Pressure on Sternum with Dips

Hello everyone!

To clarify, whenever I do Ring Dips, PB dips, and even a Ring Support hold, I feel a slight pressure on my sternum. It is definitely not pain. I've had sternum pain before, and this isn't it. It just feels as though someone is pushing my sternum towards the inside (I'm guessing this is due to the stretch at the bottom?).

I was simply wondering if this was common and if it was a bad sign. I think I always felt this from deep dips and I'm 17 (so I guess my sternum isn't fully "solidified" so to speak). Something I should be worried about? Or should I just drop the dips?

Thanks!

I remember the first time I ever tried dips...I did two of them and my chest felt so much pain like you're saying. I think it's just a weakness. I avoided them for a long time because that scared me, did some weighted push ups/XR push ups and bench pressing then came back to dips and didn't have such a pain again.

Oh all right. It wasn't really pain per se, but I do agree that if it isn't normal, then I probably have to work a bit further.

Bulgarian Push-ups do not have such a feeling on the sternum, so I'll be sure to include those.

Should I do Ring support holds? I also feel that slightly on my sternum (again, not pain... just as though someone was "pushing it in"). For some reason, a Muscle-up doesn't hurt, and neither does back lever training, so I could go with those right?

Thanks for the help!

Umh... I just noticed that PB Dips, even when low, do not place such "stress" on my sternum (ESPECIALLY if I try staying as upright as possible at the bottom, which seemed to target the triceps hard as well).

However, I can definitely do 10+ reps of those. So could it be a good idea to do 3-4 sets of that as my pushing move once a week for higher reps (past 5) to somehow "condition" and "prepare" the ligaments for the Ring ones?

These dips would be done in a L-sit-ish position to counterbalance my body and stay as perpendicular to the floor (which doesn't seem to stress the sternum nearly as much). Good idea or not? I will do Ring Push-ups once a week anyhow. I was just looking for an optimal "vertical-down" push exercise.

Oh all right. Awesome then!

I'll try that! Thanks for the help!

I've BTDT with this a few times.

What really worked best IMO was spotted ring support holds. Even when my sternum hurt from an injury I could do MU or dips as well but it would give me that discomfort.

Start off with supported ring support holds using just your tiptoes with either straight or bent legs (one is easier than the other).

Straight arm Plank, Ring Pushup support sorta helps but is way easier than the ring support holds. However, doing ring pushups is a good in between drill to work. It's light enough it shouldn't give you that pain but allow to build up some strength there.

PB dips probably won't get that sensation if you can do 10 dips unless you start weighting them. Maybe if you do wide arm Bulgarian PB dips, single rail dips or russian dips (upper arm to support). None of these are really possible without a set of PB. If you have sawhorses you can try the russian dip or wide arm dips if you have some wide dip bars or stools.