Dips

The dip is one of the few bodyweight exercises that loads the chest heavily through the whole range. It is also the one that gives most people shoulder pain, almost always for the same reason: too deep, too fast.

Your torso angle decides what you train. Lean forward and it is chest. Stay upright and it is triceps. Same exercise, two purposes.

Sets, reps and RIR

Load is fixed, so progress by adding reps first, then by slowing the lowering phase, then by adding weight.

RIR means reps in reserve: how many you could still have done when you racked it. RIR 2 is two short of failure.

How to do it

1. Take the bars and press up to straight arms with your shoulders down away from your ears.
2. Choose your angle: lean forward with knees bent for chest, stay vertical for triceps.
3. Lower under control with the elbows travelling back, not out to the sides.
4. Stop when the upper arm is roughly parallel with the floor, or higher if the shoulder complains.
5. Press back up without bouncing out of the bottom.
6. Straighten the arms at the top without letting the shoulders ride up.

Common mistakes

Going too deep

Below parallel the front of the shoulder takes over and the joint capsule stretches. This is where dip shoulder pain comes from. Depth is not free here.

Shoulders up by the ears

Hanging loose at the top loads the joint instead of the muscle. Keep the shoulder blades down for the whole set.

Bouncing at the bottom

You borrow momentum from tissue that is not built for it. Stop, then press.

Swinging

If your legs swing, you are pulling yourself up with momentum rather than your chest. Cross your ankles and keep them still.

How it differs from the neighbouring variants

The dip machine gives the same direction with selectable weight, and is the right place to start if you cannot do any. Bench dips look easier but put the shoulder in more internal rotation and are actually harder on the joint.

The decline barbell press hits much of the same without loading the shoulder in the bottom position, and is the alternative when dips hurt. Once you clear ten good reps, weighted dips are the next step rather than more reps.

What it suits

Dips work as the second press after benching, or as the main lift if you train with little equipment. If you have had shoulder trouble, start on the machine with a shallow range for a few weeks before going to full depth.

Muscles worked

Primary: Chest.

Secondary: Triceps, Front delts.

What it is called elsewhere

• Norsk Dips
• Svenska Dips
• Dansk Dips
• Deutsch Dips
• Español Fondos en paralelas
• Italiano Dip alle parallele
• Português Mergulho nas paralelas
• Русский Отжимания на брусьях
• Français Dips

Related chest exercises

• Bench press (barbell)
• Incline bench press (barbell)
• Decline bench press (barbell)
• Close-grip bench press (barbell)
• Landmine press
• Flat dumbbell press

athlate logs this exercise, keeps the numbers, and tells you what you lifted last time.