Dips and range of motion

[yocan]

So some of the pages I follow people act like dips are just totally normal to do and others treat it as the dumbest decision someone can make for their shoulder health. Personally I stopped doing them while in college as it caused me shoulder pain but the disparity of opinions has gotten me thinking I don't understand the topic very well. I'm wondering if my limited range (mobility or strength) somewhere is making dips a problem for me. So was thinking time for an education and to look at multiple viewpoints, ideally viewpoints that could be backed up with research you could link to. Thanks for your help in advance.

 

[Rigg9]

I love dips as long a they are closer than shoulder width. Sholder width or wider and they start stressing my shoulders to much. But for traps shoulders and triceps they give me the best pump of any exercise. Im gonna buy a set of rings one day very soon and they will be a staple in my routine once more.

 

[Fahcough]

Position and distance between bars matters. The stand with a back rest for swinging leg raises are too far apart. The V-bar rack attachments are better bc you can scoot up to match your shoulder width. Rings feel the best, the wrist rotations keep the pain down.

 

[RemyR]

Weighted ring dips ftw.

Been doing some form of dips for 20 years now. Ring dips feel the best though.

 

[Baby Hanma]

Weighted ring dips ftw.

Been doing some form of dips for 20 years now. Ring dips feel the best though.

Oooh... My friend... My friend...

You have been training for two entire decades and the best squat you've ever managed on all of those twenty years, at your peak, was 385 pounds...

It's times like this that confirms my belief that I will one day become the strongest drug-free powerlifter in Idaho. I don't know if I should celebrate or be sad. I guess I should celebrate. More material for my self-help book.

 

[RemyR]

Oooh... My friend... My friend...

You have been training for two entire decades and the best squat you've ever managed on all of those twenty years, at your peak, was 385 pounds...

It's times like this that confirms my belief that I will one day become the strongest drug-free powerlifter in Idaho. I don't know if I should celebrate or be sad. I guess I should celebrate. More material for my self-help book.

Haha my dude this is like someone who wants to be a runner being happy he's quicker than someone who jogs recreationally. Throwing up big numbers was never my goal.

It's all fun though glad you're passionate about it. Plus aren't you like 250 and 20? If you weren't squatting more than me (a 40 year old 180lber) then id be worried.

 

[mr.sandman]

I do super deep dips, as deep as you can possibly go. I get insane stretch at the bottom wich i hear is very good for muscle development. When i go weighted i go tad less deep just for safety, but still quite deep, past paralel. Oh and i almost always grind it out till failure and never had an injury or anything. been doing them this way for years now.
I do them chest dip style, bent forward as much as i can facing the floor and the elbows expand to the sides.

Since it never hurts, never had any injury, more range of motion is better for muscle development and so is big stretch. So i see no point doing half reps to parallel ( some people who think they are doing paralel dont even really hit paralel so they really half repping imo)

But i understand peoples bodys are different not everybody be able to do them this way

 

[mr.sandman]

 

[yocan]

See thats the rub, I've never been notably weak. I could do dips with 100+ lbs hanging on me but was still getting issues. Gonna consider the narrower grip possibilities, as I have pretty much always done them on a leg lift

 

[Baby Hanma]

Haha my dude this is like someone who wants to be a runner being happy he's quicker than someone who jogs recreationally. Throwing up big numbers was never my goal.

It's all fun though glad you're passionate about it. Plus aren't you like 250 and 20? If you weren't squatting more than me (a 40 year old 180lber) then id be worried.

Hey, I'm glad you didn't lash out at me.

I'm thirty-two right now. And yeah, 250 pounds.

 

[Baby Hanma]

@RemyR

Also, Remy, just to clarify, I aim to be the strongest powerlifter in Idaho in my weight class in the masters division. No way I can compete with the young studs of the world. lol. We'll see.

 

[Poon Goon]

@RemyR

Also, Remy, just to clarify, I aim to be the strongest powerlifter in Idaho in my weight class in the masters division. No way I can compete with the young studs of the world. lol. We'll see.

