Hey everyone, I am new here. I have been training essentially all my life…as in always into sports. As we would say back home, I been doin it ever since I was knee high to a short beaver.
Anyway…I have a question pertaining to chest training. The main thing I do for it is weighted/unweighted dips. I do dips because a couple years ago, I hurt my rotator cuff benching, and then after it had rehabed, I did it again on an incline bench. Couldn’t beleive it(how could I be so stupid??)! I tried dips, and for whatever reason they are far more comfortable on the shoulder.
I was wondering if anyone knows any variations of dips? I tried to find stuff on the web, but couldn’t find much.
Also, what about weighted pushups? I do them every so often in a pyramid style and get a crazy pump. What kinda benefit has others had from weighted pushups? What will they do for strength and size?
You could always do Gironda chest dips to add some variation. keep elbows as wide as possible. space you hands 32 inches apart on parallel bars. Chin on chest with an rounded back and feet slightly ahead of line coming straight down off the top of your head. It basically trying to take the dip and make it mostly a chest isolation.
It has been known to aggravate the shoulders of some if they go to deep in the stretching portion of it so I wouldn’t recommend going down as far as possible if you’ve had shoulder issues in the past.
To echo Spidey, I’ve had a few should issues over the years, and while not as bad as a rotator tear, I’ve found each time that decline work never presents problems. I would imagine (just guessing here) that you could choose from regular dips, decline flyes, decline bench or dumbell presses… basically a whole lotta decline -lol.
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
To echo Spidey, I’ve had a few should issues over the years, and while not as bad as a rotator tear, I’ve found each time that decline work never presents problems. I would imagine (just guessing here) that you could choose from regular dips, decline flyes, decline bench or dumbell presses… basically a whole lotta decline -lol.
S[/quote]
Stu,
did you find that decline hits all your chest or -like I listened for decedes- just “lower pec”?
Worth mentioning that the way you lean during a dip can put the equity of the load on different muscles. So, you could try a dip with more of a forward tilt and then a set with more of an upright/backward tilt.
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
To echo Spidey, I’ve had a few should issues over the years, and while not as bad as a rotator tear, I’ve found each time that decline work never presents problems. I would imagine (just guessing here) that you could choose from regular dips, decline flyes, decline bench or dumbell presses… basically a whole lotta decline -lol.
S[/quote]
Stu,
did you find that decline hits all your chest or -like I listened for decedes- just “lower pec”?[/quote]
Well, I didn’t do it for more than a month or two until my shoulder issues sorted themselves out, BUT, without getting into the “can you target portions of your chest” argument, I have read studies showing more MID-chest fiber recruitment from low decline work than from actual flat work. Point being, while you MIGHT not get the best upper chest stimulation (MIGHT!!!), your mid-chest (the majority of your chest ‘meat’) should be fine IMO.
nuetral grip db presses of all angles may be fine as others have said, they worked real well for me, also you may want to try light weight cable flys lying on a flat or incline bench going really slow and controlled and over the weaks work up to the full ROM as far as comfortable. I read this from a dave tate article about retraining full ROM after injury instead of rehab it with limited ROM. Maybe worht a shot? ive had success
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
To echo Spidey, I’ve had a few should issues over the years, and while not as bad as a rotator tear, I’ve found each time that decline work never presents problems. I would imagine (just guessing here) that you could choose from regular dips, decline flyes, decline bench or dumbell presses… basically a whole lotta decline -lol.
S[/quote]
Stu,
did you find that decline hits all your chest or -like I listened for decedes- just “lower pec”?[/quote]
Well, I didn’t do it for more than a month or two until my shoulder issues sorted themselves out, BUT, without getting into the “can you target portions of your chest” argument, I have read studies showing more MID-chest fiber recruitment from low decline work than from actual flat work. Point being, while you MIGHT not get the best upper chest stimulation (MIGHT!!!), your mid-chest (the majority of your chest ‘meat’) should be fine IMO.
Weighted pressups are extremly good.They dont give me any of the shoulder pain that comes from benching and they stress the core more aswell.
The best way to load them is throw a dip belt on your back just under the armpits so the weight hangs below you(gets rid of all the balancing issues of a backpack and the issue of not being able to continuosly progress loadwise),place feet on a raised platform/bed and place hands on squat stands/squat rack and push away.
Hi all, I tried the Gironda’s, and I also tried them with a staggered stance, as in one hand farther ahead than the other, as well as weighted pushups with hands slightly elevated…awesome pump! Thx for the advices!
Real question, as far as I’m concerned, is what exactly were you doing when you injured yourself each time? Heavy sets, high rep sets, and most important of all, what did your form look like? Unless it was really impressive weight or something, I’d guess you have a major imbalance in front/rear delt strength, and/or chest/back strength. And your form may suck. Vid of you benching?
[quote]hungry4more wrote:
Real question, as far as I’m concerned, is what exactly were you doing when you injured yourself each time? Heavy sets, high rep sets, and most important of all, what did your form look like? Unless it was really impressive weight or something, I’d guess you have a major imbalance in front/rear delt strength, and/or chest/back strength. And your form may suck. Vid of you benching?[/quote]
Well, I’ll be honest, it was all teenage stupidity. I was going heavyer than I should have without a spotter. I am not exactly sure what happened cause it was fast, but my right shoulder was wrenched back(1st time). When I hurt it the second time, I had only just finished rehabing my rc, and I figured it would stand up to benching. I did not go overly heavy, but I still managed to hurt my shoulder again. I know it was stupid. But as far as I am concerened, I am trying to lern from those mistakes.
Yeah…I’m no doctor, but I believe it’s safe to say that the exercise itself wasn’t the problem. You could have the same thing happen on plenty of chest/tricep exercises. Methinks you should read up on and practice benching like a powerlifter…
Yah, I will take a look at the powerlifter’s stance. But since I recovered from the second injury, I have been doing dips and pairing them with weighted pushups, pullovers and other secondary exercises and it has worked well. That’s why I was originally asking about dip variations.