Other/Mixed One-handed training

[Tim Swanson]

Does anyone have advice on how to approach training with only one usable hand?

Background
In January I had surgery to repair a fractured metacarpal bone in my left hand. My restrictions vary during recovery, but I am under some restriction until mid-April.

During that time, the most force I will be allowed to bear with the left hand is 5 pounds. I need to avoid any high-impact activity (e.g. sprinting) that could jostle the hand, and also anything that carries the risk of falling.

My pre-injury routine consisted of: kettlebells (swing/snatch, squat, getup) + deadlifts + pullups + walking.

Now that I no longer have a healing incision, I have returned to my previous levels of walking. Deadlifts, pullups, and getups are obviously out.

So far...
I’ve recently begun to return to training. I’m beginning with one-handed swings and single kettlebell front squats, at about 60% of my pre-injury volume. This has worked well so far. Since neither of these is strictly an arm/shoulder exercise, I don’t worry as much about the right/left imbalance.

(I particularly like the single front squats. I hadn’t done these much before, generally preferring doubles. But the odd weight forces you to really create tension in the torso. I’m going to keep doing these.)

I’ve done some getups to the left elbow. But it’s awkward and a bit scary putting the bell up on the right with an injured left hand, so I haven’t been able to go very heavy.

(My hand therapist did say that lifting with the left shoulder would be fine if I could anchor the weight above the elbow. But I am at a loss as to how to do this effectively and safely.)

Plans
So I’m looking for an approach to structure my training through April. I’m wondering what else I can do, and how far I should go. I’m looking for both things I can do that don’t involve the hand, and for advice on how to structure right-side-only training. My goals are only to keep myself healthy and active, and not lose too much strength during the recovery period.

I’m currently unable to close a fist with my left hand. So it’s natural to expect some loss of grip strength which will need to be regained. Other than that, though, my left arm and shoulder haven’t undergone any damage, so there shouldn’t be any strength loss except due to detraining.

I know that “balance is overrated” is a common opinion in this community, but how overrated? I plan to make the kettlebell press a centerpiece of my 2020 goals. Should I just go ahead and start doing full training with my right, and let the left catch up later? Is there some middle ground I should pursue?

I’d honestly be less concerned if there weren’t already a significant strength gap between my left and right shoulder. My rep maxes in the press at 20 kg were 9L and 12R when I tested back in November. It’s probably more unbalanced today.

Sorry for the long post. Appreciate any advice.

 

[Steve W.]

@Tim Swanson
While recovering from shoulder surgery, I did couple of months of pretty intensive training on only one side. I basically did the same volume I would normally do, but with only one arm instead of split between arms.

My injured shoulder was my non-dominant side, so I was doing all the training on the side that was already stronger.

There were absolutely no negative consequences of doing this. During my recovery, the surgical side had a lot of atrophy, but once I was cleared to train normally it quickly regained size and strength and caught up to my dominant side (within my normal range of difference between dominant and non-dominant).

 

[Chrisdavisjr]

Should I just go ahead and start doing full training with my right, and let the left catch up later?

Yes. Keeping yourself as active as possible will maintain a favourable hormonal environment within the body to reduce muscle atrophy on the injured side. I remember reading about this, possibly in one of Pavel's books, but I can't remember where. Naturally, you don't want to overcompensate by doing more volume that your right side can handle to make up for not using your left.

As far as exercise recommendations go, you might want to consider Zercher squats (the barbell in the crease of the elbow) and/or Zercher deadlifts with the bar in an elevated start position on some blocks/stacks of plates (provided it's secure and won't roll off onto the floor) so you don't have to get crazy low to get your arms around the bar. Naturally, if these are unfamiliar movements, go light and 'feel it out' first. Neither of these need to be heavy to be effective.

For pull-ups, you can try single arm pull-downs with a resistance band looped over a pull-up bar (or a lat pull-down machine with a single arm handle attachment if you have access to a gym). I really like these; it feels like a KB press in reverse.

