Most lifters don’t get the full benefits of doing dips because they use lousy form and don’t do them properly.
I’ve seen many lifters over the years try to do dips, and most of the time their ego takes over. They don’t want to look bad even though success requires struggle. Who cares how it looks at the start of the journey when the end result could make you elite?
If you are only doing quarter reps, you are cheating yourself. And if you never try to add weight to the dip belt, your pecs, front delts, and triceps don’t have any real reason to grow.
The problem is that most lifters, especially my male brethren, sacrifice form to use weights they can’t handle. Terrible form combined with heavy weights can eventually lead you to the ER.
How To Do Dips Properly
Dips are a classic upper body exercise that builds the pecs, front delts, and triceps. To perform dips, you have to follow these cues.
1) Proper Positioning At The Start To Do Dips Properly
If your dips start bad, they will end bad. The primary cues to follow when starting dips are:
• Squeeze the bars
• Feet straight or crossed
• Core tight, body rigid
• Chin slightly down
2) Keep Your Elbows Close To Your Body
As you descend on a dip, you want to be in the strongest possible position. When your elbows stay closer to your body, you’ll get a more balanced distribution of strength from the pecs, front delts, and triceps.
Having your elbows flared out is not necessarily wrong; it just changes what muscles are primarily stressed. When you descend, you want to:
• Elbows stay close to the body
• Controlled descent
• Explode up from the bottom
3) The Biceps Connect To The Forearms
Using a full range of motion will separate the contenders from the pretenders in the iron game.
Any ego lifter can load a 45 lb plate onto a dip belt and do quarter reps. But can the same meathead get deep down in the pocket and actually press themselves back to the top? To complete a proper dip, you must:
• Lower down until your biceps connect with your forearms
• Then explode up
This type of accountability in the gym eliminates quarter reps, ego lifting, and the appearance of being stronger than you actually are. Fake hustle and real results cannot coexist.
If you’re not hitting depth, you’re not doing dips. Once you perform dips properly, you will progress from bodyweight dips to weighted dips.
If you do not have the strength to complete a dip on day 1, use a resistance band to assist you. They didn’t have resistance bands when I came up, so take advantage of modern tools to make better progress.
The Fact Of The Matter
Half-reps also prepare you for a total disaster when you finally perform a full rep. I remember seeing an iron brother on social media who had been performing half-reps in the bench press.
One day, some of the local meatheads in Philadelphia decided to have an impromptu bench press competition at the local commercial gym. They put the film of the competition on social media.
They were going to try to max out with 405 lbs on the bench press. The guy who I saw on social media was actually in this farce of a contest. He had easily performed half-reps with 315 lbs, 355 lbs, and 385 lbs with little to no effort.
He was cocky and thought his strength matched that of Luke Cage. But the 405 lb bench press had to be a full rep to the chest for the impromptu meathead challenge.
The second he passed the halfway point, you saw his chest instantly fold in and turn purple. The man unfortunately suffered a torn pec. His chest had obviously never felt the full range of performing a proper bench press. For that, he paid a very steep price.
I hate to see any lifter get injured, especially when the injury was completely preventable. Although many cats in the game have a ton of false bravado, you cannot let your ego get the best of you in the iron game.
The Last Rep
You have plenty of time to get stronger and add weight to your dips. But it only takes one preventable injury to shorten or end your lifting career.
Don’t sacrifice form to look good in front of the general gym population. Their opinion of you is irrelevant. What truly matters is the end result, which is how you look and perform.
If you are ready to learn proper form and build your best physique, my 21-Day Fit program is the ideal starting point.
I’ll holla at you next time.
The People’s Trainer,
Fitman
