My dilemma and proposed experiment.

Well, some of you might know, but most probably don't, that i have tendonitis in my left shoulder. I have been battling this shit since about January of this year, when it was diagnosed.

I have finally decided to stop any sort of pressing while on my back. So that means no incline/decline/flat pressing, dumbells or otherwise. That leaves me with....Dips.

Now this leads me to propose a self experiment. This will by no means be some type of experiment that would apply to everyone, everywhere. Purely empirical evidence.

Proposal:
A lot of people have contrasting views about isolating different parts of the same muscle (ie upper/lower chest, bicep peak, lower bi's, outer quads, you get the picture). I'll be guinea pig in this and if anyone wants to join me they are welcome although i don't suggest it as it has the potential to waste a lot of time. The only reason i am doing this is because i'm am in this situation (can't press) and i don't believe in isolation exercises for mass.

My chest routine is basically comprised of 6-8 sets of dips. Thats it. Dips are a great chest exercise and, unfortunately, are pretty rarely used.

Well i'm going to start a journal here pretty soon (motivational purposes), and after i'm done cutting (around 6 more weeks and i'll hopefully reach my goal) i will start my controlled bulk.

Dips undoubtedly work your lower chest (if it exists) so i will take two measurements, nipple area, and upper chest area (not too sure how i will measure this, but i figure as long as i keep the site constant i will see a difference.). I will also take bf tests (i will make sure to measure chest twice, lower/upper, to make sure that any change in size is attributed to muscle not fat) and keep track of my weight.

This will atleast give me an idea of whether or not you can really isolate your upper/lower chest. And it might give others some insight into this debate.

Any tips/words of encouragement/pity, lol, will be appreciated

I find dips to be hard on the shoulders.

Originally posted by Prince
I find dips to be hard on the shoulders.

Click to expand...

Me too.

I know a guy at my gym who is huge!!!! His shoulders are gone, I mean totally. But he still does bench but light 225, uh that's light for him. Reps 15-20, 4 to 5 sets. Might want to consider l;ower w8 and more reps.

nah, any pressing from my back and my shoulders start killing me.

Dips are fine as long as i don't go too much past parallel. Thanks for the tips though.

Do rotator cuff exerxises and don't do any push exercises for a while. I had the same problem and it lasted 1+ years because I was stupid and didn't take care of it when I should have.

Funny thing is that I just messed my shoulder up when I was doing shoulders. I narrowed it down to two exercises that did it. Bent reverse flies or standing rows. It was probably the bent reverse flies cause I didn't warm up on those.

Did you work shoulders at all while rehabbing?

This will atleast give me an idea of whether or not you can really isolate your upper/lower chest. And it might give others some insight into this debate.
Nice idea but the fact is you can't Isolate upper/lower and alot of the shape of the chest has to do with genetics, you'd have to do the test with twins to really see if you could tell a difference.

Had you been doing DB presses? I found the DB's don't bother my shoulders like BB does.

Why would you need twins? If you can isolate your upper/lower chest, then logic would suggest that with dips my upper chest will experience minimal growth (water/fat gain, but i will be monitoring bf). If my chest grows everywhere, i'll know that atleast for myself i don't need to isolate upper/lower chest. Its not meant to be a published paper or anything, just some insight into the debate.

DB's hurt me just as much as BB.

Whatever you do is gonna work your whole chest/Pec muscle so its all good.
The reason I say you can't isolate your upper/lower chest is because its all ONE muscle not two. So Dips will make your whole chest grow.
You may experience faster growth in a portion of your chest but much of the shape is deturmined by genetics its really hard to say if the dips are the reason or if its just your genetic makup.