There are a lot of different exercises that you can do to make your arms strong and sculpted. Among the range of other exercises, everyone's favorite is the triceps dips. The most impressive thing about this exercise is that it is very simple to do. You can do it at home without dumbbells, resistance bands, or other equipment.
The problem with this exercise is that it needs serious triceps strength to do it. Sometimes, this can cause deep tissue damage and it can cause severe pain and discomfort. If you ever experience this kind of discomfort while doing these triceps dips, read this article. Here, we have mentioned some reasons why this problem might occur. So, let's jump right into the article and look at it.
What are the Causes of Triceps Dip Pain?
When doing the triceps dip, different parts of your arm do the world. Your elbow, wrists, and shoulder work together to perform this exercise. While doing this exercise, you might hurt your arms, shoulder, or even muscles in the wrist. Following are some of the reasons why this can happen.
Lack of Shoulder Mobility:
If you are someone who is doing a workout for the first time and you don't have much mobility, then this can be an issue that can cause shoulder pain. When doing the triceps dips, you need to place your hands behind your back. This can put a lot of stress on the shoulders, and people who have less mobility can face issues while doing this.
If you have limited mobility, putting your hand on it will make your shoulder tilt forward. This can add extra stress to your shoulder and can cause serious damage issues over some time. This is why it is always suggested for the first-timers to take it slowly. First, they should increase their shoulder mobility by doing different exercises.
Tucking of the Elbows:
While doing the triceps dips, there are chances that you tuck your elbows. Doing this exercise can put a lot of weight and stress on your elbows; if the exercise is not done correctly, it can cause damage to the elbow joint.
If you do a lot of reps or start with too-challenging variations of this exercise, this will put a load on the elbow, the connecting tissue, and even the bursae, the fluid-filled sac around the elbow to protect the joints.
Another thing that can cause this problem is the angle of your elbow. This means if you are not making the proper angle, then there are a lot of changes, and you are putting more pressure on your joints. If you are experiencing pain or discomfort in your elbow while doing this exercise, then there is a high chance your elbows are not straight. They must flare diagonally, causing so much pressure on the elbows that they are starting to hurt.
If you continue doing the same thing repeatedly, the pain can worsen, and it can cause damage to the tendons, such as tendonitis, and even your tendon can break. This is why it is suggested that you keep your elbows in the correct position. Your elbows should be flared at a 45-degree angle. Another thing you can do is reduce the intensity of the workout. Make your way up slowly.
If you are using the weights, then reduce the usage of weights. You should first do the triceps dips with your body weight, and once you are comfortable with that, start adding weights slowly.
Strengthening of the Wrist:
Pain or discomfort in the wrist is another common issue that comes with triceps dips. Doing these dips on the chairs can be stressful for your wrists. When doing these dips, the entire weight is on your wrists, which helps you support your arms. You put your wrists in full extension, which our body is not used to. When your wrists are in an awkward position, it will strain them as they must support the entire body weight.
Dips are similar to pushups, so you must ease your way into the exercise. You need to build your wrists' strength and mobility to ensure they can handle all the stress. So warm-up exercises to loosen the muscles of your wrists and to make them more mobile.
You can even change the position of your hand in such a way that you are making it in a neutral position. You can put dumbbells on the top of the bench and then hold them during the sets. This will help with keeping the wrists in a straight line.
Excess Range of Motion:
The last problem that can cause pain in your shoulders, elbows, and even wrist is that you are using an extra range of motion. This means you are dipping too much and causing stress on your arms. If you still have poor mobility and not enough strength, you are pushing yourself to do deeper sips, and it will cause some severe stress on your shoulders.
This is why it is crucial that you slowly increase the motion while doing the dips. First, keep the dips light, and don't go too deep. Once you are comfortable with that, you can deepen the dips and intensify the exercise.
Final Words:
Triceps dip are one of the best exercises for getting sculpted arms and shoulders. This intense workout needs a lot of shoulder and arm strength. It is essential that while doing this exercise, you maintain the right position and form; otherwise, it can severely damage the muscles and even the joints. A lot of people face pain or discomfort when they are doing this exercise; therefore, it is essential to listen to your body and stop yourself before you cause serious injuries.
