Muscle developement with only dumb bells, no bars

[Ivanko]

I have a problem with my shoulder, damage in my right AC joint from powerlifting. I've given up powerlifting and have been concentrating on bodybuilding. My goal is not to be huge like the guys of today but lean and built like Frank Zane in his day. The problem I have is in using bars in pressing movements. I have been using the smith to do bench and military press lately and I've done a good job of avoiding injury but I finally tweaked my injury again and pulled my chest a little. It's pretty clear now I can't use bars heavy at all in my training, even on a smith, for pressing. The only exception is standing military press which never really seems to bother the injury ironically.
Anyway, Dumb bells are much more comfortable and once my chest heals (again...) I will switch to only using DBs.
Is it realistic to expect the type of development I want to achieve using only dbs?

 

[STEVO 47]

With dumbells your talking more free movement then bars. You say
you don't want that much size so I assume you mean light weight
dumbell work. Should be ok but I also injured my shoulder I feel the
worst thing to do at this point would be med to heavy dumbells.
That's my opinion anyway..........

 

[cjjrwe]

I had a shoulder injury for years. I did only dumbells for years and did not suffer in the least. I was still able to deadlift and squat with a barbell, and all my benching and over head lifts are with heavy dumbells, I ended up getting quite strong lifting with dumbells and I feel my strength and development is more balanced. I recently had AC surgery and part of my collar bone removed, real recently lol, so I am recovering right now and still trying to get back my full range of motion, I lift and stretch real light right now, and start physical therapy next week. I am healing fast, but recovery will take as long as it takes, regardless, I will always stick with dumbells for now on, they just allow my arms/hands, etc., to follow a more natural path rather than being held static in one position and forcing the weight up.

 

[doug1]

lee preist claims that he brought his chest up when he switched to dumbells for the pressing movements. says more range of motion

 

[7_Deadly_Sins]

I never feel it when I did BB..when I switched to DB my chest grew a fair bit.
I'm moving back to BB on some things and trying them to see if I can feel them better, so far so good, I hope Sunday to try decline BB press and see if it nukes me.

 

[STEVO 47]

I had a shoulder injury for years. I did only dumbells for years and did not suffer in the least. I was still able to deadlift and squat with a barbell, and all my benching and over head lifts are with heavy dumbells, I ended up getting quite strong lifting with dumbells and I feel my strength and development is more balanced. I recently had AC surgery and part of my collar bone removed, real recently lol, so I am recovering right now and still trying to get back my full range of motion, I lift and stretch real light right now, and start physical therapy next week. I am healing fast, but recovery will take as long as it takes, regardless, I will always stick with dumbells for now on, they just allow my arms/hands, etc., to follow a more natural path rather than being held static in one position and forcing the weight up.

So you say it would be better doing heavy dumbell bench then bar
with a shoulder injury...... intresting

 

[cjjrwe]

Prior to my surgery, my bench kept going down due to the shoulder impingement and swelling it caused, until it hurt like hell to work out with 225 on the barbell, however, 125 lb dumbells were just fine. I believe it was because I could rotate my shoulder as I pressed up, which allowed more clearance in my AC joint. Of course, every injury is different, so what worked for me may not work for others. Dumbells have allowed me to keep working out where barbells caused me a lot of pain. I have full faith that I will rehab just fine and be back to working out full bore in a few weeks, or so, lol.

 

[STEVO 47]

Yes what works for one may not for another. I find it being the oposite.
With heavy dumbells requires more control of the weight which means
more stress on the shoulder joint. you can lose control easier with
heavy dumbells doing more damage then balancing a bar with two hands.
I tried the dumbell switch and the pain was unbareable..
I'm old school and love my benching I guess.

 

[Bigbubz]

I haven't used a bar in a mighty long time. I've mainly stuck to heavy DB's. Many have claimed that when they did go back to the bar, that they were strong on it due to their using only DB for a period of time. Who knows. I'll let ya know when I switch back.

 

[TJB]

Hmmm

DB's are a great idea friend.

How about cables as well...

Dips & Chins too..

 

[buselmo]

funny... i guess i'm weird... whenever i even attempt to do any kind of pressing movement with dumbbells (even with light weights) my shoulders feels like it's getting stabbed... with barbells, i only feel slight pain on my heaviest set.

 

[STEVO 47]

funny... i guess i'm weird... whenever i even attempt to do any kind of pressing movement with dumbbells (even with light weights) my shoulders feels like it's getting stabbed... with barbells, i only feel slight pain on my heaviest set.

Same here brother. I've seen guys re injure there shoulder doing heavy
dumbells by losing control, form or trying to set the weight down after
eight to ten reps to failure. Don't get me wrong, I loved doing dumbell
presses, great for the chest but not for anyone with shoulder problems
Too many things can go wrong.

 

[Ivanko]

Same here brother. I've seen guys re injure there shoulder doing heavy
dumbells by losing control, form or trying to set the weight down after
eight to ten reps to failure. Don't get me wrong, I loved doing dumbell
presses, great for the chest but not for anyone with shoulder problems
Too many things can go wrong.

Yea, I see that happen too. But with my injury there is like a mechanical problems due to mild arthritis or degeneration or something. The shoulder itself never hurts or gets injured, it's the upper pec that gets pulled because my shoulder feels out of place under the bar. It's a really weird injury, my doctor (an ex national pler) explained it to me but I still don't understand it completely. Anyway, good to hear bds are still good mass builders, that's encouraging.

 

[maldorf]

One thing good about dumbells is that you can turn your wrist to face your hands at different angles. I had a seperated shoulders, AC joint, and was able to train around the injury using dumbells. Rotators cuff problems, the same thing. Sometime by just turning your hands a few degrees will take the stress off the joint and cause no more pain. Pain is your guide. Dont do it if it hurts, that simple. You can use a parallel grip with dumbells, this position often works.