One-armed athlete advice

[Bob Guere]

Hello all,

I've got a fellow noob crossfitter who has his arm amputated just below the shoulder. He's started a nutrition plan to begin to get his body ready for exercise again. He's quite tall and overweight.

Can I get suggestions for programming for an athlete such as this? The metcon is pretty much taken care of. He can run, box jump, probably burpee after a while. My concern is overloading one side with strength work, but that is inevitable and in his case, probably not an overall bad thing. However, full body strength would be optimum.

My first thoughts are that he can do almost anything with a KB or DB. OHS, cleans, presses. DLs would require quite a bit of work before he could do anything heavy, especially with a BB.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. I'd like to give this guy as many options as possible to keep his training fresh.

Thanks in advance.

~Bob Guere

[garrett stack]

maybe hip belt squats ?

[George Mounce]

Weighted vest would be an awesome tool as well, along with kettlebell one-armed stuff.

[Garrett Smith]

I agree with George on the vest.

Hip and/or back extensions would be good for bilateral trunk work. Side bends on a GHR might help as well.

[Dave Van Skike]

get him a safety squat bar!!!!!programming is easy if you can squat and good morning without using your hands.

bands. rotational stuff, you'll figure something out.
ghr and weight vest are perfect. weighted vest is great for a lot of stuff.

toys...neck harness (why not have a huge neck?), grippers, rolling thunder handle

[Ben Fury]

Originally Posted by Dave Van Skike

get him a safety squat bar!!!!!

Do you have anywhere local he can try out a hip belt and the safety squat bar? One or the other will probably be ideal for him for lower body work.

AIS Neck, Shoulder and Thoracic stretching will help prevent postural defects from getting out of hand from all the necessarily unilateral work.