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The tricep dip is one of THE best exercises
for building great mass and shape in the
triceps and building better arms in general.
By using your bodyweight as the load and
moving your body through space, you're
going to hit more muscle fibers than with
most free weight exercises.
A
good example of the power of the dip (and
bodyweight training) is the arms and chest
of a gymnast...LOTS of quality muscle
and most guys would kill to have an upper
body like that a good gymnast.
And
that's what the dip is all about. So getting
right to it, THIS version of the dip is
going to give you an even STRONGER effect
on the triceps than the classic version
of the dip.
All
you need is a power rack and a couple
of Olympic Bars.
The
main trick here is you're going to set
the two bars on a SLOPE. You'll set the
safety rails of the rack to just about
just height, with one side being a notch
or two higher than the other side to create
that slope.
Here
are a couple of views of what it looks
like in the rack...
You
can see in this pic, I've got the higher
ends of the bars together and the lower
ends apart to create a V shape. This is
easier on the shoulders and works the
triceps better.
The
blue things I have stuck on the bar are
called Fat Gripz...they're basically molded
rubber pieces that snap onto the bar to
make it thicker. Gripping on a thicker
surface increases muscle activation in
the hands and forearms (I find it helps
the target muscles as well). I also find
them useful for weighted dips as the thicker
pushing surface is more comfortable on
the hands.
Click
here to learn more about FatGripz and
pick up a pair for yourself. HIGHLY
recommended piece of equpiment.
So
now that you've got the bars set up at
an angle, it's time for the exercise itself.
It's performed basically exactly like
a regular dip...the difference happens
automatically.
Because
the bars are set at an angle, you'll be
putting more pressure on the heels of
the hands. When you put more pressure
on the heels of the hands, I find it automatically
increases tension and activation of the
triceps muscles.
Basically,
more pressure towards the back of the
hand means more tension down the back
of the arm.
You
don't need a sharp angle on the bars...just
a notch or two to get a slight angle is
enough.
(on
a side note, you can turn around and do
chest-focused dips on the upward slope)
Here's
what it looks like...I'm doing these weighted
with 90 extra pounds.
As
you come up to the top, really focus on
sitting back on the heels of the hands
and contracting the triceps hard.
Keep
your body as vertical as possible as you
do these and keep your elbows in close
to your body...that'll keep the focus
more on the triceps. When you lean forward
and put your elbows wide, that hits the
chest more.
Do
these under control and DO NOT bounce
out of the bottom. The bottom position
does put a fair bit of stress and tension
on the shoulder joints and pec insertions
so bouncing is a very bad idea.
So
that's the exercise! It's a standard exercise
made better with a very simple adjustment
to the apparatus you're using.
I
also find the power rack setup to be very
convenient for getting into and out of
position on a dip. And if you don't have
dip handles in your gym, now you've got
no excuse not to do dips :)