Keep doing get-ups but without any weight (or with a sneaker, as prescribed in S&S) just so you can keep 'grooving' the movement pattern. Focus on feeling solid in every position.

I hope this is helpful! Be patient, be careful, respect your body and you'll be back in action before you know it.

 

[offwidth]

When I had a shoulder issue a few years back and I was going to be out of commission with my left arm for several months, I was recommended by several of the big names here to not do unilateral training. But your situation seems different and with a shorter window.

If it were me (and it has been) I would do lots of mobility stuff and lots of LED running.

 

[Molson]

When I had a shoulder issue a few years back and I was going to be out of commission with my left arm for several months, I was recommended by several of the big names here to not do unilateral training. But your situation seems different and with a shorter window.

If it were me (and it has been) I would do lots of mobility stuff and lots of LED running.

This is interesting. So it’s not recommended for an extended period of time?

 

[Molson]

Does anyone have advice on how to approach training with only one usable hand?

Background
In January I had surgery to repair a fractured metacarpal bone in my left hand. My restrictions vary during recovery, but I am under some restriction until mid-April.

During that time, the most force I will be allowed to bear with the left hand is 5 pounds. I need to avoid any high-impact activity (e.g. sprinting) that could jostle the hand, and also anything that carries the risk of falling.

My pre-injury routine consisted of: kettlebells (swing/snatch, squat, getup) + deadlifts + pullups + walking.

Now that I no longer have a healing incision, I have returned to my previous levels of walking. Deadlifts, pullups, and getups are obviously out.

So far...
I’ve recently begun to return to training. I’m beginning with one-handed swings and single kettlebell front squats, at about 60% of my pre-injury volume. This has worked well so far. Since neither of these is strictly an arm/shoulder exercise, I don’t worry as much about the right/left imbalance.

(I particularly like the single front squats. I hadn’t done these much before, generally preferring doubles. But the odd weight forces you to really create tension in the torso. I’m going to keep doing these.)

I’ve done some getups to the left elbow. But it’s awkward and a bit scary putting the bell up on the right with an injured left hand, so I haven’t been able to go very heavy.

(My hand therapist did say that lifting with the left shoulder would be fine if I could anchor the weight above the elbow. But I am at a loss as to how to do this effectively and safely.)

Plans
So I’m looking for an approach to structure my training through April. I’m wondering what else I can do, and how far I should go. I’m looking for both things I can do that don’t involve the hand, and for advice on how to structure right-side-only training. My goals are only to keep myself healthy and active, and not lose too much strength during the recovery period.

I’m currently unable to close a fist with my left hand. So it’s natural to expect some loss of grip strength which will need to be regained. Other than that, though, my left arm and shoulder haven’t undergone any damage, so there shouldn’t be any strength loss except due to detraining.

I know that “balance is overrated” is a common opinion in this community, but how overrated? I plan to make the kettlebell press a centerpiece of my 2020 goals. Should I just go ahead and start doing full training with my right, and let the left catch up later? Is there some middle ground I should pursue?

I’d honestly be less concerned if there weren’t already a significant strength gap between my left and right shoulder. My rep maxes in the press at 20 kg were 9L and 12R when I tested back in November. It’s probably more unbalanced today.

Sorry for the long post. Appreciate any advice.

This article, story, includes training with a single arm to maintain strength in both:

The 37-Second Knockout: Building a Boxer’s Ferocious Comeback | StrongFirst

The creative and research-driven programming by Pavel Tsatsouline and Fabio Zonin that prepared me for a boxing comeback—even while protecting a broken thumb.

www.strongfirst.com

 

[Timmer C]

A kettlebell swing is more about the hip hinge during the upswing than the subtle arm work on the downswing. And a one arm swing still uses both hips.

Of course, sometimes an injury on one side of the body will sill make it difficult to work out on the other side of the body. When I once bruised a rib on the left side of my body, doing something on my right side could still cause lots of pain. But that doesn"t sound like your case.

