Never thought I'd get around to trying them, but I've found myself forced into it due to a hand injury. I gave it a try today, but I really struggled. Not so much because of the weight, but because of difficulty in balancing the bar! :O Those short bars with the endcaps (I can never recall the proper name for them ) are quite easy to balance-a proper bar loaded with plates, not so much. (the empty bar, coincidentally, isn't too hard-but slightly wobbly) I could use some advice in figuring this out. The toobs I've found so far aren't too helpful. Thanks in advance!
The shearing forces in your spine would be reason enough to not do this. A kettlebell swing is similiar but safer if you've only got 1 hand free.
Make sure you are doing them correctly though. If you don't have a lot of experience with them, maybe take a few sessions with a certified kb trainer, though that can be kind of expensive.
Thanks! I've had instruction in 1 hand kettlebell swings, so I'll give that a go. I wonder why Efferding does the 1 arm DL if it's so bad, though(amd why his chinups are so awful ) :O ...
It's not a bad exercise as such, it's just it's more a show exercise than anything, case in point stan is showing off there I've never seen that lift as part of his staple workout. Most people will be limited by there grip strength way before they actually tax there lifting muscles. Just do squats until your hand is better
You mean bodyweight squats? I thought about trying front squats, but I'm not sure how well I could balance/rack the bar with one good hand. I've never tried it. :/
Low bar back squats will give a good alternative without the need for grip strength. I wouldn't recommend front squat with a hand injury
You can do cross arm front squats where no weight is on your hands, or zombie/superman style front squats where you just reach out in front and slightly up as far as possible with straight arms while pointing your chest out, and that'll give you the same torso+shoulder shelf you'd get with clean grip (the aim in both cases is to keep your chest and shoulders directly under the bar so it doesn't fall, and your elbows up so your delts and upper arms don't let it roll off). One-arm DLs are fun, but as Icefield said they're not the most optimal tool for a training program (and if you only do them on one side you'd then need to do them with the other, so...). Cross grip and zombie front squats: That said, they ARE really fun, and one way to do them is to grab sliiiiiightly off-center such that the opposite side rises, and you just put your palm on it so that it doesn't: Spoiler: big image
Good thinking FOD, I was imaging the traditionally front squat hand grip, I forgot about the cross hand style.
Zercher squats are an option too. Theyre closer to a deadlift than other squat variants and really hit your hamstrings hard.