Shoulder Pain on Dips...Any streches I should do?

[gschober]

Have been doing BW dips for a few months and have gotten them up to 18 reps in 1 set. Started to add weight (25lbs) and started noticing pain in my left shoulder. I do dips at the end of my chest/tri/shoulder workout (on GST) so my shoulders are def "warmed up". Not sure if there are any streches I should be doing. The pain def limits my reps/weight and its not DOMS or lactic acid build up (no burning sensation) Any thoughts?

[boathead]

my shoulders are def "warmed up". Not sure if there are any streches I should be doing.

even though you are warmed up, perhaps the specific movement is not ready. instead of jumping straight into a high rep set, or your weighted sets, i'd do one or two prep sets of simply 4 or 5 dips. then have at it.

doing this has helped me greatly.

[Tillday]

Have you tried adjusting the position of your shoulders to see if there's one that better suits the movement / eliminates the pain? It could be that you're simply making the exercise mechanically dangerous with your position.

I had this issue with a shoulder exercise before, pulled a muscle doing a lift and was having pains, finally I found it was a matter of mmc and my position that I wasn't using my muscles quite right and there was no more pain during the lift.

[gschober]

I had a trainer watch me perform reps both fresh and exhausted...He said my form is fine but did not recommend to excercise. (apparently he did a lot of dips over the years and it resulted in bone spurs which led to surgery) I will try some warm up sets. Like I said I feel like I can add a lot more weight and maintain good form but im not sure at what point the pain will go away or lead to an injury

[No_Joke]

Have been doing BW dips for a few months and have gotten them up to 18 reps in 1 set. Started to add weight (25lbs) and started noticing pain in my left shoulder. I do dips at the end of my chest/tri/shoulder workout (on GST) so my shoulders are def "warmed up". Not sure if there are any streches I should be doing. The pain def limits my reps/weight and its not DOMS or lactic acid build up (no burning sensation) Any thoughts?

Try doing dips at the beginning of your workout. Or just eliminate all the fluff and do dips for a while. Only add <5lbs a week on these. My friend ripped a rib off his sternum by doing dips with 50-80lbs extra weight. He was adding 20lbs a week, and this is what happened :O

EDIT: Also, make sure you have a good grip. Most people use an unnatural grip, naturally, so watch videos on dip form until you find one that doesn't cause discomfort.

You should also look into cable & dumbbell rotator cuff exercises. There are 6 main ones that come to mind. This will prevent shoulder girdle injuries later on down the road. Congrats on having the balls to do dips, most people wuss out of doing them :P

[TheKoiCarp]

TOnly add <5lbs a week on these. .

This. Why you jumped straight to 25lbs I have no idea. At the very least pyramid your sets.

[Cheap5.0]

OP, warm up with some good upper body stretches (I like dead hangs, 3 times for 20 seconds). Then do 3-4 dips @ bw a few times, dead hang again...then add weight.

I do exactly that, if i dont warm up for awhile my elbows hurt pretty bad. If i warm up well, no problems.

[gschober]

thanks for the help...ill look up some rotator cuff and shoulder exercises. i just worked out and had the same pain in the same shoulder doing shoulder presses. i did back off adding weight to the dips for now though

btw i didnt start with 25lbs thats just what i have worked up to over the past few weeks

[ThePinsir]

I used to have a similar problem, I even did them at the end of GST press day like you. I moved them up to my second lift. Doing flat BB bench first gives my shoulders a good warm-up, and they're not fatigued like they were at the end of the workout.

it still hurts a little, but not like it used to....

[DJAuto]

Dips, especially weighted, place immense pressure on the sternoclavicular, clavicular and RC areas. It's a movement best used with plenty of "breaks"....take a week off from them once in awhile.

[k9pit]

Have been doing BW dips for a few months and have gotten them up to 18 reps in 1 set. Started to add weight (25lbs) and started noticing pain in my left shoulder. I do dips at the end of my chest/tri/shoulder workout (on GST) so my shoulders are def "warmed up". Not sure if there are any streches I should be doing. The pain def limits my reps/weight and its not DOMS or lactic acid build up (no burning sensation) Any thoughts?

Do you do a lot of pull lifts along with flat bench?
i.e., Deads, Shrugs, Rows, Pullups...

Do you do military presses / overhead presses?

In my experience, Dips by themselves never bothered me, but between all of the pull lifts and lack of a routine of overhead pressing, dips started to really aggravate my shoulders on chest day.
I stopped Dips, switched out flat BB bench for Decline BB/Incline DB for chest and added military presses (to chin level) for shoulders and my shoulders haven't felt this good in months. I can do dips again without pain.

Personally if I don't balance with pulls with presses, my shoulders start to hurt in time. Even if you just do sets with the olympic bar, it may help your shoulders.

[gschober]

On chest/tri days i start with a few sets of pullups. The only shoulder work I currently do are DB shoulder presses which is actually a lot more tricep then shoulder. I am gonna add in side and front lateral raises on my back day. On pull day i do pullups, bb rows, and cable rows.