Knowing when to stop ( avoiding injury ) with Dips

A2Z

New Member
Started frequent ( 3x week )training again since Nov 2011 and been in the GYM for years at low pace( 1 or 2x week ). Had two cycles of HST and I like it a lot. Specially the fact you can see the results are actually improving is great.
One sad thing however was that at the end of the second cycle ( end Feb ) I partly torn my pectalis Major during the second set of dips eventhough I had already done 2 sets of 5rep Bench Press so the muscle was well prepared. I was really shocked this could happen to me because I never had this kind of trouble going to max levels.

So I had to go back a lot for the recovery to take place. What puzzles me is the fact how this could happen.
Could it be because I increased levels too quickly, I sticked to the scheme quite well.

Now I am nearly back to my level in February, I am very scared I may run into this issue again.

I am about to start a new HST cycle but should I avoid dips completely ? What could I do to prevent this again from happening?
I love the Dips because it 's a great exercise for the chest but I hear other guys also having bad shoulder injuries with Dips.
Any advice?
 
I would say your arms were to far behind your body, relative to the width.

I would probably not do Dips and Bench together at 5's range (or in general) as both of them are chest exercises and whilst the muscles are 'warmed up', they (and your joints) have copped a pounding too at that stage.
 
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