You lock out a heavy bench single and feel a sharp catch right at the point of your elbow. Or you are three dips deep and it bites at the very top. It warms up after a set or two, you finish the session, and then it aches all evening. That back-of-the-elbow pain is usually triceps tendonitis, and it is one of the more misread problems I see in lifters, because everything else about the arm feels fine. Your grip is strong. Curls do not bother you. Off the chest, nothing. The pain shows up only at the finish of a press.
Here is what is actually going on back there, how to tell an irritated tendon from the two things that genuinely need imaging, and what I would change in your training this week so you can keep pressing while it settles.
Triceps tendonitis is pain and irritation where the triceps tendon attaches to the olecranon, the bony point of your elbow. Put a finger on the very back tip of your elbow, slide up an inch toward your shoulder, and that is the spot.
The name is a little misleading. "Tendonitis" implies classic inflammation, but what I see in lifters is almost always tendinopathy: a tendon loaded harder or faster than it has had time to adapt to. The tissue is not damaged the way a tear is damaged. It is irritated and under-prepared. That distinction matters, because irritated-and-under-prepared has an obvious fix, and it is not rest.
The setup is nearly always a training change three to six weeks before the pain showed up. Heavy lockout work, dips back in the rotation, a jump in pressing volume, a board press block, or a pile of skull crushers. Something asked the tendon for more than it was ready to give.
Because that is where your triceps works hardest.
The triceps extends the elbow, and its demand peaks in the last few degrees before the arm is straight. That is the top of a bench press, the top of a dip, and the finish of an overhead or close-grip press. Off the chest, your pecs and delts carry most of the job and the tendon is comparatively quiet. At lockout the load transfers almost entirely through that one attachment on the back of the elbow.
This is why the pattern is so clean. Lifters describe it to me the same way nearly every time: fine on the way down, fine off the chest, sharp at the top. If your pain follows that map, you are dealing with a posterior elbow problem, not a shoulder or forearm one.
Posterior elbow pain is not one diagnosis. The back of the elbow is a small, crowded area, and several different things live there [1]. Here is how I sort them in the eval.
Triceps tendinopathy. Tender right at the insertion on the point of the elbow, reproduced by resisted elbow extension near full lockout. Aches after training rather than during warm-up. This is the common one in lifters.
Olecranon bursitis. A visible, squishy, fluid-filled lump right over the point of the elbow, often described as a golf ball under the skin [6]. It usually looks worse than it feels, and pressure on the elbow bothers it more than pressing does. If it is red, hot, and you feel unwell, see a doctor the same day, because an infected bursa is a real thing.
Posterior impingement, or valgus extension overload. Pain when the elbow is forced into full straight, like a snapped-out lockout. More common in throwers, but I see it in lifters who bang into lockout aggressively.
Olecranon stress reaction. Deeper, localized bone pain that does not settle with a few easy days and often hurts at rest. Less common, but worth naming, because bone pain and tendon pain get managed very differently.
If your pain sits on the bony bumps on the inside or outside of the elbow rather than the back point, that is a different problem entirely. That one is lifter's elbow, and yes, you can absolutely get what people call tennis elbow from lifting weights rather than from ever picking up a racquet. Pain at the front crease of the elbow or the front of the shoulder is more likely biceps tendonitis.
This is the one question where triceps pain deserves more caution than most tendon problems, so I want to be direct.
Get it looked at promptly if you had any of these:
A pop, a snap, or a tearing sensation during a lift
Real weakness pressing or extending the elbow, not just pain-limited effort
A gap or divot you can feel above the point of the elbow
Sudden swelling and bruising after a specific rep
I am firm here because triceps tears get missed. In a review of 801 consecutive elbow MRIs, 3.8% showed a triceps tendon injury, and a tear had been suspected before the scan in only 43% of those patients [2]. Weightlifting was among the named causes.
The reassuring half: most back-of-the-elbow pain in lifters is not a tear, and even when a full rupture happens and gets repaired, strength athletes do well. In a series of 22 competitive and high-demand strength athletes, 95% returned to sport and 86% got back to their pre-injury training level [3]. A torn tendon means a surgeon, not the end of your lifting. But you have to know which one you have, and that takes an exam, not a guess from a search result.
The best current evidence in tendon rehab points the other way. The 2024 clinical practice guideline on midportion Achilles tendinopathy recommends tendon-loading exercise at loads as high as tolerated as first-line treatment, at least three times a week [4]. That is Achilles evidence, not triceps evidence, and I want to be honest about that. There are no triceps-specific loading trials. But the principle it establishes, that tendons want graded load rather than removal of load, is what every tendon program I write is built on.
Here is the rule I give athletes so they can run the decision themselves. Pain during a set that stays at or below about a 3 out of 10, settles within 24 hours, and does not leave you stiffer the next morning is acceptable. Anything above that means the dose was too high. Cut the load or the range, not the training day.
Load it, in the right order.
Start with isometrics for pain control. A hard elbow-extension hold against an immovable object, or a long pause at a partial lockout, for roughly five sets of 30 to 45 seconds. These tend to quiet tendon pain in the short term and let you keep training the same day.
Progress to heavy slow resistance. Slow, controlled tempo through a range you tolerate, building load over weeks. In a 2024 network meta-analysis of loading strategies for patellar tendinopathy, eccentric-only training ranked worst among the options studied, with isometric and heavy slow resistance protocols performing better [5]. Again, patellar tendon data applied as a principle, not a triceps trial. But it matches what I see: "just do eccentrics" is not the best version of tendon rehab anymore.
