Pressing the bar up, I had a sharp pain in my shoulder. This wasn't the first time, nor the second. My shoulders were sending me a message, no more bench pressing.

Bench presses were marginally effective for my chest development. But everyone benches, so I figured I should as well.

Turns out benches are not effective at building pecs for many people. Who knew.

In the search for a bench press replacement, I turned to dips as my primary mass builder. Dips transition well to training outdoors. All you need is a set of rings or suspension trainer.

Having used dips for years, I still wanted to make sure that my mechanics were solid. I did not need another shoulder injury.

This is a summary of my research and experience with using dips for outdoor training over the past two years.

Below is how I regularly perform dips, build my chest and keep my shoulders pain free.

There is only one safe way to perform dips - leaning forward with legs forward. It doesn't matter if you are performing on a bar or using suspension trainers.
Keep elbows back and close to body.
Don't break parallel with upper arms, doing so takes stress off the muscles and puts excess stress on joints and ligaments.
Work a variety of rep ranges. This includes 4-5, 8-12, 15-20. Add weight when you can handle the extra load without losing form.
Done correctly, you should be able to use close to the same amount of added weight on suspension trainer dips as with a dip bar.
To focus on triceps, pre-fatigue them with a tricep specific exercise.
To work up to perfect dips, use a band to de-weight the body.
No dip bar or rings - use a pull up bar for bar dips. Keep feet far forward and aim to hit the bar with lower chest. Form should be the same as regular dips. Make sure to keep elbows in as they like to flair due to hand positioning.
Feeling advanced? Break my first lesson and try dips with a strong forward lean, body straight, feet out behind you. These are great for building strength in planche progressions.
Russian dips are another tough variable for the advanced set.

Results have been strong and shoulders have been injury free.

Take action, get outdoors and go hit some dips!