Dips exercises at home

A dip is an exercise for strengthening the upper body.  Doing narrow, shoulder size dips train your triceps. It targets the muscle of pectoralis, anterior deltoid, clavicular, sternal, minor, and rhomboid muscles.

Stretched arm training put an extra impact on the pectoral muscles same like wide grip- bench press, which focuses more on pectoral muscles and low on triceps.

Types of Dips Exercises

There are different types of dips exercises. It targets different muscle groups. The most common type of dip workout is triceps dip, which requires two bars less wide than your hips. You will require to use two bars to perform dips for triceps which positioned straight from your hips and then flex your arms to reduce the body and push to lift it.

The triceps dip targets the muscles of triceps, but it also focuses your shoulders and needs more strength from your core to grip the arm muscles to have a change.

Bending into the dip position, turn the workout into a chest dip. It raises the pectoral and biceps muscles. It still targets the triceps and motion focus as hybrid bench press and dips workout.

Both options use entire bodyweight and need the vital amount of strength to do the workout. Building muscles with less weight helps to perform dips.

Bench dips

Bench dips also known as triceps dips using a bench. It is a total bodyweight workout target on the triceps and boosts your strength in your chest and shoulders. As the name bench dip suggests, you will require a chair or bench to do this exercise. You can do it at home or at the gym.

Benefits

The bench dip exercise requires to do the movement at a fixed point that is a bench. It elevates your compression pressure on your joints and improves stability.

It is an excellent workout for triceps and chest exercise routine. You can do it with bench press and over the head press for boosting strength.

Alternating the grip or including weight helps to increase upper-body mass.

How to do?

• Keep a chair or bench your backside in a vertical position to your body.
• Face the bench and grab the edge of the bench using your hands stretched and place at a distance of your shoulder size. Stretch your legs ahead by flexing at your waist to make your legs at 90 degrees to your body. It is your beginning point.
• Take a breath, take down your body by flexing at your elbows till your upper arm get an angle somewhat lesser than 90 degrees with your forearm.
• Exhale, get your torso upward by forcing yourself back to the starting point by using triceps.
• Repeat the above steps according to your goal.

Parallel bar dips

The parallel bar dips are the best workout for building triceps, lower pectorals, and frontal deltoids. They are rarely used nowadays because it is plain to see. You need to use your body weight to perform the reps. Using fancy machine allow to use less bodyweight for this workout.

Doing proper dip has two different rep-stroke lengths with two levels: lower down till upper arms are level to the ground or go down as much as possible.

Benefits

• Parallel bar dips work on shoulder and chest movement. It is an easy workout to increase your weight when you have low body weight.
• You can add weight by strapping on your harness near your weight using a clip with extra weight.
• Make sure to increase the weight as you feel comfortable because using more weight can cause to put more stress on the rotator cuff and leads to injury.
• If you should get an injury, then your entire workout will suffer until you fully recover.
• You can build V shape looking body and chest.

How to do?

• Stand within a set of parallel bars. Put a hand on every bar, and then take a small jump to come in starting point by keeping your arms closed.
• Start by bending the elbow, take down your body till your arms form 90 degrees. Don’t swing, and balance better posture gently.
• Modify the motion by stretching your elbow, pressing yourself back upward into the beginning point.
• Repeat the steps according to your fitness goal.

Straight bar dips

The straight bar dip is an exercise of chest dip variation. It helps to build your chest muscles strength, triceps, and shoulder. This workout provides a different challenge by changing the hand position while exercising. Whereas the old dip would have hands kept parallel to your body in an inactive grip, the straight bar dip gets them in front of your body in a turned grip.

Benefits

• The straight bar dip workout is very challenging than the regular dips. It engages your chest muscles and triceps using shoulder muscles.
• The forebear your muscles upward, particular if you perform deep dips. You need to bring the feet forward to balance the workout.

How to do?

• Step up on an erected bar dip station (if possible for you) and take a position by keeping your hands turned grips towards the thumb.
• Begin the dip by opening the elbows and gently take down the body till your forearms are almost level to the ground.
• Balance the drop to the parallel and then take back to the beginning point by pushing from palms.
• Repeat the steps according to your fitness goal.

Tips

• There are two ways to perform dips with different movements with a different purpose.
• Stay straight and put your elbows in near to raise tricep recruitment.
• Bend in front using elbows wider to build chest recruitment.
• Straight bar dips are challenging on the shoulders. Remember that the lateral bar variation can be a better choice.
• If you don’t have a straight bar with dip station, they put a bar on J hooks at the right height in the rack.
• Try to put your legs straight downward while supporting your abs and glutes to limit the extra spinal movement.
• If you don’t have a dip station, then place a box below the handles to support yourself upward to the bars.
• If you are not using the box, then jump.
• Don’t forward your head while dropping.