 

[offwidth]

This is interesting. So it’s not recommended for an extended period of time?

Well it was not recommended to me...

 

[crazycanuck]

I'm replying as your injury and your eagerness to get back to exercise caught my eye, and I can relate. I broke the the 5th metacarpal in my hand, in 2017. At the time my workout was Simple and Sinister and getting to the time standard. While the break was visibly separated on x ray, x rays sent off and orthopedic consult said not severe or too complicated, so did not need surgery or pinning, just casting with 4th/5th fingers at 90 degrees for 6 weeks. This was my stronger side (right/dominant hand) which did have some strength differences from the left even before being hurt.

I'm assuming you are working with your surgeon, hand therapist/physical therapist here or they are monitering what you are doing, as far as how you have begun to get back into exercise? Being unable to currently close your hand is what caught my eye in your reply....are you currently still getting therapy as far as flexibility, fine motor skills in the hand, etc?

When I was injured I was out of comission 3 months total as far as cast time, physio, and then being allowed to start to pick up a bell. Once I was ok'd started with bodyweight getups....my wrist flexibility was the biggest problem there....16kg 2 handed swings, then progressed to 8kg getups, a few one handed swings here and there but was surprised as to how quickly I could get back to where I was (was at all swings 20kg one handed and all getups 16kg when injured) and then 8 months after injury date met the Simple standard. I took up modified yoga, planks on elbows, walking, things I neglected in the past like single leg deadlifts, but for upper body other than hand physio did not do a lot for upper body, not even with the good hand/arm, other than some things like tubing hooked into my uncasted fingers and thumb to do overhead presses or squats with tubing on the side I could not hold a bell, once I was cleared to do so.

I remember being really worried about being "unbalanced" as well (hence using things like the exercise tubing even while in a cast, once cleared to do so of course), but I also remember people telling me not to worry so much and that muscle memory comes back faster than you think. It did. It also helped to look at my injury as an opportunity to try out other things, exercise wise but believe me, mentally, injury is disappointing at first for sure so I understand you being worried about presses.

I see you are a certified instructor so you must have a good baseline to begin with. If you can do things like front squats for overall "fortitude" and strength, the swings etc you likely will not be set back nearly as far as you think in presses...in the big picture of things it's just a blip...although right now I know it does not feel like that. Take care and let us know how you progress!

 

[Tim Swanson]

This article, story, includes training with a single arm to maintain strength in both:

The 37-Second Knockout: Building a Boxer’s Ferocious Comeback | StrongFirst

The creative and research-driven programming by Pavel Tsatsouline and Fabio Zonin that prepared me for a boxing comeback—even while protecting a broken thumb.

www.strongfirst.com

Thanks. That's a great article. Her situation is very similar to mine...except that I'm not a globally ranked competitive boxer. (Any day now, though.)

A lot of good replies on this thread. I've been doing some looking around. There's a lot of material out there supporting the idea that I really should be training my right side as normal while my left is out of commission. Such as this one. Admittedly, though, many of them seem to be citing the same research.

Oddly enough, even my hand therapist mentioned this when I was clearing my training plans with her. She encouraged me to train the right side without worrying about unbalancing the left, and even had some experience with kettlebell training (via her personal trainer, apparently).

 

[Tim Swanson]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

I really like @Chrisdavisjr's suggestion of doing band pulldowns. I've got a pullup bar and bands, so those should be easy to put together.

Unfortunately, there's no real way I can do barbell work. I don't have a rack, and manipulating bars and plates is near impossible with one hand, so even getting things into place is prohibitive.

I think I've got a plan together. I'm currently on schedule to have restrictions lifted in mid-April. So I'm going to run Rite of Passage (press, swing, maybe snatch) on the right side only for 6 weeks. Front squats as warmup before each session, and maybe some band pulldowns at the end. Plus walking. Lots and lots of walking.

I'm going to run some 1RM and rep-max tests in the press to get a starting baseline.