Then rebuild the top of the range. The last few degrees of lockout are the position that hurts, so eventually they are the position that has to be trained. Adding them back too early is the most common self-managed mistake. Adding them back never is the second.
That is the same load-first approach we use for barbell athletes with any tendon problem.
The practical version:
Shorten the lockout range temporarily. A board press or pin press cuts out the last few inches, which is exactly the range that provokes it. You keep benching heavy, you just stop finishing in the angry position for a few weeks.
Slow the tempo down. A three-second descent with a controlled press gives the tendon a better stimulus than a bouncy, snapped-out rep, at less peak load.
Regress dips before you cut them. Band assistance, a shorter range, or a slower tempo will usually keep them in the program. Removing dips entirely is a last resort.
Pull volume off the accessories, not the main lift. Skull crushers and heavy overhead extensions are the first things I take out. They are pure insertion load and the easiest thing to live without for a month.
Leave your pulling alone. Rows, chin-ups, and back work do not need to change, and keeping them gives you something to train hard while the pressing side gets managed.
If your pressing pain is really at the front of the shoulder rather than the back of the elbow, bench press shoulder pain covers that one separately.
Dry needling can be a useful adjunct. When the triceps and surrounding tissue are guarding, needling often takes enough edge off that you tolerate your loading work better in the same session. I use it that way: as a door-opener for the rehab, not as the rehab.
On injections I will stay in my lane and say only this. In that same MRI series, 3 of the 28 patients with triceps tears had tears that were a complication of steroid use [2]. That is a small number and not a reason to panic. It is a reason to have the conversation with your physician rather than with a blog, and to make sure the loading program still happens either way.
Most lifters I work with feel meaningfully better in two to four weeks and are back to unrestricted pressing somewhere in the six to twelve week range, assuming we get the load right and you keep training.
The biggest variable is whether you can resist testing it with a heavy single every Monday. Tendons respond to consistent, progressive load and get set back by repeated maximal spikes.
Can you get tennis elbow from lifting weights?
Yes. Tennis elbow is lateral elbow tendinopathy, and gripping, rowing, and heavy pressing produce it far more often around here than racquet sports do. The distinguishing feature is location: tennis elbow sits on the bony bump on the outside of the elbow, triceps tendonitis sits on the point at the back.
Can I still bench with triceps tendonitis?
Usually yes, with modifications. Shorten the lockout range, slow the tempo, and use the pain rules above: at or below a 3 out of 10 during the set, settled within 24 hours, no worse the next morning.
What does triceps tendonitis feel like?
A sharp or pinching pain at the very back point of the elbow that appears at lockout and disappears through the rest of the range. It is often tender to press on and typically aches for a few hours after training rather than during warm-up.
Should I stretch my triceps if the tendon hurts?
Aggressive stretching usually does not help an irritated insertion and sometimes provokes it. Graded loading is the more useful lever. Gentle mobility is fine if it feels good, but do not expect stretching alone to resolve it.
Back-of-the-elbow pain that shows up on bench lockouts, dips, and overhead press is usually triceps tendonitis, and it is a loading problem with a loading solution. Rule out the red flags first, then shorten the range, slow the tempo, trim the accessories, and progress the tendon back to full lockout on purpose.
If you are in Waukee, West Des Moines, or anywhere in the Des Moines metro and your elbow has been nagging at the top of every press, reach out through our contact form and we will figure out which one you actually have and build the plan around your training, not around time off.
Kane SF, Lynch JH, Taylor JC. Evaluation of Elbow Pain in Adults. American Family Physician. 2014;89(8):649-657. https://www.aafp.org/pubs/afp/issues/2014/0415/p649.html
Koplas MC, Schneider E, Sundaram M. Prevalence of triceps tendon tears on MRI of the elbow and clinical correlation. Skeletal Radiology. 2011;40(5):587-594. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20953605/
Gruber MS, Bischofreiter M, Rittenschober F, et al. Distal Triceps Tendon Repair in Strength Athletes Leads to Satisfactory Return to Sports: A Retrospective Analysis of 22 Cases. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2024;13(16):4913. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11355401/
Chimenti RL, Cychosz CC, Hall MM, et al. Achilles Pain, Stiffness, and Muscle Power Deficits: Midportion Achilles Tendinopathy Revision 2024. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy. 2024;54(12). https://www.jospt.org/doi/10.2519/jospt.2024.0302
Li Y, Sun D, Fang Y, et al. Mixed comparison of intervention with eccentric, isometric, and heavy slow resistance for adults with patellar tendinopathy: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Heliyon. 2024;10(21):e39171. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39559237/
Olecranon Bursitis. StatPearls. National Center for Biotechnology Information. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470291/.
This article is for informational purposes and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Individual results vary. If you have back-of-the-elbow pain, especially with weakness, swelling, or a palpable gap, consult a qualified healthcare provider before continuing to train through it.
Stop working around the pain. Start fixing the problem with a provider who gets it.
A performance PT's take on biceps tendonitis for lifters: how to tell if the pain is coming from your shoulder or your elbow, and how to keep training through it.
Knee pain from squatting is almost always a load problem, not a broken knee. Here's what's actually causing it, why you don't need to stop, and how to keep training while it settles.
Wrist pain from front squats, cleans, and push-ups is usually a load-and-position problem, not a reason to stop. Here is how to tell sore from serious and keep training while it settles.