Chest Dips

In weightlifting and strength training, the muscles that you use to push are some of the most important. Whether you’re focusing on lower body pressing movements, like squatting and lunging, or upper body pressing movements, like bench presses and strict presses. These pressing and pushing patterns mimic and enhance our body’s natural and functional movements — movements that we use on a daily basis, like squatting down to pick something up or pushing ourselves up after we fall.

Your pectoral and shoulder muscles play a critical role in developing strong pressing patterns in your upper body and have plenty of strength and power applications both in and out of the gym. While you can find plenty of weight training and bodyweight exercises to train them, one of the most effective for training them simultaneously is the chest dip.

Benefits of Chest Dips

Chest dips are ideal for developing the muscle groups in your chest, shoulders (specifically your anterior deltoids) and your triceps. This exercise is great for building muscle and functional strength in those primary and accessory muscle groups.

What You Need to Perform Chest Dips

One thing that you will probably love about chest dips as an exercise is that you don’t need any expensive equipment — or even weights —  to perform them. All you need is a set of parallel bars, which you can find in virtually any gym or playground. You can even build your own set of parallel bars for relatively cheap, using some basic PVC pipes from a home improvement store.

If you want to develop your chest dip prowess, get stronger and build muscle faster once you’ve mastered the chest dip, try weighted dips. These need a bit more equipment: a dip belt and some plates, kettlebells or other external weight you can attach to the belt.

Variations of Chest Dips and How to Do Them

1) Upright Chest Dips (Shoulder Dominant)

The upright dip is going to place the majority of the workload on your shoulders. Start by placing your hands on the parallel bar in a neutral grip position. Keep your arms are fully extended. Your elbows should either be in a locked-out or near locked-out position.

Next, pull your feet off of the platform that you are using to step up to the dip bar or take your feet off of the ground. Your shoulders should be positioned above your hands and wrists for the upright dip. Your fully extended arms will be perpendicular to the ground at the top of your dip.

Inhale at the top of the movement. Slowly, and in a controlled manner, lower yourself by bending your elbows and your wrists. Lower yourself as low as you comfortably can or until you can feel your chest begin to stretch. Then, exhale as you push yourself back to the starting position.

2) Chest Forward (Pec Dominant)

The pec dominant dip is going to focus more on your chest muscles and less on your shoulders to move your body weight.

Set up for the forward position chest dip by placing your hands on the parallel bars in a neutral grip position with your arms are fully extended. Just like in the upright chest dip, your elbows should be locked out or nearly locked out.

Again, you’ll pull your feet off the platform or ground. Keep your shoulders above your hands and wrists when your arms are extended. Your arms should be just about perpendicular to the ground at the top of your dip. This time, though, your body must be slightly tilted forward — at about a 30-degree angle, so that you can force the workload of the movement to your chest.

Inhale at the top of the movement. Then, slowly and in a controlled manner, lower yourself by bending your elbows and your wrists. Go as low as you comfortably can, until you can feel your chest start to stretch. Ideally, your forearms will be about parallel to the ground. Squeeze your chest at the bottom of the movement and push yourself back to the starting position as you exhale.

Putting Chest Dips into Your Program

Chest dips are a great addition to any program. They are both effective and very efficient since you are working for multiple muscle groups with one movement — and these are muscle groups you regularly use both in and out of the gym. Add them into your program on the days that you would normally be working your chest, triceps, and shoulders.