Hello,
I use to go to the gym regularly but a few years ago I lost the use of my right arm.
But beating depression and my love for weight training has made me want to try something.
I am near 50, but upto 5 years ago I trained for 10 years.
So my question, is it possible to build myself with just one arm.
Thank you for your advice.
Of course. We had a guy at the gym with one hand. He would still squat, deadlift and bench. You may have different limitations, but you can get stronger.
Can you describe the extent of what your right arm can do? Do you comfortable describing what happened to your arm?
I had a recovery period from a biceps rupture one and a half week out from a contest in June, where I could not use my right arm. I know the significant difference is that I knew I soon could return to use of my right arm. I did a couple work arounds. I competed in November later in the year.
Thanks for the reply and advice.
My arm, I canāt do anything at all with itā¦ No function.
I miss the weights, depression got me but now I want to fight back.
Am I wasting my time trying this with only my left arm functioning.
How does a one arm bench press work, do I hold it as best I can in the middle of the bar, will this work my full chest.
I suppose I ask these questions for motivation.
There is no rule that says you HAVE to bench press. Dumbbells would be a great way to start with one arm.
You can for sure train with 1 arm. Thereās so much equipment available these days.
1 Arm Incline DB press. Do it on an incline because itās way, way easier than trying to lay all the way back on a flat bench while balancing 1 DB.
Just about any gym will have a chest press machine that you could use with 1 arm.
You can work your hips for general full body strength, with no arms at all.
There are fancy barbells that stay on your back without support from your arms.
Or machines to support the weight.
One bi-lateral movement that I found I could do was shrugs on a standing calf machine. Just get into the machine as if you were going to do calf raises and shrug your shoulders. It actually feels good to shrug without using your arms.
Iāve had a broken wrist very recently and found that nearly every machine in the gym can be used with one arm. Depends what your gym has but let us know the machines and we can get something in place for you to do.