Training With One Good Arm

Previously I was at a town fair where they had a professional arm wrestling contest going on. I participated and made it to the semi finals. During the semi finals I was arm wrestling this one guy and our hands were not going any where. We were tied. Then all of a sudden I heard a loud pop and my arm gave out. I couldn’t extend or flex it except in a small range of motion.

That night I iced it and the next day I went to the hospital. They took x rays and said I had a fractured epicondyle, which is the inner part of the elbow. So I’m in a half cast right now and might have to get a screw put in it. So my training options are basically lower body.

Luckily I tried today and realized I can do front squats still, the cross armed kind. But back squats are difficult because I cant get my regular back tightness due to the fact that I cant get good arm position without regular arm position. As far as upper body the only thing I can do with the bad arm is rear delt flies.

So any suggestions on training? Should I maintain with the other arm, maybe try squats with a manta ray pad? Just use machines? Have any of you had an injury like this. Any wisdom or guidance is appreciated.

Man I am really sorry to hear that :frowning:

My obvious advise is don’t do any more arm wrestling. Other people may disagree with me, but in my experience, it almost always gets someone hurt eventually.

I am 11 weeks post surgery for a torn labrum, Rotator cuff and had my biceps tendon cut off and re anchored into the front of my humorous. Also had a bunch of arthritic spurring going on, which is what shredded my biceps tendon.
I feel your pain in having one arm. What I’ve been doing is “training what is trainable” I too cannot hold a regular squat bar ( haven’t been able to for some time tho, due to the broke ass shoulder) so I’ve been using my Yoke & Spider bar. Been squatting like a fool, lol. I’ve suspended the SSB in chains and held my arms as if I’m deadlifting since I can’t do a real deadlift. Me and my Glute ham raise have become best friends. I’m not sweating the load on lifting, I just do what I can and accept the fact that I’m healing up to be better down the road. Since I can’t lift, I’m doing all the shit I prolly should have done on “non lifting days” such as prowler pulls / drags and I run hills. I have a 35# kettle bell that has been kicking my ass.

The best thing I can tell you is to not sabatage yourself by over doing it. All you will do is screw yourself. Just slow your roll and come back later where you left off. If you do dumb shit while your healing you’ll regret it down the road. I saw several folks at Therapy that were on their econd and third surgeries because they didn’t ease back into shit.

What do you guys think about the manta ray pad. I saw a huh on YouTube squat with one hand with that. Have any of you used it in your training and had success with it. Just wondering I would have never used it before but I’m desperate. but I’m thinking of investing in a safety squat bar.

I broke my hand in the spring and spent some time more or less following Dan John’s advice in this article: The One Dumbbell Workout

It helped me not lose as much fitness and also scratch that ‘I need to workout’ itch.

Best of luck on your recovery.

[quote]Rawteen wrote:
What do you guys think about the manta ray pad. I saw a huh on YouTube squat with one hand with that. Have any of you used it in your training and had success with it. Just wondering I would have never used it before but I’m desperate. but I’m thinking of investing in a safety squat bar.

[/quote]

I have it… it SUCKS… If you were anywhere near Nashville I’d give it to you. You can simulate the manta ray by doing this. Lean your head back until your head touches your traps. Next place the bar right there and squat with it. Then while you are squatting have a buddy dig his thumbs into the front of your traps, kind of like he were trying to strangle you.

Basically it’s like doing a really high bar squat with the bar digging into your neck like you did back in high school before you knew better. I would like to kick the shit outta the guy who invented this piece of shit.

If you didn’t want to go all out and get a real SSB (it is an INVESTMENT, btw. You’ll never regret buying it even tho they are pricy) the Dave Draper top squat device is pretty cool and actually works well.

EDIT: found this just now. If you had a ceap olympic bar that comes with 300# weight ets you could make this thing in the video. Then take the collar off, place this on, replace the collar and now you have a SSB looking thing for prolly $20. I see cheap oly bar in the paper all the time for real cheap if you need to pick one up. Maybe play it again sports has one. Sure it doesn’t have the forwards camber like a real SSB but it’ll let you squat with one hand.

Homemade safety squat bar - YouTube