Alu power hard for my elbow

tennisintheeighties

tennisintheeighties

Rookie
Hello, I am playing very well recently, doing a lot of improvement, and the alu power 1.25 is not stranger of that for sure.
I was playing before that with a BB Original, both are close, but i feel the alu power stiffer (50 lbs on my clash pro tour )

Since a few days, after 30 mns playing, i start feeling an horrible pain on my elbow, with alu power.
I really need to change and switch for another string.
I am 5.0, i need a lot of spin and rpm, and control, i was thinking tryig the yonex poly tour pro, or maybe do you have other suggestion ?
I tried before that the hyper G but i play a way better with the luxilon, and i love the sound of the string.

Multi is completely out of my list.

Thank you for your advices !
 
socallefty

socallefty

Hall of Fame
Just cut the ALU out after 7-8 hours and you’ll be fine. It goes dead and gets a harsh feel soon after that. Hyper-G lasts twice as long and then goes dead less abruptly.
 
tennisintheeighties

tennisintheeighties

Rookie
It's not about the hours playing with the Alu, it's about the string itself.
I was feeling some pain a little bit with a big banger original, but not like the Alu Power, who destroyed my elbow in 3 hours, in 2 days.
i really need to switch unfortunately to another string
 
W

WNB93

Rookie
Have you tried Alu Power Soft? I am not into soft strings but maybe try it and see how it feels.
I heard Kirchbaum Pro Line II plays great. It's also a round poly with good snapback.
Or as someone said, go down a gauge or two. That also helps. If it lasts you more than 10 hours, you can go lower. A poly should break on you around the 10hr mark or it's dead anyway.
 
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TagUrIt

TagUrIt

Hall of Fame
I used to have have a Clash and I used ALU Power in a gut poly hybrid. That’s a super expensive setup. I now use a Yonex Ezone Tour and use a full bed of Poly Tour Pro at 55lbs. It’s softer string and still offers all the things you mentioned. I only leave it for 10-14 hours maximum though. I have my own stringing machine and buy it by the reel, so restringing is easy for me.
 
C

cipcity

New User
try Luxilon Element. It's more more comfortable and powerful than Alu Power. I am trying Solinco Confidential next, its suppose to be in between Alu Power and Hyper G in terms of comfort.
 
F

fuzz nation

G.O.A.T.
tennisintheeighties said:
Hello, I am playing very well recently, doing a lot of improvement, and the alu power 1.25 is not stranger of that for sure.
I was playing before that with a BB Original, both are close, but i feel the alu power stiffer (50 lbs on my clash pro tour )

Since a few days, after 30 mns playing, i start feeling an horrible pain on my elbow, with alu power.
I really need to change and switch for another string.
I am 5.0, i need a lot of spin and rpm, and control, i was thinking tryig the yonex poly tour pro, or maybe do you have other suggestion ?
I tried before that the hyper G but i play a way better with the luxilon, and i love the sound of the string.

Multi is completely out of my list.

Thank you for your advices !
Click to expand...
I'd say switch away from poly for a few weeks to see if you can cool out your elbow. A different poly in a full bed might not give you much of any relief. If you're not going to consider a multifiber, I'd say try a full bed of 16 ga. syn. gut tensioned at maybe 56 or 57 lbs.

Since it sounds like you're going to stick with the polys, you may get a significantly softer ride using a hybrid with a rather light gauge poly main (1.20mm or maybe lighter). Whenever I install those layouts for local players, I often like to use Gosen OGSM 16 as a cross. It's somewhat firm, slippery, and more durable that most other syn. guts.
 
tennisintheeighties

tennisintheeighties

Rookie
FIRETennis said:
Try going low with ALU. 40lbs or lower and swing more relaxed. You'll get a higher launch angle so it will take some time to get used to it.
Click to expand...
You don’t know me but you know the way i play lol big swing on the forehand full power on all shots lol
Changing the technique will request a lot of time wow
 
tennisintheeighties

tennisintheeighties

Rookie
AmericanTwist said:
Why not try some good solid core syn guts? I don't know why pros use full bed polys, but I can see why a poly/natural guy hybrid would impart of a lot of spin and good power. You only have 2 arms.... don't abuse them too much! lol
Click to expand...
Which one ? Pacific or Wilson?
I do competitions, and i can’t compet with other players who played with poly string and hit hard
 
A

AmericanTwist

New User
The only gut I've tried are babolats so I can't give a good comparison. You can go to the TWU tennis string comparison tool to see the characteristics of each string and go from there.

