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Before the dawn of man (or possibly since last week), I’ve always appreciated the massive benefits of dips and the awesome results they can deliver.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a bit of a dip freak. In fact, if I could only do three exercises for the rest of my life. Then dips would be right up there on my list of go-to exercises.
Just to give you a little insight. At my peak, I could easily rep out thirty or more parallel bar dips with damn dear perfect from.
To be honest, I even hit a point where I managed to get around 40 solid reps on my first set when I was feeling fresh.
But over time, I kinda hit a snag in my training, so I eventually decided to mix things up a little and experiment with new variations of the dip.
So much, in fact, that I actually started coming up with new and creative ways to practice dips to get the most out of my workouts.
And that’s kind of how this blog post came about.
So today, not only am I going to reveal the incredible benefits of dips. I’m also going to show you how to adapt and mold them into a killer workout routine that defies the laws of time and space.
Some of the things you’ll be familiar with and some you won’t.
But I promise by the time we’re done, you’ll be well on your way to understanding the real benefits of dips and what they can do for your body.
Let’s get cracking…
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Table of Contents
6 Impressive Benefits Of Dips
Now, there are several benefits to almost every type of exercise.
But when practiced consistently, you’ll find that dips (specifically parallel bar dips) are on an entirely different level.
And here’s why…
Easy To Load
So the first and not so obvious benefits of dips are the ability to load the exercise to work across multiple rep ranges.
Now, if you’re relatively new to dips, then the standard parallel bar dip might be a little intimidating. But as you start to get stronger, you’ll quickly outgrow it and need to find new ways to challenge yourself.
And there are 3 ways you can do this…
- You can incorporate weighted calisthenics
- You can practice alternative dip progressions like straight bar dips and muscle-ups
- Or, you can use a combination of both to really kick things up a few levels
Personally, I like to utilize weighted calisthenics by using both a dip belt and a loaded backpack.
Over time this has helped me increase my pushing strength to near-insane levels while adding a nice bit of size to my chest and triceps.
But whatever way to decide to load this exercise. Just make sure you’re not overdoing it by adding more than you can handle.
Awesome Mass & Strength Builder
When it comes to building colossal size and strength in your chest and triceps, I’ll bet my big toe that nothing comes close to dips.
Why?
Because if you were to compare it to the standard pushup. You’re essentially lifting double the amount of weight since your body is forced to move through space without any additional support.
If you’ve ever performed dips consistently for weeks or even months at a time, you’ll know exactly what I mean. You’re chest and triceps can blow up big time.
Especially if you do them often enough.
And again, if you add weighed dips into the mix, you’ve got a killer combination for adding huge slabs of lean muscle to your oh so sexy frame.
It’s An Amazing Core Workout (when done correctly)
Now, most people wouldn’t associate dips with working the core.
And to be honest, if you’re just performing standard parallel bar dips, then you probably won’t feel the benefit.
But when done correctly, there are actually a few quick tweaks you can implement to turn this exercise into a killer core workout.
Your first option (again) is to utilize weighted calisthenics.
And when I say weighted, I’m talking about really loading the body up with 100-pound or more of substantial weight.
An additional load this heavy practically forces your entire core to stabilize the surrounding muscles. Making it an all-round complete upper body workout in itself.
The second thing you can do is leverage your body to further engage your core.
The most effective way to do this is…
- Tuck your knees towards your chest
- Hinge at the hips to create a slightly forward lean
Fundamentally, if you hinge at the hips before commencing the initial lowering phase of the dip. It automatically places more load on your anterior deltoids (front shoulders).
But the other thing it does equally well is activate your core muscles the further forward you lean.
Better still, if you adopt the hinge position while tucking your knees up towards your chest. It places even more load on both your anterior delts and core stabilizers.
Some people tend to feel the effects more than others with this. But if your core strength is lacking, I think you’re be surprised at the impact these two simple things can have on your midsection.
It’s also a key progression to being able to perform a planche. So if you’re interested in learning new calisthenics skills, then this will be right up your street.
The picture below is a prime example of what I’m talking about here. (see image)
Notice the tuck and the slight forward lean.
This is what you should be aiming for every time.
Great For Supersets & Dropsets
Over the years, superset and dropsets have been widely used in the fitness industry because of the time they save. And the fat-burning effects they have on your body.
Now, if you don’t know what a superset or a dropset is, let me quickly enlighten you.
Basically, a superset is where you perform two exercises back to back with no rest between.
A killer example of an effective superset (and also my favorite) is the combination of pullups and dips.
Now, because pullups are an upper-body pulling exercise, and dips are an upper-body pushing exercise. They’re actually working opposing muscle groups every time you perform them.
- Pullups (Back Biceps)
- Dips (Chest & Triceps)
What this does is allows your pulling muscles to rest while you’re performing dips and vice versa.
Not only does this cut your workout time nearly in half. It also spikes your heart rate to near catastrophic levels. Massively increasing your fat-burning potential for the duration of the workout.
WATCH VIDEO: Discover How To Build Huge Slabs Of Muscle, Extreme Power, And The Ripped Torso Of A Spartan Warrior Using Nothing More Than A Bar And Your Own Bodyweight…
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Dropsets, on the other hand, are basically the de-loading of an exercise as your body fatigues.
