Dips to help with Press?

[Bloodninja666]

Tommy Suggs mentioned in his interview that dips were the go-to exercise to assist the Press among the old York crew. Has anyone had luck with this?

I seem to have hit a wall again after getting a bit of a boost from weighted sit-ups. I think I'll start throwing in some dips after my pullups.

[stronger]

I've also decided to start throwing in dips again after I got lazy and leery of straining something on an assistance exercise

[Namo4184]

I used to do dips, they never helped me with my press. Chin/Pull Ups and a tight back are much more helpful to me. Also doing back off sets when you have failures on the press seem to really help according to my training logs.

[gzt]

I haven't tried it, but those not getting anything out of it might not be doing it in the right spirit. Pat Casey, first man to bench 600, would do dips with up to 300# of added weight.

[Bloodninja666]

Also doing back off sets when you have failures on the press seem to really help according to my training logs.

Now there is a good idea. Why I hadn't thought of this, I cannot say...

[Smiler Grogan]

I haven't tried it, but those not getting anything out of it might not be doing it in the right spirit. Pat Casey, first man to bench 600, would do dips with up to 300# of added weight.

Yes. Both my bench and press improved once I started approaching my pullups and dips from a strength perspective. If I'm doing 5X5 with 280# on the bench, I do 5X5 pullups and/or dips (depending on the day) with 70# at a bodyweight of 210 (280# total.) Adjust your reps/loads to reflect what you did in the opposite direction. This way pressing and pulling at different angles increases consistently and in balance. If you haven't been doing them there will of course be some discrepancy you'll have to even out, but you get the idea.

BTW, I learned that from the often looked-down-upon-'round-here Mike Boyle. Don't discount everything he says because he doesn't want to hurt his hockey players with conventional squats.
Also, I agree with backoff sets, which I undulate with the heavier sets a la 5-3-1.

[Namo4184]

Now there is a good idea. Why I hadn't thought of this, I cannot say...

You got to tap into the universe my friend...

Best of Luck.

P.S. Also try using the same shoulder width grip on all pressing and pulling exercises. That seems to help too.

[stronger]

a question for people saying a certain assistance exercise helped improve x lift: how do you know? Were you stalled up to that point? For me I am not stalling on anything, but making progress, so I'd be interested to find out

[Namo4184]

a question for people saying a certain assistance exercise helped improve x lift: how do you know? Were you stalled up to that point? For me I am not stalling on anything, but making progress, so I'd be interested to find out

I started off with stronglifts, it's a derivative 5x5 program. In that program it went this:

A-day
Squat 5x5
Bench 5x5
Row 5x5
Dip 5x5

B-Day
Squat 5x5
Overhead 5x5
Deadlift 5x5
Chin/Pull 3xFailure

The program was done 3x a week alternating A-day and B-day, much like starting strength.

Doing that program, I excelled a dips going from 0 dips to 3 sets of 8 at a body weight of 217.5. Now after doing it for a while, I decided that the squatting heavy 3 days a week was kicking my ass and I started doing R-man's advanced-novice.

Advanced Novice I'm doing goes like this.
Mon
Low-Bar-Squat 3x5
Bench/Overhead Press 3x5
Chin-Ups 3xF or 3x5-7 weighted, after 3x15

Wed [Recovery]
High-Bar-Squat 3x5, 80% monday's weight
Bench/Overhead Press 3x5
Deadlift 1x5

Fri
Low-Bar-Squat 3x5
Bench/Overhead Press 3x5
Pull-Ups 3xF or 3x5-7 weighted, after 3x15

looking at the advanced novice program, there are no dips and there are more pull ups and chin ups since its twice every week. By keeping training logs and also keeping mental notes, I noticed that my ability to keep my back tight has increased since switching to advanced novice.

Keeping my back tight has helped my overhead press and bench by providing a more stable platform on which to exert force. Further more, I have never improved my chins/pulls with out a corresponding increase in my pressing movements. It's the same as the squat and the deadlift. If increase my squat, my deadlift goes up with it.

I have also payed attention to how I fail on my lifts, since doing advanced novice, I no longer fail on the locking out protion, I only fail at the bottom portion of both pressing movements. Yet I do no dips. So in my mind, dips aren't all that useful.

[WaWa Bird]

I don't want to start a new thread, so I'll just ask the question here.

I've been stalled at 10,10,8 in my dips sets for awhile. Should I be alternating between weighted dips and BW regular dips to break through?