Martial Conditioning: Dips

Intro: Dips consist of suspending one's body by the hands between two bars, rings, or chairs, bending the arms to lower the body as far as safely possible, and then pushing the arms to lockout.  Whereas handstand pushups train the smallest stabilizing muscles of the upper body in the extreme overhead range of shoulder flexibility, dips train the largest muscles of the upper body in the extreme backwards range of shoulder flexibility.  In this way, dips train all pressing muscles that are underdeveloped by floor and handstand pushups alone.  In fact, by pairing high volume dips with endurance planks, training regular pushups becomes entirely unnecessary as the upper body and core will be strengthened to a greater degree by this pairing than any volume of regular pushups. 

Muscles Worked: Dips primarily develop the chest, triceps, shoulders, and lats to form a bodybuilder's physique, with a large chest and arms.  In particular, all three heads of the triceps and the chest are greatly stimulated to grow, particularly with a full range of motion.  Secondarily, the rotator cuff, traps, and midsection are activated by high repetition dips. 

Why do Dips? The dip has been described as the upper body squat, as it involves using the arms in an analogous fashion to the legs during a squat.  Similarly to the squat, the dip can provide muscle building or fitness building benefits depending on whether the movement is weighted or unweighted.  The holistic effect of dips owes to the sheer volume of muscle activated by the movement.  The entire front and back of the upper body is taxed by a long set of dips which results in a massive hormonal response and almost immediate development of larger upper body musculature.

Before the bench press became the standard upper body exercise, both the weighted dip and standing overhead press were used to develop gigantic upper bodies during the golden age of bodybuilding.  The dip developed the inner frame on the front of the body, which gave the appearance of thickness and sexual masculinity, while the overhead press developed the outer frame, which has already been explained as an important predictor of martial capacity. 

Meanwhile, in traditional fitness settings such as gymnasiums, physical education classes, and military bootcamps, the dip was used without weight as a replacement for the pushup to build upper body durability.  It is worth noting that high repetition, full range dips will skyrocket pushup performance while the inverse relationship may not apply.  Dip performance can be maintained, but not improved, through the sole use of pushups.

The dip can be used as a sole pressing movement by those trainees who wish to avoid loading the spine, as the body is allowed to hang freely.  This qualifies the dip as the only pressing movement which decompresses the spinal discs, particularly when weights are hung around the waist.

The dip should not be used by those trainees who are overweight, as the combination of a large belly and a large chest can result in a bulky Samoan physique which will accentuate obesity.  Also, the dip should be avoided by those who do not wish to gain muscle, as it will quickly bulk a trainee up in coordination with an appropriate diet.

The dip can be used as an occasional replacement for pushups, a standalone exercise, or as a means of developing shoulder flexibility in those with healthy shoulders. The ring dip can increase full body strength to a greater degree than parallel bar dips by increasing the stabilizing requirements, which also necessarily decreases the amount of anterior muscle sculpting by spreading muscle recruitment more uniformly across the upper and middle body.

Likely Results of Dips: Those who train the dip with either heavy weights or high repetitions will develop fantastic inner frames.  Pictures below show accomplished practitioners of both weighted and unweighted dips.  Notice the tricep, chest, and shoulder development evident across all four exemplars.