Bench Dips

Triceps
Chest
Shoulders

Equipment: Bodyweight

New to this

Your first bench dips

What weight should I start with on the bench dips?

Bodyweight with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Straighten your legs to make it harder, and put your heels on a second bench once that gets easy. Add a 10 lb plate on your lap only after 15 clean reps with straight legs.

What usually goes wrong on the bench dips?

Sit on the edge of a bench and grip it beside your hips, fingers pointing forward.

Slide your hips forward off the bench, keeping them close to the edge the whole time.

Lower until your elbows reach 90 degrees, elbows pointing straight back.

Press through your palms to lock out.

You should feel this in the triceps. Front-shoulder pinching means your hips drifted too far from the bench.

Most common mistake: letting the hips travel forward, which forces the shoulders into deep extension. Stay within a few inches of the bench.

If both benches are taken

The Parallel Bar Dip is the harder version with your full bodyweight on the arms.

The Reverse Grip Triceps Pushdown trains the same muscle at a load you control.

How to do it

For this exercise you will need to place a bench behind your back. With the bench perpendicular to your body, and while looking away from it, hold on to the bench on its edge with the hands fully extended, separated at shoulder width. The legs will be extended forward, bent at the waist and perpendicular to your torso. This will be your starting position.
Slowly lower your body as you inhale by bending at the elbows until you lower yourself far enough to where there is an angle slightly smaller than 90 degrees between the upper arm and the forearm.
Tip: Keep the elbows as close as possible throughout the movement. Forearms should always be pointing down.
Using your triceps to bring your torso up again, lift yourself back to the starting position.
Repeat for the recommended amount of repetitions.