dips are one of the best upper body compound exercises when done properly. most people who experience pain during dips use improper form, use too much weight for their current strength level or a combination of both. sure there are people who have a genuine shoulder problem but they are rare.
shoulder is the most important joint in the upper body and keeping it healthy and strong should be a priority for everyone.
when you can do 3x10-12 BW dips with no shoulder discomfort you are ready to start adding weight. weight increments are preferred to be at 1 kg to not put too much stress on your shoulders. at lower weights you can hold DBs between your legs but once you start going more heavy you will need a dipping belt.
so are you doing them correctly?
>same grip mechanics as OHP, your grip of the bar should be so that the bar is as vertical to your forearms as possible >your forearms should always stay as vertical as possible >your arms should not be flaring out and should stay as close to your body as possible >at the bottom position your elbow should be higher than your shoulder. by how much depends on person. going really low will put more strain on shoulder but also make it stronger since you will be working at a much larger ROM
>try to lead with your chest when doing them >on the way down incline forward and contract abs to put more emphasis on chest >on the way up squeeze your glutes, focus on pulling your lats towards your hips and lead the raise with your chest. also lift your head to extend the upper body
>locking out your elbows at the top is purely personal choice. not doing so will increase your time under tension and yield better results but will require more strength and will tire you out much faster
>weight position matters to which muscles get targeted more. it's all about moment arms >weight chain around neck >weight hanging under you (normal dipping belt position) >weight hanging behind you (reverse belt position)
i do love this exercise and can do the amount of BW dips mentioned above without any pain and so on, but as i progress with putting on weight i do start to feel pain not in my shoulders but on the collar bone joint at my chest. Do i still do something wrong in the exercise itselfe or are my muscles still not that strong?
Jason Martin
I am thankful for this thread and pic.
Jayden Bailey
whenever I am doing dips, some nerve in my hand gets pinched and I cant feel my pinky anymore
Nathan Peterson
pretty much every "tip" is wrong. if you want, i'll go by them one by one.
Connor Jackson
lats need to be tight and humerus needs to be held back in it's pocket. most problems stemming from dips (esp. with weight since that's when the "problems" start showing) is that people let their shoulders roll forward.
Brandon Gutierrez
lots of people get pain in their sternum when they start out. people often complain about "popping" in their ribs/sternum. this has the potential to be dangerous. having pain at your SC joint may be an issue with the fibrocartilage.
ulnar nerve impingement. you should be getting numbness in roughly half your palm. be sure you're keeping your forearms straight. you're likely performing some ulnar deviation (side bending at the wrist).
i love weighted dips (fedora.jpg). i'm at lmao3plaet which feels good.
Cooper Barnes
please do. and post a body pic while you're at it.
Matthew Robinson
Do it faggot
Michael Reed
okay
>same grip mechanics as OHP, your grip of the bar should be so that the bar is as vertical to your forearms as possible Grip depends on multiple factors, including limb proportions and shoulder morphology. There's no one size fits all rule for this. Only way to find out is to try different grips until you find the one that works best for you.
>your forearms should always stay as vertical as possible No, once again, this depends on the person. A little extra triceps involvement isn't bad for everyone.
>your arms should not be flaring out and should stay as close to your body as possible Too much flare can be hard on the shoulders, yes. The arms shouldn't stay as close to the body as possible though, a little breathing room is necessary so that the humerus doesn't move laterally in the socket. Beyond that, it depends on the person.
>at the bottom position your elbow should be higher than your shoulder That's a nice way to judge depth, but not everyone can get that low safely.
>by how much depends on person Exactly.
>try to lead with your chest when doing them This can easily lead to more hyperextended shoulders than necessary.
>on the way down incline forward and contract abs to put more emphasis on chest This one's good.
>on the way up squeeze your glutes Fine.
>focus on pulling your lats towards your hips Cueing scapular depression is also good. It should be a gradual depression as you go up.
>lead the raise with your chest See above.
>also lift your head to extend the upper body Can help prevent thoracic flexion, so that's good.
(1/2)
David Mitchell
(2/2)
>locking out your elbows at the top is purely personal choice. not doing so will increase your time under tension and yield better results but will require more strength and will tire you out much faster Using a full range of motion, which includes locking out, is a good idea in general. You can still lockout and keep a relatively high time under tension. Just immediately do the next rep after locking out.
>weight position matters to which muscles get targeted more. Yes, this is true.
where's the body pic faggot no one wants to read a wall of text
Camden Bailey
who else here is above 2 pl8 dip club?
Jack Carter
what's your bodyweight m8?