This is quite common in the weight room where you’ll see guys running the dumbbell rack performing bicep curls.
Basically, they’ll start with a heavy load and perform curls until they can do any more reps.
They’ll then drop the weight and move on to a lighter set of dumbbells until again, they can’t do another rep.
This will happen multiple times until they’ve completely exhausted the muscle with a relatively light weight giving them the ultimate pump for their efforts.
So how do you include this into your dip routine?
Two ways, my little golden flower…
The first way, and I know I’ve already talked about this multiple times, is to use weighted calisthenics.
Now, remember how I said I like to add a dip belt and a weighted backpack to my dip workout.
Well, at the end of all my sets, I like to add a quick finisher where I rep out my last set until failure.
Then what I’ll do is remove the weighted backpack and again, do as many dips as I can until I can’t perform another rep.
I’ll then finish up by removing the dip belt and hammering out one last set of dips until every muscle in my body burns with intensity.
When you train this way, it makes sure that absolutely nothing is left in the tank by the end of your workout.
Now, the other thing you can do to add dropsets to your dip workout (without adding weight) is to use multiple dip variations to achieve the same effect.
For instance, you could work your way through the following…
- Parallel Bar Dips (knees tucked)
- Uneven Parallel Bar Dips (shifting your bodyweight from side to side with each rep)
- Standard Parallel Bar Dips
- Bench Dips
Now, ideally, I’d recommend taking 10-15 seconds of rest between each drop before you get back to it.
This is because moving directly from one variation to the next is quite fatiguing. And you won’t achieve nearly as many reps as you could if you were to perform them with no rest in between.
But ultimately, you should do what works for you. So if you want to smash through the lot without taking a quick breather, then, by all means, go for it.
You Can Get Creative
Probably one of the best benefits of dips is the ability to get creative with your workout.
Initially, I wasn’t going to add this as a benefit because a lot of what I’m about to say talks about other exercises you can add to the parallel bars other than dips.
But for the sake of education, I think it’ll be worthwhile for you to get a sense of what can be accomplished using this piece of equipment if you’re willing to think outside the box.
Now, some of the things I’ve already covered. Like holding the tuck position and/or hinging at the hips to further engage your core.
But other than this, you can actually use the bars to perform additional core exercises like L-sits, leg raises, and even bodyweight rows if your feeling up to it.
I little routine I like to add to the parallel bars is the perform a set number of dips (let’s say 5 for argument’s sake). And then transition into an L-sit to add an extra element of core work to the exercise.
Sometimes I’ll even go one further by almost maxing out on dips. Then quickly follow it up by holding an L-sit for as long as I can.
After that, I’ll transition again into a tuck L-sit…
…Followed by leg raises until failure.
And then finish up by performing knee raises to really smash my abs to smithereens.
I picked up the idea from Chris Heria over at Thenx, and I can honestly say that this little routine has changed the way I workout on the parallel bars for the better.
If you’re really feeling up to it, you could even attempt dips while holding a full-blown L-sit.
I’ve only tried this once, by the way, and I’ll be honest, it wasn’t the best experience of my life.
But if you want to see how it looks in action, then look no further than this crazy video below…
Disclaimer: This is an advanced exercise that requires a lot of shoulder stability and strength. So don’t go diving headfirst into this exercise if you’re not ready.
Strength Carryover
Last up on the list of dips’ benefits, I just want to touch on the strength carryover it can provide once you reach a certain level.
Now, I’m not really a big fan of the bench press.
I don’t know why but the idea of lying down a flat bench and pushing a barbell isn’t exactly my idea of fun.
I’m all about functional training, and that’s why dips and pushups will always be my go-to choice of exercise.
However, there are a few occasions where I’ve broken this golden rule. And stepped away from the world of calisthenics to hit the gym with one or more of my buddies.
And every time I’ve done this, I’ve always been surprised at how much I can actually bench.
It just goes to show how much functional exercise like dips can carry over to other exercises when you add some form of strength training into the mix.
Taking your Dip Workout To The Next Level
Hopefully, everything I’ve highlighted above will give you more than a few ideas to spice up your dip routine.
When done right, the benefits of dips go way beyond just a basic bodyweight exercise into a completely new and exciting level if you’re willing to try new things.
But before you hit the back button and leave my website forever. Here’s something that might give you a competitive edge when it comes to increasing your strength and learning advanced bodyweight exercises that will impress the neighbors.
It’s called Bar Brothers The System
In a nutshell, it’s a pretty awesome calisthenics program that shows you how to go from zero to hero and perform incredible feats of strength like the planche, front lever, muscle-up, plus other equally impressive skills.
Now, I don’t personally know you. But, because you landed on this page, I can only assume that you’re at least a little interested in learning how to best implement calisthenics into your life.
And this program is something that will take that learning to an entirely new level.
I could bang on all day about how this program will benefit you, but to be honest, it’s not really my style. So instead, I’ll just leave you with the video below so you can check it out for yourself…
Here it is…
WATCH VIDEO: Discover How To Build Huge Slabs Of Muscle, Extreme Power, And The Ripped Torso Of A Spartan Warrior Using Nothing More Than A Bar And Your Own Bodyweight…
(Video Will Open In A New Window)