Preventing Leg Momentum with Dips

[quote]SSC wrote:

I didn’t have to take a gym class from 6th grade all the way through high school. I was in ‘Marching Band,’ so I argued to the school board that was enough physical exercise.

They never even questioned me.

…at 300+ lbs.[/quote]

It just seems like lifestyle has changed so much. Most of the guys hitting the gym in high school (or the school weight room) for the first time had been active all of their lives. There were very few (like one or two) guys in the whole school who looked so out of shape that they would have that much trouble doing a dip without swinging their legs uncontrollably.

Hell, my parents wouldn’t have allowed that. We were tossed outside to play until night time.

Obesity and this level of inexperience when it comes to anything physical was just something we never even considered. You would have had to have been locked in the house and bed ridden for that to occur.

I just don’t understand why it is so out of control now.

[quote]prospa7 wrote:
What methods do you utilize to prevent yourself from using the momentum in your legs to help you during the dips or pull-ups?[/quote]

Slow down and keep doing them, you’ll get stronger. Incedental leg momentum shouldn’t be helping you during pullups they should be hurting you, so if your not doing them purposely then you have torrets, other than that your stabilizing muscles just aren’t stronge enough.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Vicomte wrote:
Professor X wrote:
SSC wrote:
Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
prospa7 wrote:
What methods do you utilize to prevent yourself from using the momentum in your legs to help you during the dips or pull-ups?

That’s the first time in my life that I’ve read/heard of anyone using leg-momentum during dips.

Hm.

As for pull-ups… I don’t really have the issue and don’t do my pullups full ROM either, just the bottom half as a backwidth exercise…

Otherwise I’d cross my ankles and yeah… Just don’t use your legs :slight_smile:
The others already said it, but yeah… I have nothing better to offer, either.

I’m guessing the OP is either lacking in chest development and/or is obese. I know before when I was bigger I had a bitch of a time doing dips without my legs rocking back and forth.

So OP - This may sound blunt, but you either need to lose weight or get stronger NOW.

If that is the case, then I agree, but I am in shock that there are this many guys THAT out of shape before they ever hit the gym the first time.

We do still have P.E. classes, right?

The government has made it so you can get an A in PE while still being a fat, sedentary, can’t-do-one-pushup motherfucker.

It’s all about ‘effort’ now.

In other words, if you wince during your half-pushup.

It looks like that program is working GREAT!!! Just think, if we can do away with any form of HRT for guys over the age of 30, keep envionmental estrogens high, make testosterone out to be an evil like Darfur’s current situation, and make big muscles out to be “nasty”…hell, in 30 years no one will be strong enough to stand up to any and all government influence.

YAY!!!

Mediocrity leading to Slavery FTW!!!
[/quote]

Am I the only one who thinks that it looks like we’re heading towards George Orwell’s 1984? Like, seriously.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
SSC wrote:

I didn’t have to take a gym class from 6th grade all the way through high school. I was in ‘Marching Band,’ so I argued to the school board that was enough physical exercise.

They never even questioned me.

…at 300+ lbs.

It just seems like lifestyle has changed so much. Most of the guys hitting the gym in high school (or the school weight room) for the first time had been active all of their lives. There were very few (like one or two) guys in the whole school who looked so out of shape that they would have that much trouble doing a dip without swinging their legs uncontrollably.

Hell, my parents wouldn’t have allowed that. We were tossed outside to play until night time.

Obesity and this level of inexperience when it comes to anything physical was just something we never even considered. You would have had to have been locked in the house and bed ridden for that to occur.

I just don’t understand why it is so out of control now.[/quote]

Neither do I. I was never very active as a kid, myself. I didn’t even realize how weak and out of shape I was until I was at least sixteen. It just never occurred to me, for some reason. People are quick to blame the kids themselves, but they just don’t know any better. I sure as hell wish someone would have taken me aside when I was thirteen and got me to lift or at least informed me about some kind of physical training. No one ever did, including gym teachers, parents, coaches. It’s like they were either too stupid or just didn’t give a shit.

I remember in junior high, when we had ‘fitness testing’. I wasn’t able to do the one pull up required to pass (neither did ninety percent of my classmates), and that was just okay to them. No one ever said ‘Hey, kid. Lose a few pounds and hit the gym and you’ll be able to do pullups like gangbusters. Stay after school and I’ll teach you a few things’.

Even in high school, if you’re not playing a sport no one gives a shit about you. Teachers my ass. if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s the adults. In a few cases, it’s the kids that are just too lazy, but I think in far more it’s just ignorance. Ignorance can be easily fixed.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
SSC wrote:

I didn’t have to take a gym class from 6th grade all the way through high school. I was in ‘Marching Band,’ so I argued to the school board that was enough physical exercise.

They never even questioned me.

…at 300+ lbs.

It just seems like lifestyle has changed so much. Most of the guys hitting the gym in high school (or the school weight room) for the first time had been active all of their lives. There were very few (like one or two) guys in the whole school who looked so out of shape that they would have that much trouble doing a dip without swinging their legs uncontrollably.

Hell, my parents wouldn’t have allowed that. We were tossed outside to play until night time.

Obesity and this level of inexperience when it comes to anything physical was just something we never even considered. You would have had to have been locked in the house and bed ridden for that to occur.

I just don’t understand why it is so out of control now.[/quote]

My guess is a combination of technology, and acceptable behavior when it comes to leaving your kids unattended now a days.

When I was growing up, there was like six tv stations. 2,4,5,7,9,11 and 13 and then those UHF ones that never came in. No internet and we had atari. Nintendo popped up when i was like 11 i guess.

We were free to roam the streets as a pack of kids playing manhunt or whatever we wanted to do. Ride our bikes to different places ourselves such as a park for basketball or wherever.

Now kids have a lot more to do at home and its not looked at very well to have your kids running around unattended in this age because of increased awareness of child predators. They were always there but i don’t think people ever realized how widespread and common it is.

So now kids cant just go where ever they want when they please. they have to have their parents cart them everywhere. Play dates etc. They get stuck at home more often and they don’t usually mind. They can talk to their freinds on their cell phone and IM, and myspace, and through their xbox 360 headsets. By the time they are teenagers and can come and go more as they please they are already fat uncoordinated fucks.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
SSC wrote:

I didn’t have to take a gym class from 6th grade all the way through high school. I was in ‘Marching Band,’ so I argued to the school board that was enough physical exercise.

They never even questioned me.

…at 300+ lbs.

It just seems like lifestyle has changed so much. Most of the guys hitting the gym in high school (or the school weight room) for the first time had been active all of their lives. There were very few (like one or two) guys in the whole school who looked so out of shape that they would have that much trouble doing a dip without swinging their legs uncontrollably.

Hell, my parents wouldn’t have allowed that. We were tossed outside to play until night time.

Obesity and this level of inexperience when it comes to anything physical was just something we never even considered. You would have had to have been locked in the house and bed ridden for that to occur.

I just don’t understand why it is so out of control now.[/quote]

[quote]Vicomte wrote:

I remember in junior high, when we had ‘fitness testing’. I wasn’t able to do the one pull up required to pass (neither did ninety percent of my classmates), and that was just okay to them. No one ever said ‘Hey, kid. Lose a few pounds and hit the gym and you’ll be able to do pullups like gangbusters. Stay after school and I’ll teach you a few things’.[/quote]

That’s crazy and the complete opposite of my own experience. If you couldn’t do even one pull up, you would get teased and heckled by every “jock” in the room. I’m not sure what it would even be like to be in a class where everyone failed at that and yet they all thought that was just fine.

I am a firm believer in kids needing SOME teasing…just so they don’t turn out to be complete pussies.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Vicomte wrote:

I remember in junior high, when we had ‘fitness testing’. I wasn’t able to do the one pull up required to pass (neither did ninety percent of my classmates), and that was just okay to them. No one ever said ‘Hey, kid. Lose a few pounds and hit the gym and you’ll be able to do pullups like gangbusters. Stay after school and I’ll teach you a few things’.

That’s crazy and the complete opposite of my own experience. If you couldn’t do even one pull up, you would get teased and heckled by every “jock” in the room. I’m not sure what it would even be like to be in a class where everyone failed at that and yet they all thought that was just fine.

I am a firm believer in kids needing SOME teasing…just so they don’t turn out to be complete pussies.[/quote]

Jocks often don’t have any basis to tease on, themselves. They’re either naturally lean and not much else, fat and strong, or once in a while you get someone somewhere in the middle, but not to any degree anyone would consider exemplary. At most, a few of the more athletic types got three or four poor-form pulls.

One kid got like eleven.

He was in a wheelchair since he was little, and was all upper body.

Everyone thought it was quite the accomplishment.

No one ever told us it wasn’t okay that we couldn’t even do a pull up.

Get this-- when I got to high school, the fitness test stopped including pull ups at all. Because, if you were ever in a situation where you needed to do a pull up to save your life, you’d have adrenaline, which would make your strength irrelevant.

I shit you not. That’s what they told us.

[quote]That One Guy wrote:

Am I the only one who thinks that it looks like we’re heading towards George Orwell’s 1984? Like, seriously.[/quote]

I’m thinking more along the lines of A Brave New World. Americans, dosed to the gills with anti-depressants and junk food, have become increasingly complacent with their state of fitness, if not their general position in life.

Got high blood pressure or high cholesterol? No need to exercise, we have a pill for that.

Sick of being passed up for a promotion? No need to work harder, we’ll just put you on anti-depressants and you’ll feel fine in a jiffy.

[quote]Professor X wrote:
SSC wrote:
Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
prospa7 wrote:
What methods do you utilize to prevent yourself from using the momentum in your legs to help you during the dips or pull-ups?

That’s the first time in my life that I’ve read/heard of anyone using leg-momentum during dips.

Hm.

As for pull-ups… I don’t really have the issue and don’t do my pullups full ROM either, just the bottom half as a backwidth exercise…

Otherwise I’d cross my ankles and yeah… Just don’t use your legs :slight_smile:
The others already said it, but yeah… I have nothing better to offer, either.

I’m guessing the OP is either lacking in chest development and/or is obese. I know before when I was bigger I had a bitch of a time doing dips without my legs rocking back and forth.

So OP - This may sound blunt, but you either need to lose weight or get stronger NOW.

If that is the case, then I agree, but I am in shock that there are this many guys THAT out of shape before they ever hit the gym the first time.

We do still have P.E. classes, right?[/quote]

Sadly a lot of schools are making P.E. classes optional or doing away with them altogether. And even when I was in school there were always some kids who didn’t want to participate and would just sit in the bleachers.

I would have to say that the school experience you describe sounds bizarre. I went to a normal public school and just about everyone could get at least 5 or 6 pull-ups, with many getting 10 or more. Did your school even have a weight room or sports teams? That just sounds a little bit oddly weak as hell.