For syn gut I like Gosen Sheep Micro, Forten Sweet, Gamma TNT or other solid core strings. I haven't not tried that many strings, however. You can pair syn guts in the mains with natural gut in the crosses (probably slightly less...maybe but more durable). It won't matter as much because syn gut is much softer than poly.
 
Dartagnan64

Dartagnan64

G.O.A.T.
How old are you? If you are over age 30 and wrecking your arm with poly, you need to look at priorities. You either stop playing and come back after the elbow has healed, use poly until it hurts, stop again, rinse, repeat. Or you look at your technique and your gear and make sure that both are as arm friendly as possible and when you find that sweet spot, only then do you slowly increase the stiffness in the gear.

So get a racket with a lower RA. Lots of options out there like Prince Phantoms, Head Gravity, Wilson Clash and Blade. Then look at a hybrid poly/multi or gut/poly or a low powered multi like Velocity, Triax, PPC. Then look at your swing technique and forearm training.

Take elbow health seriously. Alu wrecked my arm and it took a long time to get things right as I didn't take it seriously enough.
 
W

WNB93

Rookie
Dartagnan64 said:
How old are you? If you are over age 30 and wrecking your arm with poly, you need to look at priorities. You either stop playing and come back after the elbow has healed, use poly until it hurts, stop again, rinse, repeat. Or you look at your technique and your gear and make sure that both are as arm friendly as possible and when you find that sweet spot, only then do you slowly increase the stiffness in the gear.

So get a racket with a lower RA. Lots of options out there like Prince Phantoms, Head Gravity, Wilson Clash and Blade. Then look at a hybrid poly/multi or gut/poly or a low powered multi like Velocity, Triax, PPC. Then look at your swing technique and forearm training.

Take elbow health seriously. Alu wrecked my arm and it took a long time to get things right as I didn't take it seriously enough.
Click to expand...
Just wanted to add that the new Ezones are also very arm friendly. Even the 100's 69 flex rating is as plush as they come. I have sensitive joints and the 100 and the 98 haven't bothered me a bit with PTP 1.20mm.
 
A

aaron_h27

Professional
I tried Alu for the first time in the crosses with Luxilon Gut in the mains and it felt like a pillow to me at 60 lbs, however my racket is quite heavy and flexy.
 
tennisintheeighties

tennisintheeighties

Rookie
Dartagnan64 said:
How old are you? If you are over age 30 and wrecking your arm with poly, you need to look at priorities. You either stop playing and come back after the elbow has healed, use poly until it hurts, stop again, rinse, repeat. Or you look at your technique and your gear and make sure that both are as arm friendly as possible and when you find that sweet spot, only then do you slowly increase the stiffness in the gear.

So get a racket with a lower RA. Lots of options out there like Prince Phantoms, Head Gravity, Wilson Clash and Blade. Then look at a hybrid poly/multi or gut/poly or a low powered multi like Velocity, Triax, PPC. Then look at your swing technique and forearm training.

Take elbow health seriously. Alu wrecked my arm and it took a long time to get things right as I didn't take it seriously enough.
Click to expand...
Thank you !
I’m 44 yrs old, doing preparation for senior tournaments.
I am playing with a clash pro100 turn (the yonex ezone hurt my arm strangely)
At the beginning, i strung with a hyper g at 50 lbs, it was okay, but I felt a little pain.
I then set the multi rip control to 23kilos, I didn't play as well as with the hyper g.
I then bought on a marketplace another clash already strung with the original big banger and I loved it immediately.
I played so well with it.

But in life we always want more haha and I decided to switch to alupower.
what a terrible mistake on my part....
The pain disturbs me during my sleep.

I just feel pain on my forehand. Only !
The movement is very similar to Thiem. I put no pressure on my grip. Arm strech at the impact.

I took my racket yesterday to think how change the movement.
And when I do a forehand like Tiafoe, you know, racket Almost parralel to the ground ( not perpendicular. I dont know if you understand what i said ?) , it seems i feel better like that.
Need to try on the courts.

Friday i am beginning shockwave therapy on the elbow.
I dont know, mixed feeling about it.
7 sessions on my achille heel, and They are still stiff...
 
