KEY AREAS: Triceps, Chest, Shoulders, Core
START POSITION: Grab both bar handles and launch yourself upwards, straigttening your ams and locking the elbows as you go. Allow your legs to dangle straight down and then make sure your body has stopped swinging from the intial jump up, and now you can cross your feet over each other at the back. You’re ready to go.
NOTES: Bar Dips are an old-school classic ‘bodyweight exercise’. Most beginners find these very uncomfortable and awkward, and many wont be able to even do one rep. That’s where the Assisted Dips machine comes into play (image right). This is a fabulous invention incorporating a reverse pulley system that provides an adjustable upward force on a padded ‘plate’ that you kneel on. And now anyone can do a few reps with the correct technique to build on their upper body strength – until eventually they can do several reps with perfect technique without any assistance (just lifting their own free-swinging bodyweight).
This machine is probably my overall favourite gym machine because it usually also has overhead bars which means you can also use it for Assisted Pullups to work on the Back muscles. Fantastic!
2 Important Points about Tricep Dips (similar to Chest Dips):
1) The same exercise is used both in Chest workouts and Triceps workouts, except that they differ slightly in form. For more Triceps activation you should keep your body as vertical as possible (although a tiny lean forwards is almost unavoidable). For more Chest activation you should tilt your body forwards by 15-25°. You can also dip your head and neck a little provided that this doesn’t feel too awkward. This will help give more of a hit to the Chest muscles.
2) How far should you dip downwards? This depends partly on your own physique and shape. For most people, you should stop dipping down as soon as your upper arm is parallel with the horizontal bars you are gripping. For very fit and able people it’s OK to go a little lower than this, but be careful! Because lots of stress will be put through your elbow and shoulder joints. Keep it safe. Train smart.
Finally, this discussion would not be complete without mentioning the fantastic combined muscle group effect of this exercise. All Dips will work Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Arms and Core in varied amounts. When I was an 800m track and middle distance runner I would complement my training schedule with some intense gym workouts – mostly targeting the body areas that supported my main running training. I firmly promise that if you are a sprinter or middle distance runner seeking to shave many seconds off your Personal Record times then you will find the Dips exercise invaluable.
