 6-8 repetitions.

I did, and still do this protocol almost daily. That might be too frequent. Maybe every other day is better. After a while I have also started to challenge myself a bit more on the triceps extensions and upping the resistance. That I only did after doing it light for a couple of weeks and seeing improvements already. 

Cheers, Rickard