Best form for dips?

[romaleos]

Good point, although in the case of dips there's the triceps engagement on the top, and chest at the bottom, plus back throughout, so a full ROM seems to be best from a BB perspective too, no? Thankfully I have no shoulder pain issues.

I like full rom mostly for the sake of saying I can do it. The trade off is more wear and tear. You might not feel it now but once age catches up with you you will and might regret it if you weren't doing it for something worthy i.e. Winning a gold medal, the championship game, mr Olympia, etc.

That's why I ask my athletes "what are doing this for?" Because there will be a price for your dreams and goals. How bad you want it is up to you.

 

[CAswole]

Question about dip form.
I'm always going for deep dips, shoulders below elbow. Face as far forward as I can.
I've gotten to using bw +45lb for at least 8 clean reps. Then I switch to 35 and finally to just bw (I weigh 200 exactly, 6' tall) and do about 12-15 to finish.
Hoping to keep at this and maybe one day get to be able to use two 45s, we'll see.
Here's the question - I see most guys doing shallow dips, never going even to elbow level, what's with that? Even some serious lifters that outweigh me by an easy 20 or 40lbs.
Isn't that bad form? What's the point with these shallow dips?
And if you have any advice on best way to progress with dips, open to ideas. For some reason, I really enjoy dips.

People do half Dips the same reason they do half squats and half benches and half everthing else, because the full, correct version is harder and they can't use as much weight. Anyways Dips are great keep at it

 

[flenser]

I get a sharp pain in my sternum when I dip too low. I used to ignore it and do them anyway, and I would occasionally get some discoloration like a bruise just below where the last rib connects. Then I read somewhere that snapping the sternum isn't an uncommon problem with dips. So now I don't do them at all; just stick with bench, DB presses and assorted cable and machine work. It bugs me a little, but I figure at my age even an imagined risk is worth avoiding.

 

[tenpoundsleft]

I get a sharp pain in my sternum when I dip too low. I used to ignore it and do them anyway, and I would occasionally get some discoloration like a bruise just below where the last rib connects. Then I read somewhere that snapping the sternum isn't an uncommon problem with dips. So now I don't do them at all; just stick with bench, DB presses and assorted cable and machine work. It bugs me a little, but I figure at my age even an imagined risk is worth avoiding.

Wow, I had no idea you could damage the sternum like that.

Here's what Google suggested, interesting thought about overly focusing on chest and not back:
Injury Recovery And Prevention

 

[manafest]

I get a sharp pain in my sternum when I dip too low. I used to ignore it and do them anyway, and I would occasionally get some discoloration like a bruise just below where the last rib connects. Then I read somewhere that snapping the sternum isn't an uncommon problem with dips. So now I don't do them at all; just stick with bench, DB presses and assorted cable and machine work. It bugs me a little, but I figure at my age even an imagined risk is worth avoiding.

I have had the same problem many times in my life...my sternum sticks out a bit does yours?

 

[tenpoundsleft]

Here's an article with some good tips and preventive exercises

How to Deal With Sternum Pain

 

[flenser]

I have had the same problem many times in my life...my sternum sticks out a bit does yours?

It does a little. I have to be at pretty low BF for it to be noticeable.

 

[flenser]

Here's an article with some good tips and preventive exercises

How to Deal With Sternum Pain

Thanks, I may try those. Today was chest day, and this thread made me want to try some dips. Nothing has changed since the last time I tried them. It still hurts, heh.

On the back/chest imbalance, I don't think that's my problem. Labral tears in my shoulder kept me from doing any chest work for almost a year. Chest is a little under developed compared to my back and legs.

 

[anonymous84912]

I have been doing weighted dips for a long time for a main pressing movement. I like doing around shoulder width grip and leaning forward. I go down to parallel with real heavy weights. With lighter amounts I will go just under for more of a stretch, but feel it is probably dangerous with heavy weights. I use a dip belt and my best so far is up to +225 for 3 reps. I weigh around 160# so around 385# total weight.

PS: Years ago when I first started I would get weird sternum cracking like hours after for a while. Eventually that went away, it wasn't painful, just strange feeling.