F

FIRETennis

Semi-Pro
tennisintheeighties said:
You don’t know me but you know the way i play lol big swing on the forehand full power on all shots lol
Changing the technique will request a lot of time wow
Click to expand...
The best tennis advice I got was when I allowed my stubbornness and "young" ego aside and took the advice.
I'm a 5.0 player in my 40s and used to play with a Pure Aero Tour ~355g/345SW at 25-26kg full bed of Hyper-G. After years of that, I finally started getting arm issues and had to go through a year of testing different strings and frame setups as well as some tweaks on my technique. Yes, it sucks to lose to guys you used to easily beat until the new gear and fixes become second nature but it is what it is if you want to be in it for the long run in this lifelong sport. You have another 35-40 years of tennis ahead. Treat your body nice.
Well maybe you should consider lightly adjusting and reviewing technique to get used to low tension if you want to play full bed poly.
If you don't play much on clay and can afford gut/poly, then do that and string tight. You will still have to adjust because the launch of gut poly is different than full bed poly.
My advice, try ALU Power Soft or Element at 18-19kg (40-42lbs). It's cheaper than physiotherapy in the long run.
 
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tennisintheeighties

tennisintheeighties

Rookie
Thank you you are right.
Going to my tennis store here in Vancouver, restring the clash with PTP 1.20 - 20 kgs ( 44 lbs )
About the technique, all my pain came from my forehand - unfortunately i do 80% of winner point with it
 
F

FIRETennis

Semi-Pro
tennisintheeighties said:
Thank you you are right.
Going to my tennis store here in Vancouver, restring the clash with PTP 1.20 - 20 kgs ( 44 lbs )
About the technique, all my pain came from my forehand - unfortunately i do 80% of winner point with it
Click to expand...
PTP can be feel muted and plasticky even at 20kg.
If your shop has a good selection of Yonex strings, try Poly Tour Air (super soft) or Poly Tour Fire.
Other soft polys: Luxilon ALU Power Soft, Luxilon Element, Wilson Revolve, Tourna Big Hitter Black, Cyclone Tour, RS Lyon, Tour Bite Soft, RPM Blast Rough edition believe it or not is quite soft relative to regular Blast.
 
tennisintheeighties

tennisintheeighties

Rookie
FIRETennis said:
PTP can be feel muted and plasticky even at 20kg.
If your shop has a good selection of Yonex strings, try Poly Tour Air (super soft) or Poly Tour Fire.
Other soft polys: Luxilon ALU Power Soft, Luxilon Element, Wilson Revolve, Tourna Big Hitter Black, Cyclone Tour, RS Lyon, Tour Bite Soft, RPM Blast Rough edition believe it or not is quite soft relative to regular Blast.
Click to expand...
Thank you, in your list, what would be the best for a big hitter like me, who put a lot of spin ? (i grew up on clay ! ;)
 
W

WNB93

Rookie
tennisintheeighties said:
Thank you !
I’m 44 yrs old, doing preparation for senior tournaments.
I am playing with a clash pro100 turn (the yonex ezone hurt my arm strangely)
At the beginning, i strung with a hyper g at 50 lbs, it was okay, but I felt a little pain.
I then set the multi rip control to 23kilos, I didn't play as well as with the hyper g.
I then bought on a marketplace another clash already strung with the original big banger and I loved it immediately.
I played so well with it.

But in life we always want more haha and I decided to switch to alupower.
what a terrible mistake on my part....
The pain disturbs me during my sleep.

I just feel pain on my forehand. Only !
The movement is very similar to Thiem. I put no pressure on my grip. Arm strech at the impact.

I took my racket yesterday to think how change the movement.
And when I do a forehand like Tiafoe, you know, racket Almost parralel to the ground ( not perpendicular. I dont know if you understand what i said ?) , it seems i feel better like that.
Need to try on the courts.

Friday i am beginning shockwave therapy on the elbow.
I dont know, mixed feeling about it.
7 sessions on my achille heel, and They are still stiff...
Click to expand...
If your elbow is that bad, first you need rest. From what I’ve read online and with experiencing swelling in my wrists (overuse; guitar playing and no exercises) nothing will feel ok without first resting for a few weeks.
I cannot imagine staying away from tennis for months but its better than surgery.
 
