Are Dumbell presses a good substitute?

[-SD-]

I am working out again since having shoulder surgery in January (had to shave the end of my collar bone down and the ligament was cut also). Since it still hurts when I go fairly heavy on barbell bench, are dumbell presses a good alternative considering my shoulder? thanks bros.

 

[Blkout]

I cannot do barbell bench presses myself because they hurt my rotator cuffs. I do dumbells and I have had more growth from them than barbells. I'll never go back to barbell bench presses.

 

[Mr_Pincushonass]

Yes it is a good substitute, better range of motion, better contraction also.

 

[ambulancechaser]

I agree with the above. You get a better range of motion with DB. I can't do flat DB anymore because my shoulders sound like rice crispies the next day. Incline BB doesn't bother me. I prefer DB presses for flat and incline. There is something about the flat bench, it's probably an ego thing, however.

 

[##spiderbaby##]

Dumbells worked better for me after i injured my shoulder. You can keep you arms close to your sides which takes alot of stress off your shoulders and the growth factor I got using DB's was better. Whenever I use barbells even just one exercise my shoulder hurts for a week or so.

Definately make the switch if your injured, theres no reason not to.

 

[Diesel3d]

bumbells blew the hell out of my chest.

 

[Hauge]

I love dumbells but my gym only goes up to 120s and that is now useless to me. I go heavier than that so the only thing i can do is go to barbells due to the extra weight. I am going to talk to the owner of the gym soon to get him to get some more weight on the dumbells so I dont have to use the barbells anymore. Shoulder is just starting to screw up on me so I am starting to lay off the excessive weight. But DBs feel better but always fun to through 3-4 plates around!!!

 

[jc21]

yup they are a great substitute...try barbell on the smith machine too. maybe that will help your shoulder out a little bit.

 

[Hauge]

the whole smith machine thing i dunno about. I dont really like the fact that i cant struggle if you know what i mean. I dont really like the controlled motion on most exercises but I havent tried smith machine for chest so i dunno. I have tried it for shoulders and squats and shit like that and just havent found them very comfortable for me. But monday, my next chest day i will give it a try to see how it feels.

 

[jc21]

dont get me wrong free weight is the way to go!! but smith feels real good on behind the neck military to me. but i hate it on chest...i dont like being locked in.

 

[Hauge]

ya the locked in feeling sucks. I enjoy benching thou, but now my shoulder is starting to bother me, I have to lay off the excess weight, it will be hard but for a little while let the good old shoulder do whatever the hell it has to do to get back to 100%. Behind the neck shoulder presses, I never do thoughs anymore. I was at the gym one day when a fairly big guy was doing shoulders as well but was doing arnold presses and mentioned to me to be careful about behind the neck presses because he fucked his colar bone and rotator cuff big time off it. SO I was like well screw behind the next and i subsituted with something else.