How To Do A Tricep Dip

In general, health and fitness can be defined as: staying active, eating right, and sleeping well in order to live a long, happy, and healthy life. However, this is not always the case.

At times, it is only about building up the muscles in your arms, and more specifically those in your triceps. You therefore should not shy away from the triceps dip when trying to achieve this goal.

People are prone to making the mistake of focusing only on their biceps and forgetting to work on their triceps.

Despite the fact that many people believe otherwise, it is actually true that your triceps are in fact bigger than your biceps. So stop forgetting about your triceps!

What Is The Tricep Dip?

Often described as an upper body push exercise, tricep dips are an exercise that primarily targets the triceps which are located in the back of the upper arm.

It is especially important to have strong triceps so you can get up from the floor, sit in a chair and even assist you in daily tasks, like pushing a shopping cart from time to time.

Performing Tricep Dips

Some of the best compact home gyms include dip stations where you can easily do your tricep dips at home. However, ultimately, It doesn't matter how and where you perform this exercise. Arm position is the key to a good dip. Ideally, you should dip from a stable surface or bench with your hands shoulder-width apart, and with your arms straight, pointing toward the ground.

Maintain a tight and defined body by squeezing your core and glutes, then raising your chin and chest. Afterwards, you will begin bending your elbows to begin the move. Your arms should come to a 90-degree angle when you do this.

Keep your core and glutes tight to prevent your legs from swinging as you press back up from the bottom. Take a one or two count pause at the bottom, then press back up powerfully.

The best thing you can do is to not lock out your arms completely at the top. Keeping your elbows bent slightly at the top will force your triceps to work much harder. This is the key to doing the exercise correctly and you will notice this tension the more repetitions you complete.

The more time your triceps spend undergoing tension, the more likely they are to put on new muscle tissue. When you lower your body as slowly as possible, you are exposing them to the most stimulation possible.

In order to build up to four seconds, start with two seconds at a time. Make sure to keep your shoulders relaxed as you lower yourself down. Failing to do this will result in potential injury.

Setting Goals

If it is your first time trying out tricep dips, then you should consider trying to complete three sets of eight dips, or at least until you can’t dip anymore.

After completing this exercise, it is important to rest and not overwork your muscles, because this can be damaging to your body. Increasing your repetitions gradually is good, but you should also give yourself a rest day or two to recover.

Tips To Help Technique

Grip

Dips can be performed using parallel bars, which are the most effective. When your hands are placed at the right distance apart, the bars should be no wider than your forearm.

If the bars are any wider apart, your tension will go away from your triceps, and will shift to your shoulders, which can cause your shoulder joints to become over-stressed.

Abdominals

During the entire set, it is essential to keep your abs engaged from the moment you start the set until the moment you finish. Gaining strength and proficiency with bodyweight exercises depend on bracing your abs effectively.

By doing more planks, you will be able to engage your abs better. This will be beneficial in completing tricep dips the more you do them.

Shoulders

In order for you to do the dip correctly, you must work on your shoulders because they must remain in position the whole time, as well as being pushed forward and downwards.

Try keeping your head as far back as possible with your chin up, and do not let your chin move towards your chest as you hold your head still with your neck tense.

Lower yourself until your shoulders are level with your elbows, but do not lower yourself further because you risk straining your shoulder joint and releasing tension from your triceps.

Elbows

It is important to keep your elbows tucked into your torso as much as possible and make sure they do not flare out to the sides.

The following will enable you to keep more tension on your triceps and reduce the likelihood of any potential stress being placed on your elbows and shoulders.

Toes

Keeping your toes pointing straight down will ensure that you feel a full sense of tension throughout your entire body. In general, people always try to make bodyweight moves easier, but this can have the opposite effect of making them more efficient.

By making your workout harder and putting the maximum amount of tension on your target muscles, such as the triceps in this case, you are making them work harder and that's what is going to provide you with the best results.

Variations Of The Tricep Dip

• Bench dip with knees bent - Lie on your back with your hands placed on a bench or a box behind you, and your feet with bent knees together and flat on the floor behind you.

Slowly lower yourself as far as you can, then push yourself straight back up. By placing your legs in this position, you can lift less body weight, which is good for beginners.

• Bench dip with legs straight - Your hands should be on a bench or box behind you and your feet should be together, your legs straight and your heels on the ground. Bend your knees slowly and press back up as forcefully as you can.

The lifting and lowering of a higher proportion of your own bodyweight in this variation can be slightly more challenging, but it is still a basic variation of the tricep dip.

• Bench dip with legs raised - Sit on a slightly lower bench or box with your feet together and your knees bent, holding your hands behind you. Slowly lower yourself and then push vigorously upwards again.

You have to lift and lower a greater amount of body weight when your feet are elevated, making the variation more difficult than a regular foot raise.

• Parallel bars dip - Raise your body until your arms are straight as you grasp parallel bars with an overhand grip. As you slowly lower yourself, make sure your chest stays up, and engage your core.

Press back up quickly once you've lowered. It may seem like an easy exercise, but if you master the technique, you can gain strength and size in the backs of your upper arms.

This is the classic triceps dip. Before you do this exercise, it is a good idea to warm up your elbows and shoulders as well as your triceps. You can even add a weight belt to increase the difficulty, but you need to stick to the same technique and be confident to try it.

Summary

This guide has been made to help you understand how to successfully do a tricep dip effectively. As part of this workout, we have made sure to provide you with a list of tips on improving technique, as well as breaking down the steps along the way to completing each rep.

The most important thing to remember when doing tricep dips is that you must rest your body afterward. The importance of this cannot be overstated.