Sternum pain during dips

[Amebix138]

Hi everyone,

So finally, after 8 months of training I can do dips without shoulder pain, largely due to being consistent with shoulder dislocated and wall slides I believe, as well as building a bit of strength in the movement (I can do 6 now where before I could do 0). The problem is after 2 dip workouts now my sternum is hurting. The first workout it didn't hurt during the exercise but only the next day, where as today it hurt during the exercise and got worse minutes after.

What kind of pre-hab can I do for my sternum?

Thanks,

Amebix

[Amebix138]

Did a search and found this by Coach Sommer:

Too deep, too fast, too heavy - do any of these sound familiar? Sternum pain from dips is simply the result of attempting to train beyond your current abilities; whether that may be from a perspective of range of motion or strength will vary from person to person. Stop the dips immediately. Allow yourself to heal and then begin again; but this time with a more gradual approach.

So, since I highly doubt its from going too deep as I'm making sure to only go until my upper arm is parallel with my elbow, it must be a strength issue. I guess I'll let myself heal and then start again. What would be best though, 1 high intensity set, or 3 low intensity? How slowly should I work up, considering I can do 6 now, 3x3, adding a rep every week to one set?

[braindx]

It's this:

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=3664

[Joshua Naterman]

If it's not too bad, you can just take a few days of rest and then either use an abbreviated ROM or do much lower numbers, like 2-3. Stick with that for a few weeks, even when you're frustrated with it. After a few weeks of feeling nothing, add a rep every week or two per set. Once you're back up to your sets of 6 reps with no chest pain, start going deeper an inch or two every other week until you're going as low as you can.