Dips
Supporting your weight on parallel bars, or seated in a dip machine, you bend your elbows and press back to straight arms, working your lower chest and triceps.
Equipment
- Primary muscles
- Lower chest
- Secondary
- Middle chest, Upper chest, Front delts, Triceps
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- Weight × reps
- Primary muscles
- Lower chest, Triceps
- Secondary
- Middle chest, Upper chest, Front delts
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Logged as
- Reps
Why do it
Dips are one of the heaviest upper-body pushes you can do with your own weight, and they hit your lower chest and triceps hard. On the bars, your lean decides the focus: tilt forward for more chest, stay upright with tucked elbows for more triceps. The seated dip machine is easier to start with, since you pick the load and don't support your whole body, which makes it handy when bar dips are still too hard. Once bar dips feel easy, add weight.
How to do it (Machine)
Set the seat so your hands reach the handles with your elbows bent and your shoulders over your hips.
Grip the handles at your sides with your palms facing in and your feet on the platform.
Press down until your arms are straight, keeping your elbows pointing back and close to your body.
Return slowly under control without letting the stack rest. Leaning forward slightly brings more chest into the movement.
Grip parallel bars with your palms facing each other and push up to straight arms, feet off the floor.
Lower yourself by bending your elbows until your upper arms are about parallel to the floor.
Press back up to straight arms.
Leaning forward puts more work on the chest, staying upright with your elbows tucked shifts it to the triceps. Stop the descent where your shoulders feel stretched, not strained.
Common mistakes
Sinking too deep
Dropping well past the point where your upper arms are parallel to the floor stretches the front of your shoulders hard. Stop where you feel a stretch, not strain.
Shoulders shrugging toward your ears
Letting your shoulders rise at the bottom loses the stable position. Keep them pressed down as you lower.
Swinging your legs
Kicking to get through the bottom adds momentum. Keep your legs still, crossed behind you if that helps.
Letting the machine stack rest
On the seated machine, letting the weight touch down between reps gives your muscles a break. Return slowly and press again before it settles.
Sets, reps and progression
How many sets you do and how close to failure you take them depend on your goal and your week, not on the exercise. These guides cover it:
Alternatives that train the same thing
Same movement, a different angle or piece of equipment.
