Dips - improving your results

Author: Timko Ilya - master of the whole project and fitness trainer.
2012-11-06

Dips are a very popular exercise. Popular for two reasons. First, dips can be found in every gym, every school, and almost every yard. Second, it is a fundamental exercise for training the triceps, deltoids, and chest. Now I will tell you how to increase your performance in this exercise and how to learn to do dips in the first place.

Technical Nuances

Since it heavily loads the shoulder joints and the surrounding tendons, during this exercise, your shoulder joints are effectively rotated, significantly stretching the ligaments. Therefore:

1. The first set should be done without any weights to warm up the joints.

2. Choose a weight that allows you to do at least 6 repetitions. Do not push yourself to do only 2-3 reps. This is dangerous and can lead to pain in the shoulder joints in the future.

3. Do not dip too low. But also avoid doing half-dips. In the lower part of the amplitude, your shoulders should be slightly below elbow level or level with them.

4. Lower yourself smoothly, controlling the depth of the dips.

5. Avoid the so-called “chest dips,” where your elbows are flared out to work the chest more. Focus on building chest muscles with other exercises. This technique puts even more strain on the shoulder joints and may lead to injuries. Keep your elbows closer to your body.

How to Learn to Do Dips

If you still cannot do them or can only do 3-5 reps, the following will help you:

This exercise mimics dips but is much easier, as your legs rest on a platform or the floor. The easiest option is to keep your legs on the floor. Once you master this, place your legs on a stand or another bench. This way, you will be lifting approximately 60% of your total body weight.

After you can perform this variation for about 15 reps, you can place a weight plate on your thighs. When you can do dips with a 15 kg plate for 10-12 reps, move on to the actual bars. This indicates that you should be able to do 6-8 dips on the bars now.

Additional Exercises

The following exercises will help you improve your performance in dips:

It’s best to do this with weights on your back and your hands on stands. This way, you can dip slightly lower than if you were just doing dips on the floor.

Even if you are already strong enough, it makes sense to do the last exercise for about 10 reps with a heavy dumbbell.

Using Weights

If you can already do 12 dips with your body weight, start adding weight. You should not be doing dips with heavy weights at every training session. Vary the weight from session to session (read more about changing weights here). For example, in one workout, do dips without weight for 15 reps. In another, do them with a heavier weight for 6-8 reps.

Do not do more than 3 sets with heavy weights. Protect your shoulders. If you're planning to do dips with maximum weight for 6 reps, do two warm-up sets: one without weight and another with a light weight for 8-10 reps.

Almost all my trainees who I have trained can dip with weights of 25-30 kg. Some can dip with weights of 50 kg for 6-8 reps. I'm mentioning this to show that these methods work (and how great of a coach I am! :-)).

That's all I wanted to share in this article. Regardless of whether you train at home or in a gym, dips should appear in your workout plan at least occasionally. Share this article with friends and subscribe for more. Good luck!