Dip
Bench dip
Works
Also works
Equipment
How to do it
- Sit at the edge of a bench and place your hands beside your hips.
- Extend your legs forward and slide your hips off the bench.
- Lower by bending your elbows to about 90 degrees.
- Keep your elbows pointing back, not out to the sides.
- Press through your triceps to return to the start.
- Avoid sinking your shoulders toward your ears at the bottom.
Common mistakes
- Flaring the elbows out to the sides
- Lowering too far and stressing the shoulder
- Letting the hips drift from the bench and losing support
What the evidence says
Comparing bench, bar and ring dips with motion capture and EMG, the bench dip drove the shoulder to nearly 90° of extension — considerably more than the other two — and still produced lower peak triceps activation than the bar dip. A worse ratio between what it stimulates and what it demands of the shoulder.
McKenzie A, Crowley-McHattan Z, Meir R, Whitting J, Volschenk W. «Bench, Bar, and Ring Dips: Do Kinematics and Muscle Activity Differ?». International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022. View the study
In a review dedicated to the dip, the authors flag end-range glenohumeral extension as a vulnerable position that the training literature had overlooked. It doesn't say the dip is dangerous: it says depth is the variable to watch, and that nobody had been watching it.
McKenzie AK, Crowley-McHattan ZJ, Meir R, Whitting JW, Volschenk W. «Glenohumeral Extension and the Dip: Considerations for the Strength and Conditioning Professional». Strength and Conditioning Journal, 2021. View the study
What isn't settled: This is the thinnest of the five families. No training study has measured how much dips grow anything, nor compared them against pressing. The forward-lean-for-chest vs upright-for-triceps distinction everyone repeats has never been measured head-on. And no data defines how deep to go: end-range shoulder extension is known to be the sensitive zone, but not at what angle it becomes one.
Other variations
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