[Goldmund]

Started going to a dirty little gym here in Oaxaca and its perfect.

Only free weights, body weight bars, no air conditioning, and no girls. Great place to get in hard work.

They have bars for dips here and I just did my first few sets today. They felt amazing.

Any tips on making them more effective: posture, what muscles should I be concentrating on, what exercises to pair them with, etc...?

Thanks.

[Goodtimez]

Elbows behind you to hit triceps more, elbows out to sides to hit chest more

put a dumbell between your feet to make it harder. a lot of places have a belt with a chain so you can put a plate between your legs, too. that's better than a dumbell. weighted dips are great.

[Remington]

Emphasize negative reps. With or without weight, it will increase your strength much quicker. Three seconds down, and explode up.

[lowbudgetballer]

I used to these like crazy. I should get back into it. Try moving into all different types of body positions--superman, iron cross, headstand, etc.

'baller

[Jaydublin]

Weighted dips are one of my favorite exercises but I rarely find a gym with a dip bar I like enough to go weighted. My bench was by far the highest at a time when I wasnt all that big but had a great dip bar in my gym and weighted dips were a staple for me.... a couple years later I exceded that body weight by 20 pounds, squated more, deadlifted more, military pressed more, but my bench did not match what it had been previously and I believe it was because I was without a decent dip bar. When using weight I prefer to use a belt to hang the weight rather than use my feet. 1. Because I need more weight than I can hold with my feet. 2. because it sways your body out and you can hit your chest more.

[Vroom]

I use a martial arts belt for weighted dips, and I prefer it over wewight belts for several reasons.

- I already had one so it didn't cost me anything, but if you don't have one, they'd probably only cost 5 bucks or so. Much better than ~50 bucks for a dedeicated weights belt.

- They're strong enough to hang more weight than anyone could ever dip with.

- It shows you're not just a muscle head - you actually know how to use it. Well, so long as you're not using a fresh white belt I guess.

[Bushido]

I'm up to 20+ bodyweight dips. Should I be going weighted by now? Any belt recommendations?

[Vaun]

watch your elbows. you can blow them out, whats essentially tennis elbow, with a lot of high reps. go for 4 sets of 20, then start adding weight for weighted dips. weighted low rep dips will pop your chest and arms.

[redbeard]

agree on working up to 4x20. I'm a big dude and can maybe bust out 10. The key to progression is form, and the key to form is doing them slow. I've been doing some higher volume, lower speed workouts and it really kills your triceps. Dips and push-ups and the most underrated excercises.

Also, that gym sounds awesome!

[Goodtimez]

Over 20 reps I'd throw some weight on

I guess it depends what you're going for, but over 20 probably isn't optimal for either size or strength. Probably other health benefits though. Muscles would build more endurance for one, which is cool

[reaper23]

you could do 5x5 with dips too. just add 5 lbs every time you can do 5x5 of a weight

just start with 5 lbs. in a couple of months you'll be doing serious growth. 3 x per week

between dips and pull ups, you pretty much get everything there. in my maintenance phase now i just add shoulder press to that plus some light accessory work. in and out in 45 minutes.

[redbeard]

yup^^^

Elliott hulse has a great vid about dense workouts like you're talking about.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fIkoqmXW__w

if I'm traveling around and don't have much time, I'll do those four exercises. you can do DL with DB - slow, one legged deadlift:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uA1PLNIWK8

and do clean front squats with DB too. ass to grass. stretch it all the way.

[Exiled Princeling]

(07-22-2014 07:29 PM)Goodtimez Wrote:  

Elbows behind you to hit triceps more, elbows out to sides to hit chest more

In addition to this, leaning forward with legs back emphasizes the chest. Straight body for triceps.

[Switch]

Make sure you minimize swinging. Momentum won't build muscle. Take a short break (1-2 seconds) between each rep to stop the swinging. Then go down slow as fuck. 3 or 4 seconds. Like another poster said explode back up.

[lowbudgetballer]

Whoa, thinking back, I was trying to prep for Ranger School/Ranger Challenge. That was a lifetime ago.

I pyramided pull-up, dip, push-up.

1-3-5
2-6-10
3-9-15
4-12-20

Up to 8 or 10 and back down.

'baller

[StrikeBack]

(07-22-2014 09:25 PM)dreambig Wrote:  

I'm up to 20+ bodyweight dips. Should I be going weighted by now? Any belt recommendations?

Bill Starr said back in the old school weightlifting days at York's Gym, they'd work up to 4x25 bw before adding weights.

If you have weight plates hanging off a belt, make sure to clamp your legs hard on the plate and squeeze your glutes. Don't just let your legs and the plate swing about.

[Jaydublin]

(07-22-2014 08:55 PM)Vroom Wrote:  

- They're strong enough to hang more weight than anyone could ever dip with.

I wouldnt say that... I have seen some gys hang a serious amount of weight.... I used to hang 3 45lb plates off my waist for deep sets of 10.... I imagine that this martial arts belt wouldnt have worked. for me.

[Ostermann]

Dips are pretty much the only way I can hit my underdeveloped pecs. For some reason, I lack in chest development even though I bench good weight. But I started doing dips for 5x5 increasing weight every time, and after a couple of month I can really see progress with chest and triceps.

[Goldmund]

What exercises do you pair them with?

Bench, curls, rows...which days should I be dippin?

[Ostermann]

I do dips after squatting and benching, and finish the workout with weighted ab rollouts (another great exercise).

[Vroom]

(07-23-2014 09:12 AM)Jaydublin Wrote:  

(07-22-2014 08:55 PM)Vroom Wrote:  

- They're strong enough to hang more weight than anyone could ever dip with.

I wouldnt say that... I have seen some gys hang a serious amount of weight.... I used to hang 3 45lb plates off my waist for deep sets of 10.... I imagine that this martial arts belt wouldnt have worked. for me.

You could tow a car with a martial arts belt. The weight will pull your hips out from under you, but the belt just isn't going to break.

[lovejoy]

I alternate dips, pull ups, push ups, works great for the upper body and core

[The_CEO]

You can even do them with a couple of chairs.

[Remington]

(07-23-2014 01:13 PM)Goldmund Wrote:  

What exercises do you pair them with?

Bench, curls, rows...which days should I be dippin?

When I do my weighted dips, I super set with my pyramid bench sets. I think that totals to around 7 or 8 sets. Since you are already hitting your triceps and chest with the dips, do something else that stimulates those muscles. If you don't want to do heavy bench sets with dips, go lighter weight and do close grip bench to put a heavier emphasis on your triceps.