Oh, and this is posted on the HST FAQ Boards over on the site. It's under the "Selecting Exercises and other related topics" FAQ.
Treatment for sore elbows - and sore joints in general
Lying tricep extensions cause me elbow pain unless I am very careful about my weight progression.
Whatever you do, don't ignore elbow pain...it can become chronic and a real pain in the neck (and elbow of course).
If you are doing lying tricep extensions, switch to tricep pushdowns.
If tricep pushdowns also cause pain, switch to dips only.
If dips also cause pain do only kickbacks. You can't go very heavy with kickbacks but you can at least burn out a set or two.
If necessary, drop all direct tricep work until next cycle. Let your elbow heal up and start the next cycle VERY light on triceps and try to do as much burning sets as possible during the 15's and 10s.
After SD, take only the EZ bar and rep out 30 or 40 reps of skullcrushers/lying triceps extensions, and call it a day. Next time in, put on only the collars and do it just the same way. Nice and slow until either it burns too bad or all the blood runs out of your arms and they begin to go numb.
Next time in put on 2 1/2 lbs plates and rep them out again. What will happen is you will be able to rehabilitate your elbows. If I can do it, so can you.
Now, when you begin to go heavier (slowly and progressively), don't do skull crushers first. Warm up the triceps/elbows with heavy dips. I usually do a burn set of tricep kickbacks first, then do my dips, them do my skullcrushers. Even then, you should do a slow light burning set first. Then do a set of biceps first and bingo, pain is gone.
Complete rehab takes about 4-6 weeks of pretty light weight and a lot of reps. But its worth it.
The problem usually stems from the tricep actually becoming too strong for it's tendons. This happens when a guy gets used to training heavy with relatively low volume all the time. They also tend to use too little warmup before going heavy.
If you really want to be able to do them again, give this a try...it will work. You'll still have to be careful to maintain the condition of your elbows over time, but at least you will be able to get in some great sets of skullcrushers as well.
If the elbows start hurting mid-cycle
You will have to take your triceps "out of the loop" so to speak.
You'll need to quit doing the pushdowns, and other direct tricep work until you fix your elbows. The thing about pushdowns, is that they usually don't hurt while you’re doing them, but they foster the inflammation in the elbow that is at the core of our problem.
One way to check if you are having an inflammation problem in the elbow is to relax the arm, allowing it to hang straight at your side. Then take your finger of the opposite hand and press just above and down on your "elbow bone" (essentially this is the proximal tip of the ulna or "Olecranon process" of ulna where the tricep attaches), directly on the back of your arm.
With the tricep relaxed and arm straight, press your finger on the bone where the tricep attaches and see if there is any pain as you rub on the bone. If there is, you have inflammation. It may be mild or severe.
So, in order to get it to subside, you have to get rid of the inflammation first. This requires a lay off from direct tricep work. Usually wide grip pressing is ok, but any kind of extension should be avoided.
You may need to use an OTC anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen if the inflammation/pain is significant.
So, keep training the rest of the body as you normally would, but take your triceps and put them on a rehabilitative schedule. Like I said, it may take 4-6 weeks to work your way up to any real weight on the EZ bar. But this is better than never being able to do them at all.
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