Tips For Keeping Healthy Shoulders-Dips
Not long ago I wrote an article on keeping the shoulders healthy with respect to the Lat Pulldown. Lat Pulldown is one of the most common exercises you see in gyms, and even most small training studios and fitness centers have at least some variation of this exercises. If you have not taken a look at the article, make sure to when you have a chance.
Like the Lat Pulldown, Dips are a great upper body resistance training exercise that utilize movement at both the elbows and shoulders. Dips, or variations of the dip, are practical for most people to do, and many machines are present in gyms that allow lifters to do this movement either directly or indirectly.
Like many exercises, Dips have many variations, and these variations can alter the difficulty, safety, and results seen by those who do them. Unfortunately, Dips can lead to shoulder problems if they are done incorrectly, and because of that, it is imperative to not only do them correctly, but to do them in a way that is conducive to your particular background and abilities.
Dips entail holding yourself up on two parrallel bars, and lifting yourself with your arms up and down. Sometimes the bars will not be perfectly parallel but may extend out away from each other slightly. The slightly turned outward bars can be used to accommodate people of varying sizes and weights, and also allows users to take a wider grip should they wish to do so.
Since dips require the user to lift his or her own body-weight, they are not the most practical exercise for beginners to start out on. One great aspect of advances in weight-lifting equipment is that many gyms now have exercise machines that simulate a standard dip, but without requiring the lifter to move all of his or her body-mass. Such machines often allow you to add weight to assist you in the movement, or simply have you sitting and moving weight in a way that is very similar to the dip.
Dips And The Impact On Your Shoulders
When it comes any resistance training, you will often here people talk about range of motion and how you want to have as much range of motion as possible. This is true for many exercises. Dips however are one exercise where excessive range of motion can have a harmful effects on your shoulders.
The problem with dips comes with the eccentric phase of the movement, or the descent. Once you go down beyond ninety degrees at the elbows, more and more force is directed to the front of the shoulders. No two people are built exactly the same and so the degree to which a person can safely go down on a dip will vary with individuals. A general rule is however the lesser the degree of flexibility you have in the shoulders, the less you want to go down on a dip.
Many, if not most shoulder problems, do not come from a blunt injury. Rather they are result of repetitive movements, often done incorrectly for thousands and thousands of times. You may be able to do dips with a deep range of motion for years and feel no pain. If you want to keep your shoulders in good working condition for many years to come however, consider your shoulder flexibility and range of motion, and limiting how far down you go on your dips.
At Isawall, we have created a system for doing dips on our fitness wall that allows most people to do dips safely. Unlike conventional dips, our system utilizes a resistance band that gives you assistance the further you go down during the movement. The result is that the further you go down on a dip, where the force begins to get directed more and more to the front of the shoulders, the more assistance you get from the band. This limits the wear and tear on the shoulders and will allow you do dips in a safe and results producing way that keeps your shoulders healthy for many years to come.
Paul Owens is a personal trainer in the Cleveland area. He is a Certified Personal Trainer through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and the National Council on Strength and fitness. He is also a Corrective Exercise Specialist through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. He can be reached at http://www.clevelandpersonaltraining.com
