Costochondroitis from weighted dips (need advices please)

[Koya]

Anyone ever had this shit ? Any tips on how to recover from it ?

The pain is horrible even breathing deeply hurts like hell.

God I love dips but now I absolutely hate them. I always had a bit of a problem when I started to get really good at heavy dips and everytime I was careful and just stopped for 6 months or so when it started to get painful.

This time I was a moron. I just validated 5x5 with +20KG and 22 reps at BW (I know it's not earth breaking by any metric guys) I really wanted to keep pushing it and worked through the pain. My goal was 5x5 with 30KG and 30 reps @BW by the end of autumn.

Boy I shouldn't have done that. My sternum feels shattered. I have to sleep on my back without moving.

I'm reading and watching as much videos as I can so I can rehab it well once the acute phase has passed. Basically it's rest for a couple weeks, no pushing exercises whatsoever. Then stretch the ribcage in different positions, make it more mobile. Then reintroduce pushing movements that don't cause pain gradually.

Adieu dips. I loved you but you didn't love me back.

Also that's it. I'm old. I have to stop training like the young guys and chase after their performances. It's not what's need to be done at my age (37).

Anyone with advices ?

 

[vision1]

Don't do exercises that cause pain. Sounds like you already learned that lesson.
Dips are one of the few that actually feel great to me.
Try weighted pushups instead.

 

[KnightTemplar]

Anyone ever had this shit ? Any tips on how to recover from it ?

The pain is horrible even breathing deeply hurts like hell.

God I love dips but now I absolutely hate them. I always had a bit of a problem when I started to get really good at heavy dips and everytime I was careful and just stopped for 6 months or so when it started to get painful.

This time I was a moron. I just validated 5x5 with +20KG and 22 reps at BW (I know it's not earth breaking by any metric guys) I really wanted to keep pushing it and worked through the pain. My goal was 5x5 with 30KG and 30 reps @BW by the end of autumn.

Boy I shouldn't have done that. My sternum feels shattered. I have to sleep on my back without moving.

I'm reading and watching as much videos as I can so I can rehab it well once the acute phase has passed. Basically it's rest for a couple weeks, no pushing exercises whatsoever. Then stretch the ribcage in different positions, make it more mobile. Then reintroduce pushing movements that don't cause pain gradually.

Adieu dips. I loved you but you didn't love me back.

Also that's it. I'm old. I have to stop training like the young guys and chase after their performances. It's not what's need to be done at my age (37).

Anyone with advices ?

I feel your pain. The older I get, the less options I have. I reintroduced Push Ups into my training, and was enjoying just moving my own body weight. Until I started to get significant pain in my left elbow. So I've stopped doing Press Ups and will be taking a couple of days off training before going back to the gym. I'll have to change my training program; Swiss Bar is still my primary Pressing exercise, but I'll probably swap Push Ups for Board Press.

As to your question, you seem to be doing the right things anyway. Follow the rehab to the letter. Don't try to rush things. I know it's frustrating as hell, but doing anything else just guarantees you more pain and a longer recovery. Use the enforced rest to research alternatives to Weighted Dips. There's a lot of stuff online about how to avoid re-injuring oneself.

Good luck.

 

[Phlog]

Anyone ever had this shit ? Any tips on how to recover from it ?

The pain is horrible even breathing deeply hurts like hell.

God I love dips but now I absolutely hate them. I always had a bit of a problem when I started to get really good at heavy dips and everytime I was careful and just stopped for 6 months or so when it started to get painful.

This time I was a moron. I just validated 5x5 with +20KG and 22 reps at BW (I know it's not earth breaking by any metric guys) I really wanted to keep pushing it and worked through the pain. My goal was 5x5 with 30KG and 30 reps @BW by the end of autumn.

Boy I shouldn't have done that. My sternum feels shattered. I have to sleep on my back without moving.

I'm reading and watching as much videos as I can so I can rehab it well once the acute phase has passed. Basically it's rest for a couple weeks, no pushing exercises whatsoever. Then stretch the ribcage in different positions, make it more mobile. Then reintroduce pushing movements that don't cause pain gradually.

Adieu dips. I loved you but you didn't love me back.

Also that's it. I'm old. I have to stop training like the young guys and chase after their performances. It's not what's need to be done at my age (37).

Anyone with advices ?

Lol at 37 being old.

All you need to do is not do something if it starts hurting and work up to shit gradually. Now you have to rest and work your way back gradually, which is what you say you know you have to do.

Being an athlete is about rehab and preparedness more than natural ability, in my experience.