Korean dips

Korean dip is a tricky workout. As with lateral bar dips, it will involve triceps in straight arm position. However, the bar will be back of your in the entire movement. It will put force from chest to lats, rhomboids, and traps muscles. As you go against the natural inclination to let your shoulder shrug upward and put your arm, stretched back you at the base of the movement.

Benefits

It will depend on the movement and the engagement of abdominal muscles for balancing midsection at the top of this movement.

The Korean dips workout is strong dip variation, which tests the mobility of your shoulder. Mix it with other workouts.

You will need a dipping bar while doing Korean dips. You will also need chalk ball, liquid chalk as a general workout tool for supporting grips of slippery bars.

How to do Korean dips?

Step 1: Grip

Get over the bar in a stable position, move your hands outward to have a grip on the bar using your palms facing in the front direction.

Put your hand near to your body without distance. It will help to balance tension.

Step 2 – Negative​​​​​​​​​​

Gently begin to slide your hips on the bar and put your feet back of you.

Grip it tight to make yourself not face the ground.

Step 3 – Pause

Take a short pause at the base of your rep to assure you are firm and set to push-up. It is advised to pause at the top and base while your rep, it considered as one isometric.

Step 4 – Push Up

If you find the previous step strange, then get back upward over the bar and take unusual movement. Move your hand down hard to elevate your body, but balance your banana pose to make your body go near the bar and through it.

Step 5 – Take a Pause at Top

Avoid sitting behind the bar and complete at the top of your rep using your arms closed straight and your shoulders dismal.

Plyometric dips

The plyometric dips exercise is created to do on the body with solid Plyo boxes. This workout helps to stimulate many different groups of muscles at one time and helps to burn double calories like other training forms.

Benefits

Enhance strength

Plyometric dips help to gain muscles power in your legs and arm muscles. It happens due to the high amount of force in the movement. The plyometric workout increases the physical response to the neurological system and promotes the elastic ability of your muscles.

Increased Endurance

Plyometric dips workout is best for developing muscles, but they also support an athlete’s endurance. It boosts your energy and performance quality.

Burns Calories

Like other aerobic workouts, plyometric dips also help to burn calories and promote your endurance and strength. It assists metabolism and increases your performance to burn calories fast.

Stronger Bones

Plyometric dips also strengthen your bones by providing explosive movements and benefit your bone structure. It helps to manage bone density.

How to do?

Keep your arm flexed at your elbow and somewhat back the body. Put your heels and hands near the corner of the plyometric box using your finger turned over the edge.

Let your body hang over the ground with your legs stretched and keep heels down.

Gently take down your body to the ground.  Keep engaging your triceps to balance your weight as you dip down and then get back to the beginning point.

Ring Dips

The ring dips is a standard and compound workout for bodyweight. It strengthens triceps and chest muscles and shoulder muscles.

Dips using gymnastic rings provide instability to the workout because of the free movement of the rings and promote muscular recruitment to balance the body. It makes the ring dips more challenging and rewarding than the standard dips, but also it is safe for joint movement to rotate freely.

Beginners Ring Dips

Ring dips can be difficult for beginners. You need to become perfect in a support position, which is essential for the beginning point of the ring dip.

The support position requires holding your body weight by keeping still over the rings and arm straight. When you can hold this position for 20-seconds, then try to change the partial dips and slowly extend the range of motion as you feel stronger till full dips.

Assisted – Ring dip method

The assisted workout requires additional equipment to hold your body weight and perform this exercise in a more challenging and achievable way.

You can perform leg assisted ring dips and take position over a bench under the rings to balance 1-2 legs while the workout or use resistance bands to develop the strength to do the dips unassisted.

Advanced – Ring Dips

Weighted – Ring dips

Including additional weight to your ring dips exercise can be an effective way to perform the exercise with intensity and develop muscles. Remember, weighted ring dips should be performed when you are skilled with standard dips (done at least 12-unassisted dips).

How to do?

A weighted vest is a versatile and simple way of including weight to ring dips. The amazing thing about weight vests is that you can do it with comfort. You can also distribute the weight on your body.

You can use a dipping belt to connect the weight plates near your waist and balance the added resistance.

Try to medicine ball or dumbbell between your legs or feet for adding weight. Use only lightweight to prevent discomfort.

Variations of Ring Dips

Standard static dips are a variation of ring dips, which are less intense than your gym. These are an excellent basic workout for bodyweight.

Another variation is weighted ring dips, which are advance dippers. It includes advance resistance to the workout.

Wide ring dip is also a variation of ring dip. It considerably raises the difficulty of your workout. This workout is similar to the standard version except the arms are turned out from the body to your sides. Make sure do the exercise in a controlled and slow manner.