F

FIRETennis

Semi-Pro
tennisintheeighties said:
Thank you, in your list, what would be the best for a big hitter like me, who put a lot of spin ? (i grew up on clay ! ;)
Click to expand...
Best spin out of those would be: Tourna Big Hitter Black, RPM Blast Rough, Cyclone Tour, Tour Bite Soft.
If $ is no object, I would play with fresh ALU Power for 3-4h and restring :)
What helped me during my right shoulder issue was to train just two handed backhands for a couple months.
It means giving up serving, matches/points for a while and just training but it would give your forehand arm a chance to rest.
 
tennisintheeighties

tennisintheeighties

Rookie
FIRETennis said:
Best spin out of those would be: Tourna Big Hitter Black, RPM Blast Rough, Cyclone Tour, Tour Bite Soft.
If $ is no object, I would play with fresh ALU Power for 3-4h and restring :)
What helped me during my right shoulder issue was to train just two handed backhands for a couple months.
It means giving up serving, matches/points for a while and just training but it would give your forehand arm a chance to rest.
Click to expand...
Thats what i am doing.
Wall ! And just hitting backhand. No forehand.
Weird i know.

Thank you again,maybe i try the tour bite soft today insteadof ptp 1.20
 
Dartagnan64

Dartagnan64

G.O.A.T.
Sounds like you elbow is bad enough you need to ditch the poly until it heals. Put a muted multi into the Clash like Velocity, Triax, Prince premiere Control, etc. Once it heals, add in a soft poly like YPTA, Cream, Ghostwire, Cyberflash, Element.

You can try to gradually go softer but it's better to crank it right down and then build stiffness back up slowly.

I made the same mistake as you trying to use softer poly and it just wouldn't get better until I was hitting with full multis. No poly has enough resilience compared to nylon or gut.
 
tennisintheeighties

tennisintheeighties

Rookie
Dartagnan64 said:
Sounds like you elbow is bad enough you need to ditch the poly until it heals. Put a muted multi into the Clash like Velocity, Triax, Prince premiere Control, etc. Once it heals, add in a soft poly like YPTA, Cream, Ghostwire, Cyberflash, Element.

You can try to gradually go softer but it's better to crank it right down and then build stiffness back up slowly.

I made the same mistake as you trying to use softer poly and it just wouldn't get better until I was hitting with full multis. No poly has enough resilience compared to nylon or gut.
Click to expand...
Just went to my tennis store.
Technifibre Triax 21 kilos ready for tomorrow.
 
Down_the_line

Down_the_line

Legend
Just mentioned in the ALU Power thread that I'm having the same problem. Used ALU in a full bed for about 17 years now without a hitch. Idk....

I'm going to try a half set with gut and see how that works.
 
tennisintheeighties

tennisintheeighties

Rookie
Down_the_line said:
Just mentioned in the ALU Power thread that I'm having the same problem. Used ALU in a full bed for about 17 years now without a hitch. Idk....

I'm going to try a half set with gut and see how that works.
Click to expand...
Talked with a lot of players after 40 and same problem than me and you.
It’s also my favorite, but after 35-40 yrs old, try an hybrid with alu, or a softer poly
 
Dartagnan64

Dartagnan64

G.O.A.T.
Down_the_line said:
Just mentioned in the ALU Power thread that I'm having the same problem. Used ALU in a full bed for about 17 years now without a hitch. Idk....

I'm going to try a half set with gut and see how that works.
Click to expand...
Tendons age. My arm was rock solid until 50. And it was Alu that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Well, maybe the PD+ also had something to do with it.
 
tennisintheeighties

tennisintheeighties

Rookie
FIRETennis said:
How did this go?
I have half a set of Triax I'm going to try as a main with a soft poly cross....

Did you try Luxilon Element 125?
I use this as a cross to ALU mains or Gut mains and it just makes everything so soft. Haven't tried it in a full bed yet.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately not tried yet. My elbow doesn’t allow me play tennis and even do some “tennis shadow”.
 
warney

warney

Rookie
tennisintheeighties said:
Hope it was a good idea.
Even if its not cheap ! 35$
Click to expand...
You might as well go gut-poly (soft poly cross like T1 GhostWire, Isospeed Cream) if you are not a string breaker. That will be better price point in long run and will also give you good spin. I have not used Triax though.
I got tennis elbow with APD+ (2013) with full bed of Hyper-G. I do not have any problems using it with gut-poly.
 
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