Redux — Great forgotten exercise that most folks never knew to begin with: parallel bar dips
17 January 2007If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Parallel bar dips are without doubt one the best exercises I’ve ever used. Nowadays this magnificent compound, multi-joint exercise rarely makes it into the starting lineup of the modern trainee’s training regimen. Dips are super effective because they require three separate sets of muscles to work in muscular coordination in order to complete the muscular task: the pectorals power the motion in the bottom, the frontal deltoids kick in during the exercise mid-range and the triceps have got the fire in order to lock the dip out. Like other bodyweight exercises (chins, pull-ups, push-ups, squats) you have to be able to handle your own bodyweight and this causes most trainees to take a pass on dips. Too bad for those that eschew dips as this exercise is wondrous for causing muscular contraction in the pecs, delts (to a lesser degree) and most particularly in the triceps. Many commercial gyms have a fancy-dan “gravitron” machine (I want to get paid for coming up with exercise machine names…how about the generic Herculean Turbo Eliminator) that allows the user to dip or chin with less than body weight. A correctly done dip has two distinct range-of-motion (ROM) rep-stroke lengths: either drop down until upper arms are parallel to the floor before pushing upward or go down as far as possible, allowing the bodyweight to stretch and pull the body downward, before commencing the push portion. Both the parallel and extended dips work the triceps exquisitely. Regardless the ROM selected lock out hard at the top of every rep and hold that flexion for a beat before lowering. The parallel tricep dip is mainly a tricep exercise. The full dip is an entirely different animal. By lowering down as far as humanly possible and often you have to actually relax the muscles of the shoulder girdle in order to achieve the maximum low position – three different muscles are stimulated to a significant degree.
In the extended ROM dip as you start to arise the chin is kept on the chest with the eyes looking down. The athlete ‘leans’ into the dip and this triggers the pectoral muscles; unless the pecs contract strongly you cannot rise from upper arms below parallel to the floor to arms parallel to the floor. As you rise from the low position to the mid-point, throw the chin skyward, lean back slightly and finish the exercise exclusively using the triceps. Again, for maximum tricep stimulation lock the arm out completely and hold this maximum flexion for a full beat before lowering. A lot of really strong guys can do dips while wearing a belt that allows them to dangle extra poundage around their waist. This way they are able to handle more poundage than their bodyweight. The great strength athlete of the 50’s, Marvelous Marvin Eder could dip rep with 200 pounds strapped to his 200 pound body. Pat Casey, arguably the best bench presser of all time, could dip with a 150 pound dumbbell tied to his 320 pound body. I advise you start off with the much-easier parallel dip for a few months before tackling the much more difficult extended ROM dip. No extra weight is used in the extended dip as the extreme low point is precarious and tricky and would be dangerous if poundage were added to the equation. Never ever bounce out of the bottom in a dip as this could easily lead to shoulder joint injury or socket dislocation. Those who bounce out of the turn-around in order to generate upward momentum are playing with fire.
My suggestion for smart trainees seeking to include dips in their training is to start by adding 2-3 sets of parallel dips. Forget about poundage for the first year: seriously. Instead, once the parallel dip is mastered, look to master the extended ROM dip. From lockout slowly lower yourself down until you can go no further. The upper arms will now point downwards and you will feel a terrific stretch in the shoulder girdle. Push up using a slow application of pure power. It takes many months performing parallel dips to build enough strength to do an extended dip. One way to acclimatize the body is to gradually drop lower in the parallel dip until sufficient strength is built in the lowest parts of the rep stroke. I prefer to place dips after chest work and before tricep isolation exercises. For a myriad of reasons chest exercises are logically followed by tricep exercises. The finest segue from pure pecs to isolation tri exercises is the dip. The extended dip requires that pecs, delts and triceps, the prime bench press movers are stimulated in reverse order. In the properly performed bench press the pecs are stimulated to the greatest degree with the front deltoid and tricep receiving significant, but secondary stimulation. In a properly performed extended ROM dip the triceps receive the lion’s share of stimulation with the pecs and front delts getting a smaller. but still significant share of muscular stimulation.
Here’s a tip from the Purposefully Primitive Handbook of old Indian tricks: start off with a set or two of ultra-deep dips and as they become impossible due to fatigue, switch to parallel dips so as to keep the dip party train rolling. Once you burn out on dips start the heavy tricep work such as nose-breakers and standing overhead tricep extensions using a single dumbbell. If you still have the gas, inclination and time finish off with a few sets of cable tricep pushdowns using different exercise varieties and hand spacing. Happy dipping!
Tags:Popularity: 4% [?]
Related Posts:
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
