Introduction of a nerd & perhaps a few questions on substitutions (long post)

[BigViffer]

Greetings all! I just joined the forum today after snooping around looking for information. I am no stranger to forums, so I know an introduction is always appreciated. And according to the sticky in this sub forum here is the pertinent info:

Age: 43
Sex: Male
Weight: 205 lbs
Height: 6' 1"
Squat Current Working weight: 155 lbs
Bench press: 120 lbs
Deadlift: 195 lbs
Press: not attempted
Power: not attempted
Chin-ups: 3
Pull-ups: 7

General description of training history: Blindly groping and naively believing everything until serious injuries happened. Then a long hiatus and now very conservative with lots of research.
Any special diet: Bariatric diet with a stable weight
Major Goals & Concerns: Gain functional strength while avoiding injuries. I don't mean the sore muscles or typical sport related aches and pains. I'm talking surgery causing injuries. Functional strength to me is just being able to do all the things I need to do around the house, in the yard, on the motorcycle and with the family easier and better than I have up to this point.

Since I have been perusing the forum, I see there are some that post long in depth post, so I don't feel bad for getting a little verbose on the next part! Here is the more personable summary; I'm a nerd. Always have been and probably always will lean that way. However the older I get the more I realize that tech and toys are not as important as my body and how well it works. In the past, exercise was only done for physical therapy or perhaps to become better looking to the fairer sex. After marriage, that started to not be as important. When I was much younger, I had a serious car accident that left me unable to walk for 3 months, then only with a walker then crutches for another year. There are of course some lingering issues with my back from that time, but from the most part I have bounced back completely. Then about 9 years ago I had to have reconstructive surgery on my left shoulder. That pretty much put an end to my exercise routine. I injured my back again 2 years ago and was told that I needed to have surgery to correct it. However, I had become so fat from simple laziness and over eating that the surgeon said he wouldn't perform the surgery because of my weight. Since I was literally dragging my useless left leg I had vertical gastric sleeve surgery.

After that surgery, my diabetes is virtually gone as is my high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and most of my aches and pains. I lost 135 lbs and I have been maintaining at 200 - 205 for several months. I used a routine devised by my sport therapist and have tried a few others, but always returned to my therapist routine:
Monday - Legs & Abs
Tuesday - Shoulder & Back
Wed - Rest
Thur - Chest
Friday - Arms

And that has worked great for me. A coworker of mine approached me to compliment me on my progress. He used to be a cyclist but has become far more muscular the past couple years. I had heard of Starting Strength of course, but he was the first person I actually knew that used the program. Long story short, I bought the app for my phone, bought the book and I am just starting out. I had avoided the squat and deadlift for years out of fear of my back and knees, but as I was reading the book it appears as though these are exercises that I should have focused on. I have also avoided the bench press because of my shoulder. I still have my reservations about the bench, and Mark appears to not be a big proponent of that lift either.

Now to the crux of my post! I still want to work my chest. I am currently doing the bench, but I am doing it conservatively. But even conservatively I am able to lift more with the barbell than with dumbells. I understand the reason, but if in the future it becomes painful to do it, should I just keep at a "comfortable" weight or should I go back to dumbells? Like I said earlier, I am a nerd and I like my data. So if I should go back to dumbells, how do I track that with the official app?

If you made it through the entire post, thanks for reading! I look forward to becoming an active member (hopefully) of the forum.

[Christopher Anderson]

Yeah what exactly happened to the back and shoulder to cause surgeries? As someone who has gone through several surgeries that have included pins, plates and ligament transfers I can tell you to go as far as you can go and over time your body will get stronger where you had those surgeries and they won't bother you. Just go your own pace.

[BigViffer]

As I understood it, it was a separated shoulder for almost a year with an arthritic bone spur that tore the rotator cuff. So I had that fixed and the end of the color bone shaved off to make it smooth again. Maybe half inch to an inch removed. The bench in the past has caused some discomfort, but so far the past two weeks I have been OK.

Thanks for the links, I will start reading them ASAP!

[chrisd]

Now to the crux of my post! I still want to work my chest. I am currently doing the bench, but I am doing it conservatively. But even conservatively I am able to lift more with the barbell than with dumbells. I understand the reason, but if in the future it becomes painful to do it, should I just keep at a "comfortable" weight or should I go back to dumbells? Like I said earlier, I am a nerd and I like my data. So if I should go back to dumbells, how do I track that with the official app?

If the movement hurts excessively, back off the weight. I had a dose of shoulder trouble with the bench press. My form was checked, but as I progressed the weights, the pain got severe and prevented me doing the movement correctly. Backing off until it didn't hurt and then going forward more slowly enabled me to make gains past the pain point.

There are quite a few on the forums who don't bench because of shoulder problems. Dumbbells, Swiss bars and other alternatives are available.

[Luke S]

I'd say do the routine as close to the original as possible, but don't sweat switching the barbell bench for a more shoulder friendly alternative if it starts bothering you. Do your chin ups, or work towards doing one. Use a belt.

[FatButWeak]

I'd say do the routine as close to the original as possible, but don't sweat switching the barbell bench for a more shoulder friendly alternative if it starts bothering you. Do your chin ups, or work towards doing one. Use a belt.

This is really good and succinct. I second this. But you really should barbell bench as much as you can.

[BigViffer]

Yeah what exactly happened to the back and shoulder to cause surgeries?

- emphasis mine

Lex, I apologize; I did not reply to your question about my back. The car accident I had was a head on collision with a semi trailer cresting a hill. I knocked out most of my teeth, broke my wrists when they went into the dashboard, broke my ankles when they went through the floor, broke several ribs from the steering wheel crushing my chest, and of course cracking vertebrae. I have arthritic bone spurs literally everywhere and bone fragments in my spine, wrists, and ankles . The back problems have been an issue ever since.

The most recent incident (Sept 2014) was another herniated disc. This one was bad enough to make my left leg not want to move and my left butt cheek down to my knee were in agony with sharp stabbing pain. A discectomy (sp?) and lumbar fusion were the recommended procedure. However, after my gastric surgery, losing all the weight, and taking up an exercise routine that focuses on moving the body as it is designed and intended I have been virtually pain free since Feb 2015.

[BigViffer]

Chris, Luke, FatButWeak - it seems as though the opinion is shared by all. I will continue with a conservative approach to the bench. I will only switch to another approach if pain occurs. Thank you all for the input!

[BigViffer]

Hope you do well!

Possibly some inspiration, but Brian Jones' story may be good for you.

http://startingstrength.com/articles...ones_story.pdf

Good God. That was... hell I don't even have the vocabulary to describe that story. Awe inspiring is all I can think of. Thanks for that link.