6 Benefits of doing Dips

With so many exercises to choose from when training, it becomes difficult to create a workout plan with the most effective exercises that will bring you the best results.

Today, we’re going to talk about an exercise that is extremely effective for upper body training.

However, it is not as adopted as it should be.

The exercise in question is the chest/tricep dip.  

Therefore, we listed 6 reasons why you should incorporate dips into your workout plan!

1. Allows you to add extra weight

Dips are a challenging exercise as is, by only using your body weight. However, there will come a time when you need extra resistance. Then, you should add extra weight.

One of the positive things about dips is that it is quite easy to add extra weight. You can wear a dumbbell between your legs, a weighted backpack, weighted vest, or wear an appropriate belt where you put plates on.

2. They are superior to push-ups

Push-ups are an excellent bodyweight exercise.

However, they aren’t nearly as good as dips.

With dips, you are lifting the full weight of your body (plus the extra weight you add). With push-ups, you’re only lifting a portion of it. It’s true you can add weight to push-ups, but it’s not always practical. Moreover, it does not work so much on muscle stability, flexibility, and wrist strength.

3. It's a compound exercise

Compound exercises are superior to isolation exercises in almost every respect - you build more strength, muscle, and burn more calories.

These exercises also allow you to work several muscles at once, in this case, your shoulder, chest and triceps muscles.

4. Very customizable

There are plenty of ways to do dips.

As we already mentioned, you can add extra weight to dips.

You can also lean forward a little to work more of your chest muscles, or you can be more upright and have your hands closer to work more of your triceps muscles.

You can also change the equipment you use to make the exercise easier or harder. If you are just starting out, start by using parallel bars. If you are more experienced and want to challenge yourself, try the CrossFit rings.

5. Increase flexibility

In addition to gaining muscle mass and strength in the upper body, dips are an excellent exercise to increase your flexibility, especially in the shoulders and wrists.

6. They help reduce injuries

Dips are also a great way to make your joints stronger - wrists, elbows, and shoulders.

In addition, it’s an exercise that uses plenty of stabilizing muscles, which will result in a more developed upper body. With stronger joints and developed stabilizing muscles, you will be less susceptible to injury when doing other exercises.

Conclusion

Regardless of your fitness goals, dips are a great addition to the workout plan.

Even if you've never done dips, you can start practicing with parallel bars to gain experience and progressively overload in weight.

If you’re already more advanced and want to take your dips to the next level, then the CrossFit rings are for you! It’s a version of the dips that require more balance, coordination, stability, and strength.

Good workouts!