Cooper King
bw is baby weight righ now. I can do 3x8 with 24kg but the clavicle regions hurts a lot both sides. I don't really care about the pain but the possibility of an injury is little worrying. What do?
William Wilson
>sure there are people who have a genuine shoulder problem i dislocated my shoulder a few years ago and I can't do dips. they hurt so much.
am i ever gonna make it?
Austin Martin
You not minding the pain is a recipe for disaster. Pain is your body telling you that something is wrong. Try to check your form, see if you're doing something wrong. Also, lower the weight.
>I can run thru them one by one no tips were right Has like two nitpicky complaints and pretty much agrees with the 2nd half. What a massive shitposting faggot you are.
Matthew Williams
>Only way to find out is to try different grips until you find the one that works best for you. Wrong. This might work when you doing unweighted ones but once you go heavy there is only one way to grip the bar properly, otherwise you are placing too much strain on your wrist. Pic related getthisstrength.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Overhead-press-form-grip-2.jpg
>No, once again, this depends on the person. No it doesn't. The only people who can't keep forearms straight during dips are those that have poor shoulder mobility. They tend to drop their chest more forward once they hit their range which in turn tilts the forearms. Doing shoulder dislocates with a stick will solve this pretty fast
>That's a nice way to judge depth, but not everyone can get that low safely. Again, issue of shoulder mobility, not their proportions
Owen Foster
185 pounds m8
Christopher Hill
>nitpicky The things OP got wrong have major influence on shoulder health long term, mate.
I read that as grip width, amount of internal shoulder rotation (angle of grip), and whether you wrap thumb over or not.
>The only people who can't keep forearms straight during dips are those that have poor shoulder mobility. >Again, issue of shoulder mobility, not their proportions People are different, fuck off with your arbitrary "standards".
Also, why must the forearms be kept perpendicular to the bar anyway? That's arbitrary too. Some people benefit from more triceps involvement. People are different.
not keeping your forearms vertical will lead to diminished returns. the more you work your triceps, the less you work your chest which defeats the purpose of the chest dip.
Unless the bars are hugging your hips, there should be adequate room for to keep your forearms vertical and elbows in, while allowing for "breathing room"
>you can still lockout and keep a relatively high time under tension not in your chest. if you keep your forearms vertical, the tension will mostly be in your lats and triceps
the higher you are in the rom, the less chest and the more tricep you're using. above parallel is mostly tricep and activation needed to lockout is all tricep. the reason we lean forward is to stretch the abdominal head of the pec major. >lean forward >dip below parallel >lockout is not required all these things work to that end
Colton Howard
he should stick an PC on that standing desk and type with his nose.
Carter Parker
He can't deny he backpedaled quickly off the >no Good tips and I'll show you one by one Claim. Now is trolling hard on where to put your thumbs or how straight your wrist should be. Whatta massive faggot you are user
Isaac Garcia
>not keeping your forearms vertical will lead to diminished returns No, that depends on the person.
>the more you work your triceps, the less you work your chest No, not if you can add weight when you use your triceps more.
>which defeats the purpose of the chest dip. There's no such thing as a "chest dip". It's a compound movement.
>>you can still lockout and keep a relatively high time under tension >not in your chest. if you keep your forearms vertical, the tension will mostly be in your lats and triceps There's still a lot of tension on the pecs. Anyway, I said "relatively" high time under tension. You don't want bigger triceps, only pecs?
Really, read the article. I hope you'll learn something from it.
Ethan Mitchell
Even when given the information on how to not fuck up your shoulders, you call it "trolling hard". Enjoy your shoulder problems.
Samuel Carter
I swear to spread the word. Guys. Don't do dips. You WILL fuck up your chest. The sternum pain will stay for years.
Bentley Hall
Any suggestions for grip and form on gymnast rings?
Grayson Adams
>linking oly lifters with 10+ years of heavy lifting experience whose joints are used to it >comparing them to average gym rat
James Murphy
Kek, good point. I guess I just meant that wrists neutral isn't always required. But yeah, maybe it is for the wristlet Veeky Forums population.
Camden Garcia
oh, btw, belkin isn't an oly lifter, he's a powerlifter.
Matthew Reyes
Useful post. Thanks Op
Jace Nguyen
thanks. i do all of that already except landmine presses. never heard of that but ill check it out
Nathaniel Kelly
klokov has like 230 kg CJ. that 160 press is nothing in terms of stress on his joints
Bill starr used to advocate being able to do 2-3 sets of 20 bodyweight dips with no forward shoulder rolling before going into weighted dips. He said it'd get the ligaments used to the movement. I think that guy knew what he was doing