A month ago your goal was to improve your cardio for Judo. Now you want to be a powerlifter? I would guess that you might want to pick one goal and stick with it for at least three months or maybe even longer.

 

[Baby Hanma]

A month ago your goal was to improve your cardio for Judo. Now you want to be a powerlifter? I would guess that you might want to pick one goal and stick with it for at least three months or maybe even longer.

I've been powerlifting for almost a whole year. I also wanted to improve cardio for Judo, yes. But I never strayed away from my original goal.

Also, who says you can't do both? It's not like I'm periodizing my training with strength-only or endurance-only. I never aim to be an endurance athlete. I need/needed just enough endurance to keep up with my training mates in Judo.

And I've made steady strength gains despite doing Judo on top of it.

 

[Volador]

Sure, they are normal to do. But no exercise is truly that special or will grant you some special gains that you couldn’t plausibly obtain otherwise, by replacing it with other exercises that work similar muscles along a similar ROM.

If you don’t like them or they hurt badly, you can just pick other chest/triceps/shoulder movements, and you’d be fine not ever doing dips. Strength is partly movement-specific so not being good at dips means you’re not good at dips, not necessarily that there's something wrong with you.

If you really want to try to incorporate them, maybe try different grip widths and variations, start with no extra weight and a slow tempo, low volume, and gradually expose yourself to the positions that you find most uncomfortable, and increase that exposure over time. Meanwhile get the actual volume of your training from elsewhere. But there's no real reason to force yourself to do all that, unless it interests you for some particular purpose. You won't get particularly stronger from doing dips than from doing other things.

 

[RemyR]

Hey, I'm glad you didn't lash out at me.

Haha as a general rule I don't take things posted by people I've never met seriously. Plus I've seen enough of your posts to know it's friendly smack talk.

 

[yocan]

Sure, they are normal to do. But no exercise is truly that special or will grant you some special gains that you couldn’t plausibly obtain otherwise, by replacing it with other exercises that work similar muscles along a similar ROM.

If you don’t like them or they hurt badly, you can just pick other chest/triceps/shoulder movements, and you’d be fine not ever doing dips. Strength is partly movement-specific so not being good at dips means you’re not good at dips, not necessarily that there's something wrong with you.

If you really want to try to incorporate them, maybe try different grip widths and variations, start with no extra weight and a slow tempo, low volume, and gradually expose yourself to the positions that you find most uncomfortable, and increase that exposure over time. Meanwhile get the actual volume of your training from elsewhere. But there's no real reason to force yourself to do all that, unless it interests you for some particular purpose. You won't get particularly stronger from doing dips than from doing other things.

What interests me is my lack of understanding on why I can't.

 

[usernamee]

See thats the rub, I've never been notably weak. I could do dips with 100+ lbs hanging on me but was still getting issues. Gonna consider the narrower grip possibilities, as I have pretty much always done them on a leg lift

ring dips feel 10x better for me than on bars, they allow ur hands and arms to rotate how they naturally want to and you can put the straps as close or wide as u prefer

 

[Baby Hanma]

ring dips feel 10x better for me than on bars, they allow ur hands and arms to rotate how they naturally want to and you can put the straps as close or wide as u prefer

What’s their weight limit? Bars are metal, rings are on rope. I’d love to do dips if I knew the equipment won’t break.

 

[usernamee]

What’s their weight limit? Bars are metal, rings are on rope. I’d love to do dips if I knew the equipment won’t break.

The straps are pretty heavy duty, could probably tow a car with mines.. Even a shitty strap would easily hold a fat fuck.

I have mine on my pullup bar so it's how you set them up where the "problem" will be. Some people don't know how to anchor shit in walls or ceilings and then they should probably not try to hook up rings to the ceiling lol

 

[yocan]

ring dips feel 10x better for me than on bars, they allow ur hands and arms to rotate how they naturally want to and you can put the straps as close or wide as u prefer

Hmm I could try that with a 50 lb lifting bungee to not be too heavy until I get the control down. Right now I think I'd just hurt my stabilizers doing them free