Dips – great chest & strong triceps with this exercise + pictures

Dips are extremely effective for building up the chest, shoulder and triceps muscles . In this post I will tell you how you, as a beginner, can learn this very demanding self-weight exercise. In addition to the correct execution & technique for chest or triceps, I will also show you common mistakes that you should absolutely avoid during Dip training !

What are dips?

The dip, also called bar support or flexion support , is one of the most effective self-weight exercises that exist! The dip is mainly known as the chest or triceps exercise for advanced strength athletes.

Advanced because beginners often do not have the necessary core muscles in their upper body to be able to perform this exercise cleanly and painlessly.

Dips are also often found in Crossfit or Calisthenics training plans. There dips are then performed on the parallel bars or gymnastic rings.

Dip-Training – which muscles are trained?

Dips are part of the basic exercises ( squats , deadlifts , bench press ). This means that many muscles are trained at the same time in this exercise. Such exercises are then also called “ compound exercises ” or “ multi-joint exercises “. The latter because you are training over several joints (shoulder joint and elbow joint).

Coming back to the dip – which muscles are mainly trained here?

Strength athletes with the goal of building strength and muscle, use this exercise mainly as a chest and triceps exercise .

In summary, the following muscles are trained:

• The triceps,
• the chest muscles (especially the lower part),
• the front shoulder muscles,
• the elbow muscles and,
• the forearms

Auxiliary muscles for dips are:

• The abdominal muscles,
• the trapezius,
• as well as the latissimus and the rotator cuff

Dips for the chest or for the triceps?

There are two different versions and techniques of the dip exercise. Depending on which one you use, you focus either more on the triceps or more on the chest muscles.

Dips for the triceps – execution & technique

1. The starting position

Support yourself on the dip bar, keeping your wrists straight and your elbows close to your body . Before you get started, push your shoulders backwards / upwards and stretch your legs forward.

2. The downward movement

Keep your entire upper body and head up . The look straight ahead. Lower the upper body downwards, the forearms always remain in the same position. Together with the upper arm, the forearms form a 90 degree angle at the lowest point.

3. The upward movement

At the lowest point you push yourself back up to the starting position. Your elbows should never be fully stretched and should always be slightly bent.

Dips for the breast – execution & technique

1. The starting position

Support yourself on the dip bar, keep your wrists straight and your elbows slightly bent from your body. Before you start, push your shoulders backwards / upwards and stretch your kinked legs backwards. The upper body is bent slightly forward and the look goes down on the floor.

2. The downward movement

Now lower the upper body downwards, the forearms always remain in the same position. Together with the upper arm, the forearms also form a 90 degree angle here at the lowest point.

3. The upward movement

At the lowest point you push yourself back up to the starting position. Your elbows should never be fully stretched and should always be slightly bent.

You can’t make dips? This is how you can learn dips …

If you are doing dips and you feel pain in your shoulders, arms or chest, then you are still too weak for the classic dip. But there are good alternatives for this, with which you can slowly build up your muscles.

The first dip alternatives are Arnold Dips or Bank dips . This dip variant is much easier, but perfect for strengthening the muscles, tendons and joints that you need for the classic dip on the open bars. You can find out exactly how Arnold dips / bank dips work below in the video.

Another dip alternative are dips on the multi-gym with weight support . You will mainly find such a training device in the gym. As you can see in the picture below, a plate pushes up from below with this fitness device. Depending on how heavy you set the weight, the plate pushes you up with it.

By regulating your weight, you can make the support of this machine easier and easier from training to training and thus you slowly get stronger until you can do a dip with your own body weight.

What training equipment do you need for dips?

You don’t need a lot of training equipment to do this exercise. You could basically do classic dips between two chairs. However, I advise against it, as the risk of injury from tilting the chair is too high.

I can recommend stable dip bars or a dip stand. But there are also multi-gyms or weight benches including dip handles. All readers who come from Switzerland will find a good selection here on gorillasports.ch .

Dip stations – the best training equipment at a glance:

Dip variants for beginners to professional strength athletes

In addition to the classic dips on the dip bars, there are a few other dip variants. It always depends on how advanced you are. There are easy dip variants especially for beginners, but there are also dip exercises that are only suitable for very advanced athletes. The 3 most effective variants are as follows:

1. Arnold dips / bank dips – perfect for beginners

 

2. Gironda Dips – special dip for the chest

 

3. Ring Dips – Calisthenics style for advanced & professionals

 

Dips exercise – these are the 3 most common mistakes

Mistake number 1 – pendulum movements

So that you don’t swing your entire body back and forth on the dip bar, you should keep your legs in front and not bend backwards! Also, make sure that your forearms do not swing back and forth during the exercise. The forearms must not move during the entire dip exercise.

Mistake number 2 – shoulders hunched forward

Make sure that your shoulders are pulled back during the entire exercise. Especially when the strength is not yet sufficient, the shoulders tend to be pulled forward during the downward movement. Be sure to hold back – otherwise shoulder pain will quickly develop!

Mistake number 3 – elbows too far from the body

Basically, the bars of the dip bar should be about shoulder width apart. During the dip exercise it is important to keep your elbows close to your body! This is the only way to hit the triceps best in this exercise.