Old Forum why do some shoulders not like dips?

[the hansenator]

This is something I've been wondering.

Why is it that some people's shoulders don't like dips but other people can do them? Are there anatomical differences or is it more of a mobility thing? With the right preparatory work work, could more people dip?

 

[Rob Drewry]

To paraphrase, "Dips don't hurt their shoulders; how THEY dip may hurt THEIR shoulders". You can probably guess where I'm coming from.

My personal experience is that, just as in squatting and knees, if trainees have not be trained in how to dip properly, they will hurt their shoulders. Keeping the shoulders down, staying tight throughout the movement, and not going down until the shoulders touch the bar are all performance tips that I've learned from hardtsyle proponents over various forums that have taken me from having hurting shoulders from how I dipped to being capable of some weighted dips at near 60.

My $.02 worth.

 

 

 

 

[Journeyman]

I really don't think it's a 'there's nothing wrong with the exercise and it's how you do it that hurts you' issue.

Just speaking from personal experience, doing weighted dips regularly for more than a few sessions in a row, even if it's only once weekly, tend to cause sharp pains around my sternum or a 'tweaked' feeling in my front deltoids. And believe me, I've tried a number of different dip setups ranging from hand width to torso angle to depth to how the shoulders are held (hollow position or pulled back). Nothing helps.

 

[Matt]

Me personally - never had shoulder problems from dips, but have had tight-ish delts from benching and dumbbell C&P.  I felt a crack in my sternum once when going to heavy on a weighted dip, thought I might crack in half.  Weird feeling.  But never pain.  Now I only dip, no benching or pressing.  The thing is I've always done them after either squats or heavy partial squats, then dumbbell C&P - so maybe I've been getting tight then when doing the dips at the end I'll keep tight through the dipping.  Now I do some light kettlebell front squats before (so not getting as tight as I used to when training heavy), and find I can't start as heavy (weighted dips only) and feel it a bit more in the delts - so the pre-tightness may ? help.

Rob - curious what you meant by "not going down until the shoulders touch the bar "??  60kgs is a good weighted dip if that's what you meant?  Or age 60?

 

[GeoffreyLevens]

I know there is a normal range of variation in acromion shape and at one end of the range there is knob or sort of hooked shape that is much more likely to impinge on muscle and ever lead to rotator cuff tear in "normal" use.  Maybe this?

http://www.primehealthchannel.com/acromion.html

Shoulder Impingement Syndrome
The shoulder impingement syndrome is a result of the compression of the soft tissues between the acromion and the humerus head. It occurs on the glenohumeral joint, which has the greatest range of motion in the body. Due to this motion, and the increase in mechanical demands, there may be the occurrence of some injuries to the soft tissues in the body. This leads to shoulder pain, and is called the shoulder impingement syndrome.

These injuries are chronic in nature and may develop as a result of hyper activity such as swimming, tennis. It may also occur due to assorted occupations.

 

 

[MilesH]

I would lean towards what Geoffrey has posted above. Saw an article once that said there are three distinct 'types' of shoulders with small/medium/large natural space. People that naturally have large space can bench/dip all day long with no pain. People with small space are limited in what they can accomplish because they create impingement very quickly.

Naturally, with anything, everyone will fall along a spectrum. Me I think I'm on the medium-smallish side.