Dips

Overview

Dips are an excellent chest exercise which places primary emphasis on the lower and outer chest, triceps, and anterior deltoids (front shoulders). It can be performed while supporting the body over two parallel bars which should be available at most gyms. This is a high-intensity, compound exercise which is great for building upper body mass.

Setup

A step of some sort is usually available to help you get up to the bars. On many of the parallel bars you might see, the bars are actually not parallel (even though they are called “parallel” bars), and this allows you to choose how far apart your hands will be. The ends of the bars farthest from the supports are usually farther apart, while the ends nearest to the supports are closer together. Placing your hands further apart will focus on the pectorals more, while taking the closer grips will emphasize the triceps slightly more. Mount the bars and support your weight with your hands and bend your knees.

Movement

Allow the elbows to slowly bend as the body is lowered on the bars. Continue to bend the elbows as far as comfortably possible to achieve the full range of this movement. Then, forcefully press downward to return the arms to their fully extended position.

Tips From the Trainer

Bending the knees, leaning forward on the parallel bars, and taking a wider grip all place greater stress on the chest muscles. To focus more on the triceps, try bending the knees less and allow your upper body to be erect, and also take a narrower grip on the bars.

While your weight can be easily adjusted on the dip machine, this is not as easy when on the parallel bars. To increase the weight, special weight belts allow for a chain to be attached to your waist which can hang weights below you. To go lighter, some gyms offer a parallel bar machine which has a support that presses upward on your knees. Increasing the weight on the machine increases the support to your knees and makes the workout easier to perform. This alternative allows you to adjust the weight you use, but is not as effective as doing dips without support.