Muscles worked
The triceps do the main work when you keep your body upright and your elbows close in. The front of your shoulders and your chest help, mostly at the bottom, and your trunk keeps you still between the bars. What shifts the emphasis most is your lean. The further forward you lean and the more your elbows flare out, the more your chest works. That is why the same bars serve for both triceps and chest dips.
Common mistakes
- Shoulders rising towards your ears. At the bottom, your shoulders tend to creep up, and you end up hanging from them instead of supporting yourself with your arms. Push your shoulders down, away from your ears, before you start, and keep them there.
- Bouncing at the bottom. Bouncing out of the bottom gives you momentum but skips the work where it is hardest. Lower slowly, reverse without bouncing and press up.
- Kicking your legs. As you tire, it is tempting to use your legs. Cross your feet or bend your knees, brace your trunk, and end the set when you cannot do a rep without kicking.
Variations and alternatives
- Bench dips: easier, because your feet stay on the floor and take some of the weight. A good step before bar dips.
- Machine dips: seated in a machine where you choose the weight, if you cannot manage your bodyweight yet.
- Chest dips: the same bars with your upper body leaning forward, when you want your chest to work more.
- Diamond push-up: push-ups with your hands close together, when you train at home without dip bars.
Sets and reps
If you can only manage a few dips with good form, start with bench dips or machine dips. To build muscle, 6 to 12 reps over 2 to 4 sets works well. If your bodyweight feels light, 12 to 20 reps trains endurance. With extra weight on a dip belt you can also train strength with 3 to 6 reps, but only once you can do plenty of reps unweighted with stable shoulders. The guide to sets and reps explains how to choose.
With bodyweight, add reps first. Once you reach the top of your range on every set, add a little weight and start again lower in the range. That is progressive overload. If your shoulders or elbows actually hurt, rather than just feel worked, stop the exercise and have a doctor or physiotherapist look at it.