Dip's And Chest Soreness Question

[Powerflifter48]

Hi Mark, again thanks for answering questions it's appreciated greatly.

I am still waiting for an answer to my dip question..I will ask it in a different way. Should I be feeling deep soreness in the center of my chest after doing dips with my own bodyweigth I am 230lbs? Is this a normal occurance to someone starting out doing dips or should I be concerned that I might not be doing them correctly? Or what area of the chest should the soreness be when doing dips for chest? I average around 20 dips in sets of 3 to 4 lately after bench.

What say you?

Powerflifter48

[Mark Rippetoe]

I say that dips bother some people's sternum, especially in the presence of other injuries. If they hurt, quit doing them for a while and see if they get better in a few months.

[Rich_S]

Powerlifter48 - You might want to check out this thread where I asked Rip the same question and he responded:

http://www.strengthmill.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1815

I was having serious pain in my sternum and under my collar bone near the SC joint. Based on Rip's suggestion, I eliminated dips but continued to bench press and overhead press heavy. The pain is 99% gone after a few weeks. I'm going to give it a few months to fully heal and then try to slowly start re-introducing dips back in.

[Powerflifter48]

Thanks Mark and Rich for the reply, I haven't been here in awhile to read the replies as I thought you Mark were on the road for most part of July.

Anyway, good news my chest is fear of pain as I speak did some dips just awhile ago but this was after taking a week off from lifting all together..so far everytlhing feels great though I am taking it sloooooow with the dips to get a feel of how my chest will react..

Again thanks for the info and insight.

Weightlifter48