Currently I'm trying to find my way out of a broken heel. I play football as a lineman and I'm 45. I've broken 5 bones in the last 15 years, dealt with tendonitis but have been able to be stronger and more capable over time, just by resting things and building things back, focusing on balancing joints etc. Haven't missed a single game.

Man, I had to cut out bench for nearly 2 years going from 1rm 148kg down to maybe 120kg. Only just starting to work it back in with a training max of 100kg, often lifting half of what I used to, but I'm pain free so it's all good. I focussed on my mil press, lat raises etc, am definitely wider as a result so it's all swings and roundabouts.

 

[Thepaintbucket]

Sternum injuries can take a very, very long time to heal.

Have you tried a more narrow grip dip?

 

[Koya]

Sternum injuries can take a very, very long time to heal.

Have you tried a more narrow grip dip?

Never. It's more of a triceps movement then and dips were my main chest movement. So it was always wide grip, full ROM.

I just come across this video of Austin Dunham btw, seems like there's a specific execution so to not get chest pain :

 

[chill doggie]

I never liked or trusted dips.
You could say they were never my friend.

 

[usernamee]

You can always try the exercise with rings to see if that feels better. A lot of exercises feel nicer on the joints and whatnot when done on the rings because the rings accommodate how your body naturally wants to move. Plus they're harder to do so you wont have to load them as much.

But yeah finding a technique that works for you and do that technique with cyborg form every rep. No more explosive dump into the bottom to explode off of the stretch reflex just so you can get that new weight PR.

Personally I could never do wide grip dips, that would feel terrible for me regardless of using bars or rings. Maybe if I tried bulgarian dips on the rings they'd work but normal dips wide grip sounds awful for me.

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

I never, ever push through pain. Exhaustion, yes. But not pain. As we age, range of motion diminishes so we need to be extra careful.

What happened, did your sternum crack mid dip?

BTW I am very careful with dips but for shoulders.

 

[Koya]

I never, ever push through pain. Exhaustion, yes. But not pain. As we age, range of motion diminishes so we need to be extra careful.

What happened, did your sternum crack mid dip?

BTW I am very careful with dips but for shoulders.

No it didn't crack. I just had a pain in my sternum after my last weighted session. Then when I tried them again a couple days later the pain went through the sternum like lightning and that was it.

 

[Koya]

You can always try the exercise with rings to see if that feels better. A lot of exercises feel nicer on the joints and whatnot when done on the rings because the rings accommodate how your body naturally wants to move. Plus they're harder to do so you wont have to load them as much.

But yeah finding a technique that works for you and do that technique with cyborg form every rep. No more explosive dump into the bottom to explode off of the stretch reflex just so you can get that new weight PR.

Personally I could never do wide grip dips, that would feel terrible for me regardless of using bars or rings. Maybe if I tried bulgarian dips on the rings they'd work but normal dips wide grip sounds awful for me.

I love ring dips. Stabilizing the rings and doing a full RTO is hard. But they're healthier for shoulders.

For sternum it doesn't change much if you're already in pain, too much chest stretch under load.

One thing I noticed is with rings I naturally had proper technique like in the video above.

 

[usernamee]

I love ring dips. Stabilizing the rings and doing a full RTO is hard. But they're healthier for shoulders.

For sternum it doesn't change much if you're already in pain, too much chest stretch under load.

One thing I noticed is with rings I naturally had proper technique like in the video above.

How does it feel if you do super upright dips, bending your knees at 90 degrees and squeezing your ass to push your hips forward throughout the movement making it more about the triceps and don't put the same type of pressure on the sternum

 

[Koya]

How does it feel if you do super upright dips, bending your knees at 90 degrees and squeezing your ass to push your hips forward throughout the movement making it more about the triceps and don't put the same type of pressure on the sternum

I dunno my sternum hurts breathing right now so maybe in 6 months I can answer you haha

 

[Slothbroth]

I went for a 40 minute jog this afternoon and my left calf got a horrible spasm about halfway through. I could barely walk when I got home but the epsom bath I'm in is helping a lot.

Sure sucks getting old.

 

[SandisLL]

IMHO if you are able to sleep normally when you are on back as basis it in such case is win in lottery.
I think you need to visit doctor and to have bloodwork done and MR, sorry.

 

[DEVILsSON]

Anyone ever had this shit ? Any tips on how to recover from it ?

The pain is horrible even breathing deeply hurts like hell.

God I love dips but now I absolutely hate them. I always had a bit of a problem when I started to get really good at heavy dips and everytime I was careful and just stopped for 6 months or so when it started to get painful.

