Why Do Big Guys Do Dips But Not Pull-Ups?

Training Bodybuilding
81

[quote]austin_bicep wrote:
“Why Do Big Guys Do Dips But Not Pull-Ups?”

Completely false statement that doesn’t warrant an answer because it is untrue to begin with. WTF

Some do, some don’t same goes for dips.[/quote]

Obviously it doesn’t refer to all “big guys”, but “Why does the majority of big guys that I have observed do dips but not pull-ups?” doesn’t have the same ring to it.

But this is where I’m coming from:

Doggcrapp training, they don’t do weighted chins…most of them prefer the rack chin.

I heard Professor X mention that he didn’t do pull-ups, but I heard him talk about doing weighted dips later on.

We’ve all seen Branch Warren do the dips with the chains on his neck (so hardcore!), but I’ve never seen him strap on the weight and do pull-ups.

Sure, I’ve seen Victor Martinez do the freeweight pull-ups to warm up, but why doesn’t he just keeping adding weight to train his back?

And in my own observations, I’ve seen powerlifters and bodybuilders alike pile on the plates and dip, only to go to the lat pulldown or some other machine to hit their back.

It was just something I had observed, and wondered why it was so…lot of good responses that answer the question though.

82

Like many have said already, I think a lot of people do both, myself included.

83

Simple mechanics dictates task difficulty.

Typically the dip only involves 90 degrees elbow flexion, where most major muscles are working in the strongest part of their range of motion. Most pull-up/chin-up versions involve a greater range of motion, making it ‘harder’ to do (effort/perception/weaker at limits of ROM). This doesn’t necessarily make either exercise more or less effective, just different, but in my experience easily explains why some people don’t like doing pull-ups but love loading the dip.

From an ‘injury’ perspective I have observed dips causing more issues, but this seems related to the fact people are more inclined to go heavy on dips rather than pull-ups (hence a greater chance of injury).

To reiterate what everyone else says to each their own, find what works, do both, find what you respond to and can do without injury, blah blah blah,

Happy training

84

i think the thing to remember here is that there is a BIG difference between a guy NOT DOING pullups and a guy NOT BEING ABLE TO DO pullups.

while i’m sure there certainly could be aesthetic reasons for not doing them (or maybe just preference issues), if a person legitimately CAN’T DO them, then this is indicative of a relatively serious strength imbalance, if you ask me.

moving past pullups, if you really wanna get down to it, i think every guy should be able to do, at the very least, a muscle up or two…

my two cents.

85

Lat pulldowns are way more convenient than strapping on a few plates and doing pullups.

If you train without a partner/spotter and like going to failure, doing weighted dips is a lot safer than any barbell alternative.

86

[quote]Proud_Virgin wrote:

[quote]austin_bicep wrote:
“Why Do Big Guys Do Dips But Not Pull-Ups?”

Completely false statement that doesn’t warrant an answer because it is untrue to begin with. WTF

Some do, some don’t same goes for dips.[/quote]

Obviously it doesn’t refer to all “big guys”, but “Why does the majority of big guys that I have observed do dips but not pull-ups?” doesn’t have the same ring to it.

But this is where I’m coming from:

Doggcrapp training, they don’t do weighted chins…most of them prefer the rack chin.

I heard Professor X mention that he didn’t do pull-ups, but I heard him talk about doing weighted dips later on.

We’ve all seen Branch Warren do the dips with the chains on his neck (so hardcore!), but I’ve never seen him strap on the weight and do pull-ups.

Sure, I’ve seen Victor Martinez do the freeweight pull-ups to warm up, but why doesn’t he just keeping adding weight to train his back?

And in my own observations, I’ve seen powerlifters and bodybuilders alike pile on the plates and dip, only to go to the lat pulldown or some other machine to hit their back.

It was just something I had observed, and wondered why it was so…lot of good responses that answer the question though.[/quote]

I can’t speak for anyone else here, but here’s my take. I believe - and still do - that wide-grip, chest-to-bar pull-ups are one of the best lat building movements out there. I still do wide-grip pull-ups frequently, but not as much as I used to, and not all the way up. I used to do them virtually every back width session. The reason for the change is pretty simple:

Even at a lower bodyweight, doing a wide-grip, chest-to-bar pull-up was uncomfortable at the top of the movement in my shoulders and elbows. As I got heavier and heavier, using that full ROM became impossible due to the onset of pain, and thus injury concerns. With a pull down, I can pull the bar to my chest with no pain or injury concerns at all, so it really boiled down to this: do I keep doing full ROM pullups and risk injury, drop some ROM and thus compromise the exercise, or switch to pulldowns with no pain or risk of injury, while at the same time allowing a full ROM? Pretty easy choice, for me.

I still do wide-grip pull-ups, but usually with only 80% of the ROM.

87

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Just from experience, when I did really heavy dips (for me that was 6 plates a side for the last set), if I did them twice a week, it would in almost all cases lead to shoulder inflammation that could last months afterwards.
[/quote]

This one (HS dip machine)?

88

[quote]SteelyD wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Just from experience, when I did really heavy dips (for me that was 6 plates a side for the last set), if I did them twice a week, it would in almost all cases lead to shoulder inflammation that could last months afterwards.
[/quote]

This one (HS dip machine)?

[/quote]

Yeah. Anyone talking shit about that machine is just hating. If I have a choice between loading plates here or trying to hold them around my waist, I’ll keep choosing the HS.

89

^that machine is most excellent

90

+1 for hs dips. Their best piece of equipment IMO, as far as “real feel” goes. Of course this depends on indidvidual biomechanics. Good piece of equipment

91

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]SteelyD wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Just from experience, when I did really heavy dips (for me that was 6 plates a side for the last set), if I did them twice a week, it would in almost all cases lead to shoulder inflammation that could last months afterwards.
[/quote]

This one (HS dip machine)?

[/quote]

Yeah. Anyone talking shit about that machine is just hating. If I have a choice between loading plates here or trying to hold them around my waist, I’ll keep choosing the HS.[/quote]

This is a wonderful piece of equipment (just used it tonight). I’m just a couple plates per side behind, so I wanted to gauge where I was.

Eating more now as I type, dammit!

The really nice thing about HS equipment is that the weight that someone uses translates directly from machine to machine. If you say “6pps” on the HS dip machine, or “5pps” on the flat press, I know that wherever I go in the world that has these machines and the same weight plate standard, I’m getting the same workout.

That’s not the case with selectorized equipment as the weight bars may be different, or might have an extra pulley, or belt vs. cable, or tension, etc. 5pps on a HS low row is 5pps on another HS low row (same model).

92

The original statement of this thread was a little too general. Actually, way too general. There are plenty of big guys who do pull-ups, and there are plenty who do not for whatever reason. We can all argue what is good and bad and etc., but X kind of hit it on the head. Big guys do what works for them, and they will continue to do what got them big. There is no one perfect training protocol, and there is not enough time for someone to include every great exercise in his or her regimen.

Something has to give at some point, but that does not call for an absurd blanket statement that big guys do not do chins. It all comes down not to what exercises, rep ranges, techniques, etc. you use, but how much effort is put into the workout. That is why SOME big guys do not do chins. They kick ass in other stuff to get them big. Vince Gironda did not have his guys do traditional squats or any kind of deadlift, and guess what, everyone who trained there was jacked,and aesthetically pleasing, which is the goal of bodybuilding, by the way. They accomplished this through intense focus in the gym and no bullshit. So it really does not matter what the big guys do. What matters is how you much as much effort into whatever you do as possible.