Press issues

[tribetimerocks]

Hello. Having a little issue with pressing. I am a burn victum and the skin which are skin grafts is super tight in the oblique and arms area so when I do a barbell press I can't get full extension and shrug. I absolutely would hate to deter from the starting strength plans but would you coaches be totally against using dumbells instead of the barbell? Or is there a variation with a barbell that is worth trying?

[Michael Wolf]

I may not be understanding your issue correctly, but if you can't do that with a barbell, why would a dumbbell be better?

[tribetimerocks]

I may not be understanding your issue correctly, but if you can't do that with a barbell, why would a dumbbell be better?

Single arm press. Do one arm and then the other right after. I can get full extension when I only have to put one arm up over head.

[Steve Hill]

Single arm press. Do one arm and then the other right after. I can get full extension when I only have to put one arm up over head.

Interesting - I would have thought that it would have been a problem even with one arm.

My answer, and Wolf may very well differ (and that's OK) is that one-arm dumbell presses are better than nothing, but will eventually become problematic because you cannot increment them like a barbell. But they are better than nothing.

In the meantime, I think a rehab similar to what Rip did for his shoulder surgeries is warranted to eventually stretch yourself into the correct lockout position for a normal press. Overhead ROM is important, and you need to get back there. Have your physicians stated that your skin would eventually stretch? Or is the scar tissue too heavy to do so?

[tribetimerocks]

Interesting - I would have thought that it would have been a problem even with one arm.

My answer, and Wolf may very well differ (and that's OK) is that one-arm dumbell presses are better than nothing, but will eventually become problematic because you cannot increment them like a barbell. But they are better than nothing.

In the meantime, I think a rehab similar to what Rip did for his shoulder surgeries is warranted to eventually stretch yourself into the correct lockout position for a normal press. Overhead ROM is important, and you need to get back there. Have your physicians stated that your skin would eventually stretch? Or is the scar tissue too heavy to do so?

The scar tissue is pretty heavy. Both arms and my entire back was torched. So the skin ony back is tight also. My surgeon said I'd be fighting tight skin for rest of my life.

[Steve Hill]

I guess you’d better get started then.

[Michael Wolf]

I do agree with Steve. Though I still don't understand why it is OK with one arm but not two - if it in fact is, then your next-best solution is probably a 1-arm dumbbell or kettlebell press. As Steve mentions, because of the large increments inherent in the DB vs the barbell, you won't be able to linearly progress the weight, but you can do other things like add reps, then go up the next increment and drop the reps (i.e. starting at 25x5x3, go up to 6, then 7, then 8, and when you can do 25x8x3, go up to 30x5x3). This won't work forever either but it's a reasonable example of how to go about as close to an LP as you can with the dumbbells.

[tribetimerocks]

Alright thanks guys. My next question is I don't ever go until failure on a set right? So on my last set if I know i can't get 5 reps but I know I can get 4, do I go ahead and do that 4th rep? Or go for 3 and leave some left in the tank for the next session?

[Michael Wolf]

Alright thanks guys. My next question is I don't ever go until failure on a set right? So on my last set if I know i can't get 5 reps but I know I can get 4, do I go ahead and do that 4th rep? Or go for 3 and leave some left in the tank for the next session?

If there's no medical or pain issue involved, then you should follow the same procedure that you would for a normal LP. Which does, in fact, involve going to failure a few times so you know definitively that the LP is over.

[tribetimerocks]

Alright thanks.