Pain Between Pecs When Doing Dips

[ultralars]

i feel a pinching pain between the pecs when i do dips

sometimes i can feel the same pain by just flexing by bring the arms in the front of the body in a fly/cable crossover motion.

Dip is a great exercise that has helped me build my my tricep strength which is and has always been my weakest point, i don't want to give it up if the pain is nothing serious.

so what do you think it is? and how do you think i can fix it?

[IrishOak]

don't go as low so you don't engage the pecs. also keep your elbows tucked by your sides to isolate the triceps

[captain_slow]

Or don't do any exercises that hurt you untill you get it checked out.....(if you feel the pain that bad on a regular basis)

[Remu_87]

This might be a little off base and way out there, but how much pulling/rowing do you do?

[ultralars]

Remu_87 wrote:
This might be a little off base and way out there, but how much pulling/rowing do you do?

deadlift and rows? been doing that since the start of summer, about 2 times a week on average. i only do them once a week now tough

Does this have something to do with it?

[captain_slow]

Maybe you should give more info (i.e strength, bodyweight, routine etc).

[GreatAjax]

this happens to me too. i think its because dips stretch the pecs and sternum a lot at the bottom of the dip. plus theres a lot of weight which youre resisting while in that stretched position. i read a book by coach sommer who is a very well known and respected gymnastics coach. the book was about gymnastic strength training and he said when gymnasts do dips, they go down until their shoulders are level with their hands and he said that theres absolutely nothing wrong with stretching the sternum and pecs through that large ROM

[GreatAjax]

this happens to me too. i think its because dips stretch the pecs and sternum a lot at the bottom of the dip. plus theres a lot of weight which youre resisting while in that stretched position. i read a book by coach sommer who is a very well known and respected gymnastics coach. the book was about gymnastic strength training and he said when gymnasts do dips, they go down until their shoulders are level with their hands and he said that theres absolutely nothing wrong with stretching the sternum and pecs through that large ROM

[Remu_87]

ultralars wrote:

Remu_87 wrote:
This might be a little off base and way out there, but how much pulling/rowing do you do?

deadlift and rows? been doing that since the start of summer, about 2 times a week on average. i only do them once a week now tough

Does this have something to do with it?

Think of it in terms of balance, you need 2:1 pulling to pushing ration, there are quite a few articles on this, check out some Dan John stuff. Without that balance and more pushing than pulling, your pushing muscles will tighten rapidly.

I used to have popping shoulders, popping sternum, popping clavicle, and pretty much popping everything, until I started rowing a lot more and doing pullups/chins more than any pushing.

http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/the_more_you_lift_the_worse_you_look&cr=

[Mr_Stern]

Could be your sternocostal joints. Improve your thoracic mobility. ie your upper back.

[GreatAjax]

So i tried this last night, and it helped a lot while i was doing the dips. it still hurt after i was done but that was because my chest was hurting from two other sets of dips. anyway during my third set, i looked up with my whole head. i figured that since your body sorta follows the head, if i looked up that would help me lean back and keep the pressure off my chest. it helped a lot.

[SquatDeepHomie]

Do more squats. Squats cure everything.

[ultralars]

GreatAjax wrote:
So i tried this last night, and it helped a lot while i was doing the dips. it still hurt after i was done but that was because my chest was hurting from two other sets of dips. anyway during my third set, i looked up with my whole head. i figured that since your body sorta follows the head, if i looked up that would help me lean back and keep the pressure off my chest. it helped a lot.

Thanks man! this fixed it!