Tall-tale myths?

[rbowser]

Hey guys! I have a few questions for you, since I am training for the summer, and I'm too busy during school. I've read all articles about these things, and I'm just trying to get new information. First:

-Does anti-inflammatories really help TENNIS ELBOW by letting the tendon not swell up and recover? Does icing it or heating it help better? Or should I do both?
-Does swimming and/or jumping rope really streches your body to allow you to 'grow'?
-Packing on heavy muscle during young age may limit growth (as in height)?

And a few ones from myself personally:

-Will strengthening biceps help TE (of course after it heals) and prevent further injury?
-Should I train everyday, like a different part every other day (like running monday, biceps tuesday, wednesday running again, etc.)
-How to get a 'leaner' look in the midsection

Again, I've read all your informative posts, and I just need more info and qenuine answers. Thanks a lot guys!

 

[Spector]

>>""Does anti-inflammatories really help TENNIS ELBOW by letting the tendon not swell up and recover? Does icing it or heating it help better? Or should I do both?""

Well I don't believe in the use of anti-inflammatories as they will, over time, diminish your bodys' own anti-inflammatories responses. And the use of them can also lead to kidney damage.

>>""Does swimming and/or jumping rope really stretches your body to allow you to 'grow'?""

No. No exercise is going to help you achieve a greater height. It was an old myth about "stretching" children will make them grow taller. It will however make them flexible. Swimming and jumping are excellent cardiovascular exercises though.

>>""Packing on heavy muscle during young age may limit growth (as in height)?""

Yes. Increasing lean body mass while you are young will diminish vertical growth. Depending on the person I would wait till they are 17 or 18 before putting them on a hypertrophy programme.

>>""Will strengthening biceps help TE (of course after it heals) and prevent further injury?""

Well strengthing biceps with out strengthing the triceps will just lead to a muscular imbalance and thus you will be prone to injury. For the prevention of tennis elbow the best option would be to stretch, strengthen the forearm and the upper arm, and arguable the most important thing would simply be make sure you are using correct stroke techniques.

>>""Should I train everyday, like a different part every other day (like running monday, biceps tuesday, wednesday running again, etc.)""

Well as mentioned before you should never just train one muscle in isolation. Apart from that depending on your age you probably shouldn't train everday simply because your body is still growing. If age isn't an issue then yes, training everday part doing a different form of training each day is a good option. I myself go gym one day and play tennis the second day and then repeat.

>>""How to get a 'leaner' look in the midsection?""

Well if you want a stronger medsection then you need to do midsection exercises. If you simply want less fatmass on your midsection then one of the most important things is your diet. The next thing you can do is cardiovascular exercise. Remember there is no specific midsection exercise which will make your midsection leaner. By doing midsection exercises you are developing the muscles of the midsection and thus the layer of fat on top of that muscle will still remain.