dips/benching

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scientific muscle

New Member
I finally modified my power rack so I can do dips. (bought some 1" steel pipes to run across the safety bars, works perfectly and only cost me $15.) I have been missing these for chest/triceps. I have been doing only flat bench presses for pecs with pretty good results, but lately I noticed my upper clavicle pectorals are not growing as fast as my lower pecs, and that I have some weird shoulder sensations when flat benching. I decided to finally get rid of flat bench presses, (hard habit to kick), and replace them with weighted dips for lower chest and triceps; and do 15 degree incline presses for upper pecs. Already I noticed better overall strain on all of my pecs, and no more weird shoulder feelings as I get with flat benching. Also my triceps have been lagging without dips, so I am glad to finally have these in my routine!
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You done good. I would alternate or do d/b presses, inclined, with palms facing each other. I've really been able to feel the pec involvement with these.
 
Where there's a will there's a way! I bet you'll make great gains doing them. You'll need a way to attach a ton of weight too just to make them more fun.
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Nice rack. Mine is all old and rusty. Thanks for the pic, I was having trouble visualizing how you set that up. Right now, I do dips off of my
 
Wow, first day today switching from flat bench to dips, dips kicked my @$$!
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I did 5 sets of 5 reps with only body weight to get used to them.  I got a tremendous pump in pectorals, front deltoids and triceps.  One problem, my front delts were so fried from the dips that I couldn't finish my overhead dumbell presses!  They were already exhausted.  I am currently cutting and I was severely energy-depleted by the end of my workout when I do overhead presses, so this may be the critical factor.  I was just wondering if anybody else noticed if front delts get so much work on dips?  It is probably because my body is not used to them.

Another factor may be the dip bars are too close together, they are 23" apart and I was thinking with my long arms the bars may be too close and thus hitting the front delts more than usual.  What distance are dip bars usually?  Anybody with a (not home-made) dip station at home can measure this for me?  The dips felt great, I just had no idea my front delts would be so involved as they were.

(edit-I forgot to mention my pecs were so fried after dips I also decided to skip the incline bench press today, no need for it!)
 
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(Totentanz @ Oct. 28 2006,22:36)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Nice rack.  Mine is all old and rusty.  Thanks for the pic, I was having trouble visualizing how you set that up.  Right now, I do dips off of my</div>
Dude, I can't believe you just told another dude he has a nice rack...
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I prefer doing dips wide, I can use more weight. Thing that ticks me off is there is no cross-over from dips to bench. Doing heavy dips apparently does nothing to help your bench. I can probably max dips at 105 for 3x5 which is a total weight of 325, yet my bench is a pathetic 235 for 3x5.
 
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(liegelord @ Oct. 30 2006,05:05)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I prefer doing dips wide, I can use more weight.  Thing that ticks me off is there is no cross-over from dips to bench.  Doing heavy dips apparently does nothing to help your bench.  I can probably max dips at 105 for 3x5 which is a total weight of 325, yet my bench is a pathetic 235 for 3x5.</div>
I don't believe that Liege. I skipped bench for a while (except for some light high rep stuff) as my right shoulder was playing up. Dips were OK so I focussed on them. When I came back to bench to see if my shoulder was able to cope, I hit a new PB of 250 for 3x5 (a 15lb increase) but it started to twinge again.
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So for me at least, there was a strength transfer between the two exercises. My tris have really come on from dipping and I think they are often a weak link in benching, helping to prevent stalling out during the top portion of the movement.
 
We all respond slightly differently, as with LOL and Leige. I'm tricep strong, so wide dips are totally needed to isolate pecs...my tricep dip station has handles only 22&quot; apart. I use my bench cradle on my machine for chest dips at 34&quot;.
All need to remember that chest dips are done with the head down, back curved and tri's are done with the head up and back straight.
Scientific Muscle, you probably just have to get used to them. Right now, you're getting results in your chest and anterior delts with a narrow grip that I use for triceps. But this also is dependent on how far apart your shoulder joints are. I may be wider than you, so your setup may be just fine. For you. And you might want to get your shoulder work done earlier, save the dips for later. I've started doing them right after my d/b presses, to pre-exhaust the pecs.
 
Your right Quad, too narrow. I thought it hit my pecs good, but it actually just hit front delts, which tie in at a similar place. I tried 34&quot; on the corner of my deck and it felt much better, so its back to the old drawing board for my dip station. I may just build extensions, I am not sure yet. My front delts are sore as hell today but pecs are not so bad...wrong angle!
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(scientific muscle @ Oct. 30 2006,17:05)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"> I may just build extensions, I am not sure yet.</div>
Can you turn your body 90 degrees and run two more bars across the top of the bars you're holding in the picture? Of course you would have to secure them down, but you could make the width anythign you want.
 
Yeah, I may buy more 1&quot; steel pipes and tees and custom-build it the right width for me. (I have wide shoulders also like leige and quadancer.)
 
Suggestion. If you were to put two pipes over the other pipes, you'd have a problem with them rolling...both directions and apart from each other. Maybe if you have a little room for a rig, you could get two 2x4's and a piece of 2&quot; PVC pipe.
You'd cut two pieces of wood at 37&quot;, and two at about a foot longer than it takes to straddle your two existing pipes.
Then you'd nail the 37's onto the ends of the others, making a box, which would be 34&quot; wide. Next, you could cut two pieces of the PVC about a foot long each and using a jigsaw, sawzall, or rotozip, you'd cut down the length of them two cuts 1-1/2&quot; apart and screw them down atop the long 2x4's...making handles to push on.
Oh wait, if you have access to a router...use a 3/4&quot; roundover bit and just round off both sides of the &quot;handles&quot;. Then get a piece of some 1&quot; or larger foam pipe insulation...and just nail it to the tops with short roofing nails. That would make a really comfortable pad.
 
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(Lol @ Oct. 30 2006,00:20)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I don't believe that Liege. I skipped bench for a while (except for some light high rep stuff) as my right shoulder was playing up. Dips were OK so I focussed on them. When I came back to bench to see if my shoulder was able to cope, I hit a new PB of 250 for 3x5 (a 15lb increase) but it started to twinge again.
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I knew it was just me.
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What is your total for dips compared to bench? Anyone else do both?
 
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Ok, the project is finished, I bought more 1&quot; galvanized steel pipes. Custom cut and threaded them for my personal dip station, with two 1&quot; steel tees to tie it together.  Then I added soft foam pipe insulation for handle-grips.  Now I have a light-weight, commercial strength, removable dip station for my power-rack.  The handle-grips are 32&quot; apart which is perfect for me to develop my pectorals.  It ended up costing me over $50 in materials, but you can't buy a better product for dips, since I custom-built it for me and it can probably handle over 500 lb.s easily.
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Getting familiar with dips in my workouts. I feel I have found the ultimate chest builder! Wide-grip dips are perfect for my shoulder structure to really stress the pectorals. I have quit benching for now, (partly due to rotator cuff issues) and may never do bench presses again. I never particularly like these for pecs, but didn't know what else to do that could use such a large load. Even though I am new to dips, I can already do dips with about 230 lb.s (bodyweight+ 30) for 5 reps. I can only do one or two reps with 230 lb.s on flat bench and it doesn't feel as good to my chest/shoulders. Very happy with these.
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