After that, who knows? At this point it's not really possible to know what I'll be able to do right away. I'll likely have to start slowly reintroducing left-hand training.

So I'm going to follow a rule that's served me well in the past: "Simple" before all. I'll train Simple & Sinister (or some reduced version of it) until I get back to timed "Simple". That done, I'll start thinking about my other goals.

Thanks again!

 

[Molson]

Good luck, keep us updated!

 

[Tim Swanson]

Thanks everyone for their support here. Wanted to give an update.

I had my final post-op appointment earlier this week, and have been cleared of all restrictions. So I'm easing my way back into both-handed training.

During my one-handed period, I was pressing, swinging, snatching, and front squatting with my right hand only. Toward the end, when they cleared me for 30 pounds on the left, I started doing 16 kg presses just to get used to the movement again. (I know, I know, that's more than 30 pounds. I'm a cheater. I did at least two-hand clean it to the rack.)

Overall, it went pretty well. As I mentioned above, I'm going to keep single front squats in my program long-term. They're great.

So now I'm looking to ramp back into full training, I'm basically going to do Simple & Sinister, except with two-handed swings and a faster progression. Starting at 24 kg/16 kg. For reference: prior to my injury I could do timed Simple relatively easily.

Stay at each weight for at least a week, and spend at least a week transitioning to each higher weight. Slower is possible if necessary. That gives a minimum of five weeks:

Week 1: 16 kg getup, 24 kg swing
Week 2: 16→24 kg getup, 24 kg swing
Week 3: 24 kg getup & swing
Week 4: 24→32 kg getup & swing
Week 5: 32 kg getup & swing

I'm fortunate to have all of these KB sizes at home in my garage.

I'll consider this phase complete when I can do timed Simple again, except with two-handed swings.

(I'm not sure when I'll feel comfortable doing one-handed ballistics again, but for now it feels like too much strain to put on my fingers. The guideline I'm going to stick to is to support no more than my bodyweight with both hands, for at least another month or two. So pullups are fine, but greater-than-bodyweight deadlifts are out for now.)

 

[offwidth]

Good news that you are cleared to get back at it....

 

[Molson]

Thanks everyone for their support here. Wanted to give an update.

I had my final post-op appointment earlier this week, and have been cleared of all restrictions. So I'm easing my way back into both-handed training.

During my one-handed period, I was pressing, swinging, snatching, and front squatting with my right hand only. Toward the end, when they cleared me for 30 pounds on the left, I started doing 16 kg presses just to get used to the movement again. (I know, I know, that's more than 30 pounds. I'm a cheater. I did at least two-hand clean it to the rack.)

Overall, it went pretty well. As I mentioned above, I'm going to keep single front squats in my program long-term. They're great.

So now I'm looking to ramp back into full training, I'm basically going to do Simple & Sinister, except with two-handed swings and a faster progression. Starting at 24 kg/16 kg. For reference: prior to my injury I could do timed Simple relatively easily.

Stay at each weight for at least a week, and spend at least a week transitioning to each higher weight. Slower is possible if necessary. That gives a minimum of five weeks:

Week 1: 16 kg getup, 24 kg swing
Week 2: 16→24 kg getup, 24 kg swing
Week 3: 24 kg getup & swing
Week 4: 24→32 kg getup & swing
Week 5: 32 kg getup & swing

I'm fortunate to have all of these KB sizes at home in my garage.

I'll consider this phase complete when I can do timed Simple again, except with two-handed swings.

(I'm not sure when I'll feel comfortable doing one-handed ballistics again, but for now it feels like too much strain to put on my fingers. The guideline I'm going to stick to is to support no more than my bodyweight with both hands, for at least another month or two. So pullups are fine, but greater-than-bodyweight deadlifts are out for now.)

Great news!

Your plan for S&S seems right. Just don’t push it, be fair with your recovery feel. You’re in position to come back to your previous strength base line quickly, don’t hesitate to stay on same weight a week more if something does not feel right.

Keep us updated, good luck!