This time I was a moron. I just validated 5x5 with +20KG and 22 reps at BW (I know it's not earth breaking by any metric guys) I really wanted to keep pushing it and worked through the pain. My goal was 5x5 with 30KG and 30 reps @BW by the end of autumn.

Boy I shouldn't have done that. My sternum feels shattered. I have to sleep on my back without moving.

I'm reading and watching as much videos as I can so I can rehab it well once the acute phase has passed. Basically it's rest for a couple weeks, no pushing exercises whatsoever. Then stretch the ribcage in different positions, make it more mobile. Then reintroduce pushing movements that don't cause pain gradually.

Adieu dips. I loved you but you didn't love me back.

Also that's it. I'm old. I have to stop training like the young guys and chase after their performances. It's not what's need to be done at my age (37).

Anyone with advices ?

For the absolute easiest thing you can try is to apply topical DMSO gel to ribs or the areas that hurt. You can add pure melatonin powder to amplify the anti-inflammatory effect. I use 99.9% dmso gel and also apply emu oil over it. You can also just by a diluted DMSO gel at like 30%.

You can also get BPC157 arginate salt pills. 0.5-1mg per day should help. It would obviously be best to do subcutaneous shots but I know not everyone is comfortable with that. It was a game changer for my year long debilitating elbow tendinitis. I used 1mg SQ per day for few weeks. I then had to use it every so often when I aggravated it. I did try BPC157 acetate pills prior to that and that didn't help at all. If you decide to do shots, I'd also look into using TB500 peptide. Both of them work very well together. Some companies promote it as 'wolverine stack'. TB500 is ineffective as a pill iirc.

 

[maximus__]

Never. It's more of a triceps movement then and dips were my main chest movement. So it was always wide grip, full ROM.

I just come across this video of Austin Dunham btw, seems like there's a specific execution so to not get chest pain :

Have you considered doing them with gymnastics rings?
I have always struggled a bit when I do them on fixed bars but can adjust the position with rings.

You will drop some sets initially, but if you are using them as a chest exercise you can add the gymnastics style position at the top and get even more wrok in.

 

[DEVILsSON]

Look into this doorway system. I have the pull up handles which are excellent(light weight and it allows movement of handles which reduces strain on wrists). I have seen ads of people using the rings and I suspect it's quite good.

 

[Koya]

Have you considered doing them with gymnastics rings?
I have always struggled a bit when I do them on fixed bars but can adjust the position with rings.

You will drop some sets initially, but if you are using them as a chest exercise you can add the gymnastics style position at the top and get even more wrok in.

I've been doing ring dips on and off for 2 years now. Love them. More then bar dips actually.

I just had a goal this summer of getting a +50KG weighted dips by end year so I switched to that.

As for now I can't do jack shit when it comes to pushing movement, including ring dips. Did upper body yesterday after one week of rest, pulling was fine even if I had a few tingles in the sternum. Weighted pull ups, rows, Face-pulls... All were ok.

But pushing is painful AF. Bench press feels like it's going to shatter it. But even kettlebell OHP and even freakin pushups.

The only thing I was able to do were pushups with a yoga block below me so I don't go too deep. If I stretch my chest it hurts.

Oh well it's going to be back and legs only for the next month.

Good news: I can swim. Went to the pool a few days ago and it was fine. In every crisis there's an opportunity they say. Let's get good at swimming.

 

[maximus__]

I've been doing ring dips on and off for 2 years now. Love them. More then bar dips actually.

I just had a goal this summer of getting a +50KG weighted dips by end year so I switched to that.

As for now I can't do jack shit when it comes to pushing movement, including ring dips. Did upper body yesterday after one week of rest, pulling was fine even if I had a few tingles in the sternum. Weighted pull ups, rows, Face-pulls... All were ok.

But pushing is painful AF. Bench press feels like it's going to shatter it. But even kettlebell OHP and even freakin pushups.

The only thing I was able to do were pushups with a yoga block below me so I don't go too deep. If I stretch my chest it hurts.

Oh well it's going to be back and legs only for the next month.

Good news: I can swim. Went to the pool a few days ago and it was fine. In every crisis there's an opportunity they say. Let's get good at swimming.

Once things come good go for it on rings with 50kgs instead. An option might be to come back through rings pushups.
I do find that when I haven't done ring dips in a while the first session or tweo I need to do some extra reps to get my chest ready.
The gymnastics style with the elbow tuck at the bottom, makes me lose reps but prevents me from having any injuries like yours.

I love swimming. I really want to get back into it and get some time back in the pool, but I hate the cost and fact I need a pool where I am haha.