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    Do dips make your sternum sore?

    Posts: 646 Member
    edited November 2024 in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
    I do 3 sets of dips on my SL5x5 Bench day. so i do them once a week, and then twice in the next week and so on.
    I lean forward slightly to work both triceps and chest, rather than being upright.
    Is it normal for the sternum to be sore, even 4 days after doing the dips? is this just normal DOMS? i definitely dont feel injured, but its quite irritating, especially since the soreness is new to me.

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    • Posts: 1,225 Member
      Your sternum is just cartilage and bone, so you don't get DOMS there. If dips gives you sternum pain you should visit a doctor.
    • Posts: 646 Member
      edited November 2017
      Mycophilia wrote: »
      Your sternum is just cartilage and bone, so you don't get DOMS there. If dips gives you sternum pain you should visit a doctor.

      should have worded the post better. I didnt mean the sternum per se. but the localized area immediately left and right to it. so im not sure if its cartilage or muscle.
    • Posts: 646 Member
      Im going to do dips again today. if it pains during or post workout, ill stop doing dips for a while.
    • Posts: 14,464 Member
      I got sharp pain in my sternum and I went to my doctor about it. He had me stretch upward and the pain went away. He diagnosed inflammation. He explained its a sharp little bone that can dig in to the flesh around there. My cure for that sort of pain now is to straighten up.
    • Posts: 1,249 Member
      edited November 2017
      It sounds more like the intercostal muscles in between your ribs are being overly stretched at the dipped point of the exercise.

      maxresdefault.jpg

      This could therefore be adding extra pressure to the cartilage where the thoracic cage joins to the sternum.

      Here's the SL guy showing an example of correct form.

      dips-forearms.jpg

      You should only come down so far as that your Forearm to Upper arm create a right angle. You don't need to do the lean forward as the benefits are minimal.
    • Posts: 646 Member
      edited November 2017
      Lean59man wrote: »
      You're going too deep and stretching out your cartilage.

      Don't go so far down when you dip.
      jgnatca wrote: »
      I got sharp pain in my sternum and I went to my doctor about it. He had me stretch upward and the pain went away. He diagnosed inflammation. He explained its a sharp little bone that can dig in to the flesh around there. My cure for that sort of pain now is to straighten up.
      Dazzler21 wrote: »
      It sounds more like the intercostal muscles in between your ribs are being overly stretched at the dipped point of the exercise.

      maxresdefault.jpg

      This could therefore be adding extra pressure to the cartilage where the thoracic cage joins to the sternum.

      Here's the SL guy showing an example of correct form.

      dips-forearms.jpg

      You should only come down so far as that your Forearm to Upper arm create a right angle. You don't need to do the lean forward as the benefits are minimal.

      Thanks all. Today, I didnt go as low as I normally do and didnt face any issue. So I guess going too low was the culprit. Hopefully, this should also save my shoulder from getting hurt.
    • Posts: 1,219 Member
      I've torn intercostals both left and right. Dips were one of the few exercises that I could still do with minimal pain. I'd suspect Costochondritis and not an intercostal tear.
    • Posts: 306 Member
      Some people are prone to getting aches/soreness in the center of their chest from doing dips. It is a thing.
    • Posts: 14,464 Member
      That's what I like to see. Troubleshoot, modify, reassess. Success!
    • Posts: 3,069 Member
      I used to from inflamed cartilage. Lije you, I was going too low. Now, I concentrate on keeping things tight in the chest/back as I dip down and don't let my shoulders collapse up towards my ears.
    • Posts: 7 Member
      If you feel pain while doing dips it's because the chest and shoulder muscles are pulling into the sternum. At the beginning it is totally normal because that bone is not used to so much pressure. With time the pain will pass, the bone will become thicker and denser because your body will adapt.
    • Posts: 98 Member
      Are you dipping on standard width dip bars? Your arms spreading too wide could also be contributing to the pain.
    • Posts: 3,069 Member
      draftsman28 wrote: »
      Are you dipping on standard width dip bars? Your arms spreading too wide could also be contributing to the pain.
      You should be able to build up to that however. I'm a very small woman, so the standard width is way wider than was comfortable at the beginning. Luckily my gym had a set of bars that were V shaped, so I could go to the narrowest end to do dips. Now that my strength is built up, I can do weighted dips on standard width. Good thing, because my current gym doesn't have the narrow bars! Rings are a good option in that case. I try to alternate with ring and bar dips.
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