Dips: how to perform this multi-functional bodybuilding exercise?

In bodybuilding and fitness, bodyweight exercises are important and can be integrated into any program. The dips are no exception to the rule and allow to solicit several muscle groups. Discover how to build up your triceps and pectorals with this fundamental exercise, which can be done at home or in the gym.

What are dips?

Dips are a basic upper body exercise that can be performed in a variety of ways. They can be perfectly integrated into your weight-training programWhether it is to gain mass or to dry out in order to sculpt the body.

In a basic way, to make dips consists in placing its hands on parallel bars in order to carry out movements of bottom in top by raising its weight. This exercise is ideal to target the triceps or the pectoral muscles mainly because it offers a precise and important muscular work.

To perform dips, you can use a specific machine at the gym. Some machines like the roman chair have a support to do dips. Guided or not, or simply a bench or chairs at home. In fact, it is just as effective to do dips between 2 chairs.

Which muscles are involved in dips?

In weight training, dips are probably the best exercise for building triceps muscle. If you want to build muscle and volume in this muscle group, it's a good idea to incorporate them into your training program. Specifically, with weight training dips, you'll be working all three parts of the triceps: the long head, the vastus lateralis and the vastus medialis.

Thanks to the multiple existing variants, it is also possible to train the pectoral muscles and the shoulders, mainly the deltoids. The pectoral area is thus composed of three muscles, the pectoralis major, which itself has three fascicles, the pectoralis minor and the subclavian.

To a lesser extent, this polyarticular exercise solicits the dorsal part of the body, as well as the trapezius.

The different dips exercises and variations

To build up the triceps, the basic movement is to lift yourself in a fluid vertical motion, placing your hands in a neutral grip on the parallel bars and keeping your head and chest straight.

If you want to increase the muscular difficulty of the exercise, you can position your hands in pronation or supination. However, be sure to protect your elbow joints when performing this variation. By varying the holds, like a hammer hold to develop your biceps, you create stress on different muscle fibers and therefore optimize the results of your workouts. Another solution is to hold a weight between your feet or wear a weighted vest. This will increase the body weight and add difficulty to the exercise.

To make the movement more complex, you can place a dumbbell between your thighs or calves, using rubber bands You can do this by hanging on the floor or by using a belt to attach weights. This variation will increase the contraction of your triceps since you will be heavier to lift. Weight trainers can incorporate this into a superset with a ten-rep exercise for the biceps, with no rest time.

Another variation is the reverse dips.

This approach is ideal to begin insofar as the realization of the movement is facilitated by the lightening of the weight of your legs. You will indeed place yourself between two benches, positioning your legs on one and your hands on the other, and carrying out movements from top to bottom. You can also perform this type of dips with chairs.

Finally, you should know that there are guided machines to simulate dips. If you frequent a gym, it is likely that such a machine is available. They can still allow you to start at your own pace, but are less complete than bodyweight exercises.

If you want to develop your pectoral muscles, it will be necessary to stick your chin to your chest and work on a wider grip. You will therefore need a V bar so that you can adjust the position of your hands. It is also possible to use guided dips machines to build up your pectoral muscles.

Dips for beginners or girls: To start them, you can just like the pull-ups or push-ups take weight off your body. As you can see on the picture, you will start the exercise on the floor by leaving your heels on the ground and doing the dips between 2 chairs or another lower support. This will make it easier to perform the movement. As you get stronger, you will be able to do them normally.

How to do dips correctly?

When performing dips, whether they are chair dips or barbell dips, it is not necessary to finish your movement at the bottom. In fact, to protect your shoulders, make sure you don't go beyond 90 degrees. On the other hand, when you go back up, your arms must be tense.

Your legs should be bent during the entire movement. You can also cross them for a better comfort. Then simply bend your arms to go down, and push to go up.

Your trajectory must be perfectly straight, and your head raised. Lock your wrists to avoid injuring yourself, and keep your back straight. Finally, don't neglect breathing in and out during the movement.

How to make dips at home?

As explained above, dips can be done at home. You can do dips between 2 chairs, which doesn't require a trip to the gym.

Precautions to take to avoid injury when doing dips

Before starting a weight training session, whatever the muscles to be worked, you must of course carry out a warm-up. In the same way, do not hesitate to stretch at the end of the training session to optimize recovery.

To avoid injury when performing dips, always follow a vertical trajectory. Keep in mind that the objective of the dips is to force your triceps or pectoral muscles to lift you up and down.

Also, it is not necessary to perform large amplitude movements as this can lead to shoulder injuries.

Finally, take the time to perform your movements correctly. It is not a question of chaining the repetitions as quickly as possible, but well and truly of making dips of the best possible quality to build muscle. This is the best way to avoid hurt.

To conclude, the dips are complete and will be integrated perfectly into your program of musculation. Particularly effective to muscularize the triceps, they also make it possible to develop the pectoral muscles, and to a lesser extent the back and the trapezoids. This exercise is an essential because it can be carried out simply at home or in the gym, with little equipment.

---

Other articles to read :

How to successfully gain muscle mass?

How to build up your forearms?

All about the chair exercise in bodybuilding