A few months ago I developed a severe pain in both of my elbows when I try to do lying triceps extensions (skull crushers, nose breakers, whatever they're called).  I tried to just work through the pain, but it got worse and worse over time and I finally had to quit the exercise altogether.  Even doing light weight hurts now.  No other tricep exercise hurts my elbows, but unfortunately no other exercise works my triceps as well.  I really want to be able to do this exercise again.  Any suggestions?

If it hurts, it a sign something ain't right.  Lay off that exercise for at least a few weeks and use something else to hit your tri's.  It may be that you are snapping your elbows and locking out, putting a lot of stress on the elbows.  I had the same problem with that exercise and now have cut it out completely, but I still give my tri's a serious workout.  There are other exercises which will work your tri's every bit as well.  Do you do weighted dips?  Close grip/reverse grip bench presses?  Tri presses on the cables?

Samehere,the insides of your elbows,correct? refered to as tennis or golfers elbow,mine have never got much better after 20yrs.Same exercise did same to me,as stated above,dips or cable pressdowns work ok for me.

You describe what MANY people experience. It is a form of tendenitis, and will never completely heal. I blew both of my elbows at the same time after years of doing HEAVY(110lbs at 170 lb bodyweight) seated two hand dumbell extensions.

There are however many other excellent tricep exercises.

1. Take a bench and place it in front of the low cable pulley machine. Take a tricep bar and attach it to the cable, lay down with your head near the rack and lift away. It is basically the same movement as a "nosebreaker", but takes a great deal of the pressure off of your elbows due to the fixed position. Works great!

2. Same exercise as above, but with a inclined bench.

3. Close grip bench press. Hands should be about 6-8" apart, NOT right next to each other. By putting the hands next to each other, this places undo stress on the joints. Do this excercise slowly and you will get a great burn.

4. Cable pushdowns. Proper way is to slightly bend the knees, lean slightly forward, and pressdown from the horizontal position with a lock out at the bottom. Do not come up past horizontal. Once you do, it brings the back and shoulders into play. You are working triceps, right?

5. Dips, Dips, and more Dips. Weighted of course.

6. Triceps pushdown machine. If available. This is the one that you put free weights on. Stack some weight on the machine, sit down and press away. You can vary hand position during the set giving you the benefit of 2 or 3 sets in one. You can also do this excercise one handed.

This should give you a good starting point. nd the most important thing to remember is FORM, not weight makes you grow.

As I get older I find there are certain exercises I can no longer do. I used to love weighted dips. After a full A/C seperation I can't even do 10 good body weight dips. The doctor also told me no more bench press. However, that exercise does'nt seem to hurt so I still use it, but my max went from 325 to about 290. My point is that even though there are some exercises I can no longer perform or perform as well I still manage to get a good workout. Find another tri exercise or 3 and get with it. Luckily for you and I there are probably more tri exercises than most other mucsles combined.  

shaggy:
I don't think my form was bad.  I think I just started using more weight than my elbows could handle.  I got up to 135 pounds.  Now I can't even do 50 pounds.  And yes, I do weighted dips, close grip presses, and cable pushdowns.  I just miss doing nosebreakers.

mags:
yep, inside of my elbows.

JH225:
I'll have to try 1. and 2.  I've never done those before.  I'll try 3. and 4. the way you suggest too.  I'm not exactly doing them that way.  Don't have a tricep machine that uses free weights.

seb127:
Sorry about you injury.  I guess I should be glad it's only my elbows giving me problems.

I had this experience a few times. Pain in the inner elbow during and after tricep rope pull downs and skull crushers. I buddy suggested I always warm up real light, like using 30-40lbs for a set of 15 or so. This seemed to get things loosened up and now I don't have a problem anymore. If I just right to the regular sets, I am sure to feel messed up. Worked for me.

I've been there myself.  Sought expert advice from some of the best docs.

Bottom line.  It's gonna hurt.  Not the treatment but the RX.  "LAY OFF" for at least a few weeks.

Then, when the pain is gone, you have to start slooooow and warm up.  Pretty soon you'll be doing heavy weight again.  But, from now on, you have to just warm up better and work your way up to the heavy stuff.  No more just jumping right in.  The inflamation is what's hurting.  Combat that and you won't have the pain.

Joe

EdAvilaSr:
I'll try slowing down the pace.  Haven't tried that yet.  I do dips and reverse grip pushdowns, but like you said, nothing works better than using heavy weight with skull crushers.

LE6920
I've tried using light weight, but it still hurts.  Maybe I need to go a little lighter.

Joe_556
Glad to know you are able to do that excercise again.  I've layed off of them for a while.  When the pain is gone, I'll try starting back slow.  Hopefully I'll be able to do them again.

Thanks for all of the advice.