Pinching Back Shoulder Blades

  1. When performing dips (the variation that targets the triceps more)… should the movement be started with the shoulder blades pinched back so that your torso is in front of your arms? Or should your arms just be directly on the side of your torso?

  2. As a general rule of thumb, should one pinch back the shoulder blades for pretty much all exercises?

Never really thought of it as pinching my shoulders back. When i do dips for triceps i let my legs hang strait & look strait a head, which helps keep my upper body strait up & down, & my emphasis is on making sure my elbows stay behind my body throghout the exercise & i power up with just triceps… When doing dips for chest i raise my knees up to my chest to help tilt me forward about 45 degrees & i allow my elbows to come out to the sides.

[quote]loctite_zexel wrote:

  1. When performing dips (the variation that targets the triceps more)… should the movement be started with the shoulder blades pinched back so that your torso is in front of your arms? Or should your arms just be directly on the side of your torso?

  2. As a general rule of thumb, should one pinch back the shoulder blades for pretty much all exercises?[/quote]

It helps to pinch when the shoulder complex is loaded…

[quote]jlesk68 wrote:
loctite_zexel wrote:

  1. When performing dips (the variation that targets the triceps more)… should the movement be started with the shoulder blades pinched back so that your torso is in front of your arms? Or should your arms just be directly on the side of your torso?

  2. As a general rule of thumb, should one pinch back the shoulder blades for pretty much all exercises?

It helps to pinch when the shoulder complex is loaded…[/quote]

what do you mean by ‘when the shoulder complex is loaded’?

Is that like in the bench press or military press?

Loaded = any pressing movment will load you shoulder complex. from varied angles of course. up down horizontal or any variant in between. Yes by activating the lats your make a solid base that doesnt allow as much sway in the bar activates the stabilizers. protects the shoulders and lets you press more weight under better control.

Hope that helps,
Phill

[quote]Phill wrote:

what do you mean by ‘when the shoulder complex is loaded’?

Is that like in the bench press or military press?

Loaded = any pressing movment will load you shoulder complex. from varied angles of course. up down horizontal or any variant in between. Yes by activating the lats your make a solid base that doesnt allow as much sway in the bar activates the stabilizers. protects the shoulders and lets you press more weight under better control.

Hope that helps,
Phill
[/quote]

olryt, pinch back shoulder bladed on every pressing exercise, gotcha.

hmm… is the dip a pressing exercise? :slight_smile: