Half the articles I read talk about how great dips are for you, and I’ve tried in earnest to do them–I really have. However, after 4 or 5 reps I simply can’t tolerate the excruciating pain in my sternum. Muscle soreness I can handle, but this is straight up pain. I don’t know if that’s normal or not, so I wanted some imput from people who actually know what they’re talking about.
I usually resort to assisted dips (somebody holding my legs) and the pain immediatly goes away, leaving only the expected soreness in my arms. However, I feel that I should be able to do dips unassisted.
I know I had to very slowly add weight to dips in order to not get pain, but I did at one point have to stop all chest workouts for a good month before it didn’t hurt as much. I still remember that pain though.
Could be your weight is too much for you chest to handle.
Same thing happened to me. I think I increased the weights too fast. I held off from doing them for a week or so then slwoly went back into it. One mistake I think I was making that seemed to help reduce the pain was to be sure to move slowly into and out of the bottom position rather than try and explode out.
I know I had to very slowly add weight to dips in order to not get pain, but I did at one point have to stop all chest workouts for a good month before it didn’t hurt as much. I still remember that pain though.
Could be your weight is too much for you chest to handle.[/quote]
I weigh 205. I don’t know my body fat percentage but my top abs show when I flex, so I’m guessing somewhere around 15%?
That could be part of the problem, but either way it’s good to know I’m not the only one.
[quote]drc wrote:
Same thing happened to me. I think I increased the weights too fast. I held off from doing them for a week or so then slwoly went back into it. One mistake I think I was making that seemed to help reduce the pain was to be sure to move slowly into and out of the bottom position rather than try and explode out.
[/quote]
I definetly tend to lower myself slowly and try to explode out of the bottom position. I’ll try varying the tempo.
I remember a thread a few months ago where some people had the same problem. You’re definitely not the only one with that problem. One thing I do want to ask is how old are you? It seems like a lot of younger people get chest pains while doing dips. I remember I used to get the same pains but it disappeared when I got older.
If you catch yourself leaning forward on your dips, try and keep your body upright. I realize that leaning forward on dips is great for the chest, but if you’re doing gironda dips, hopefully you’re doing them on a v-bar. If it’s that painful, then don’t do it. If you’re doing dips to focus on your triceps however, I’d recommend switching to other exercises if keeping your body upright doesn’t work.
While I love dips, close grip bench press works just as well as dips for building the triceps. I’d say decline tricep extensions come close behind them.
[quote]tonyc wrote:
I remember a thread a few months ago where some people had the same problem. You’re definitely not the only one with that problem. One thing I do want to ask is how old are you? It seems like a lot of younger people get chest pains while doing dips. I remember I used to get the same pains but it disappeared when I got older.
If you catch yourself leaning forward on your dips, try and keep your body upright. I realize that leaning forward on dips is great for the chest, but if you’re doing gironda dips, hopefully you’re doing them on a v-bar. If it’s that painful, then don’t do it. If you’re doing dips to focus on your triceps however, I’d recommend switching to other exercises if keeping your body upright doesn’t work.
While I love dips, close grip bench press works just as well as dips for building the triceps. I’d say decline tricep extensions come close behind them. [/quote]
I just turned 16, and have been lifting for around 1 and a half years. I do lean forward during dips, so I’ll try not to do that and see if it works.
The picture is of the dip machine that my gym has. I put a dumbell on the seat and either have somebody hold my legs or try to do it without any weight.
Dan John has talked about this happening with younger guys. His recommendation is not to do them if they hurt your sternum until you’re older. There are plenty of other big, compound movements for chest or triceps you can do that won’t cause any pain.
I injured my sternum quite nicely doing weighted dips on gymnastic rings a few years ago and it took about 2 years for it to stop hurting whenever I did dips or any form of benching. So yeah, I’d be very careful doing dips. Don’t bounce on your reps.
From what I understand the area is quite pliable, hence open to injury.
[quote]Joe D. wrote:
I injured my sternum quite nicely doing weighted dips on gymnastic rings a few years ago and it took about 2 years for it to stop hurting whenever I did dips or any form of benching. So yeah, I’d be very careful doing dips. Don’t bounce on your reps.
From what I understand the area is quite pliable, hence open to injury.[/quote]
Fuck that sounds awful.
My only suggestion to the OP would be to adjust your form several times and if it still hurts then give up on it for awhile and come back to it later. I think I didn’t even start doing dips until I could do like 50+ consecutive pushups. Maybe try that type of exercise and get good at it first.
[quote]will to power wrote:
Dan John has talked about this happening with younger guys. His recommendation is not to do them if they hurt your sternum until you’re older. There are plenty of other big, compound movements for chest or triceps you can do that won’t cause any pain.[/quote]
I knew I heard this somewhere else. Yea, Dan John wrote about this with young athletes. Never happened to me, but I was also 135 lbs when I was 16.
First off, stop doing dips for a while. As others have said, you have alternatives.
You can seriously injure yourself if you continue performing dips as is. Everyone should be wary of attempting too much weight (bodyweight is too much for most beginners). Sure you might be able to lift yourself, but where are your shoulders? at your ears I’ll bet.
Lay off the dips for a while, keep lifting and try again in a year or so when you have built up a better base. You need to be able to stabilize your shoulder girdle throughout the lift to ward of injury. Good luck!