V bar dips

The V bar dips are also dipped workout to perform at home. It is a challenging, simple workout uses 90 degrees dip bars. This unit has 2-modes of action.

One requires a dip bar with the 90-degrees angle in the bars, which put extreme strain on your arms and chest muscles.

The second mode changes the dip bar form to a workout bench for the press in an abdominal workout.

This workout target chest and pectoral muscles. It also works on triceps and deltoids.

Benefits

• The V-bar dips help to shape your chest.
• It put more pressure on the outer and lower parts of your muscles.

How to do?

• Stand over a bench and take the V-bar sides, using your elbow point out.
• Put your feet forward and let your chin be on your upper chest.
• Flex the elbows, dip into the bars till you feel the stretch in the outer and chest.
• Get back to starting positing.

Avoid

• Avoid this workout if you have a shoulder problem.
• Jerky and quick movements
• more wide bars
• Hyper stretching while dipping
• forceful locking

Rucksack weighted dips

Rucksack weighted is another dips workout to perform at home. You need to wear a rucksack and attach plates in it. Doing this workout increase pressure on your shoulder, chest, and triceps.

Explosive dips

The explosive dips are an easy way to engage more muscles and gain strength from the regular dip. It manipulates the speed of movement. Doing the movement as fast as possible helps to activate your muscle fibers and leads to extra hypertrophy if you have been working basically slow. Now you are clear that you are already doing weighted dips to prepare for speed training.

Swinging dips

Swinging dips require gymnastic skills to for flexed arm strength. This workout has to perform at 45-degrees with few higher cuts. They are plyometric variation, which creates explosive strength. It is the variation to include in other sports to have an explosive workout for the upper body such as martial arts.

How to Perform Dips at Home?

Dip station

A dip station is a simple and affordable piece of equipment. You can keep it anywhere in the home. These dip stations are portable and last longer. Make sure to know about the exercises you wish to do before buying dip station.

Pros:

• Firm
• Stable
• Can be affordable

Cons:

• Cost (depend on the grading equipment)
• Not all are good for all activities

Two chairs

It is a simple set-up for dips exercise at home. You can use two chairs or similar furniture. You need to keep them at home. Keep them side by side and convenient. You can also carry it while traveling.

Pros

• Easy set-up
• Free if you have chairs at home

Cons

• Not very durable
• Not for advanced progressions

The corner at the kitchen counter

Use your creative ideas at home to find a good place to do the dips. A corner at your kitchen counter can be the perfect place. You can also use a table with curves.  All you need is a place to keep your hands and move the body.  Look around at your home to find a suitable place.

Pros

• Do everywhere at home
• Give the best workout to your muscles

Cons

• Fixed place
• family members may feel weird

What are other Benefits of Dips

Here are some benefits of dips exercise.

Build muscles and strength

Dips at home exercise help build your chest, triceps, and shoulder muscles. It is the best workout to target these muscles.

Compound exercise

Dip exercises are compound workout like bench, squat, and deadlift that require heavy weightlifting because it uses more weight and become stronger faster. It will help in long term use.

Assist in movement

Dip exercises at home help to improve your overhead and bench press. Dips are the best assistance to work out in barbell lifts. They also help to strengthen pressing muscles and increase progress. You can also improve your bench and overhead press by including more weight in your dips exercise.

Easy to add weight

The dip exercises your capacity for taking more weight. You can be able to use a weight vest or weight belt. It creates interest in your workout. Adding some more 45-pounds helps to activate your muscles and let them grow faster. You can use a backpack using heavy books inside at home. As this workout is about power-producing, so you can gradually increase the weight with time.

Multiple dip variations

After getting perfect in normal dip, you can continue adding weight and doing different variations. There are different types of dips, some of which are more challenging and focus on various body parts.

Convenient

The benefit of dip exercise at home also includes convenient timings. You can do this exercise whenever you are free. You don’t require any equipment or group of people to perform this exercise, but you can do it alone. This convenience can help to make a routine of your fitness.

Workout Frequency

 

Dips need more effort from the upper body, and you may experience some soreness after adding exercises in your workout routine. Performing isolated dips set can challenge the muscles and cause soreness, especially when you are a beginner.

Combine this movement into your lifting or normal exercise routine and begin with lower resistance alternative such as a bench or machine.

Performing different low set reps promote the number over time and provide benefits.

As you feel comfortable with reps, you can add resistance until you are ready to manage full-body workout. You have to do general exercise 1-3 times every week and have time for your muscle recovery time. If you feel the pain and strain in the joint than perform only lower impact workout using dumbbell extension.

Having a healthy and strong shoulder can double the strength.