Simple Answer

No, the strict press is not a good alternative to pull ups. A strict press is a vertical press movement and a pull up is a vertical press movement. When looking for alternatives, it is best to find exercises which move through the same movement pattern. If you are injured and cannot move through a movement pattern, then we are not really finding an alternative, more just training around a current injury.

Finding Alternatives

When trying to replace exercises for whatever reason, including lacking equipment, boredom of current exercise variation or if an exercise is to challenging/easy. In this case, when looking for an alternative for pull ups you will want to pick an exercise from the vertical pull movement library.

Training Around Injuries

We do not want to perform exercises which cause or exacerbate pain. So if performing pull ups is causing pain then you will want to change your exercise selection. The first type of exercises you might want to try will be in the same movement pattern but that are less likely to cause pain, like a banded pull down or a lat pull down. If they still cause pain, then you will want to change the movement pattern. In this case, you may move to a horizontal pull movement pattern as it works very similar muscle groups to the vertical pull movement pattern. If this still causes pain, then you will be training different muscle groups and this would not really be considered an alternative as such, more like designing a training programme that matches your current injuries.

Don’t Train Through Pain

Please do not make the mistake that so many do and train through pain and make current injuries worse. Take care of your body for your long term health, put emphasis on rehab and recovery. Train to be in amazing shape in five years time not next week.