Upper body workouts are a great way to strengthen your core, build muscle, and enhance your overall stature. If you wish to directly target a specific part of your body, in this case, your triceps, picking up specific exercises can be beneficial in the long run. Triceps dips are one such body-specific exercise to add to your regime if your wish is to define your arms. This article explores this exercise in more depth to help you understand why adding this to your routine can be a great decision in the long run.
What are Triceps Dips?
This exercise, in simple terms, can be called an inverse push-up. Usually, in most tricep exercises, you have to keep your upper body balanced on a high platform using your arms, with your belly up, and go through the motions of pulling your body up and down. They are also well known under some other names, such as bench dips, chair dips, box dips, bar dips, machine dips, or ring dips.
How to Do It?: Tricep Workouts
- For the first step, you have to set up your workout station and sit on the edge of any weighted bench/chair that you’re comfortable with. You should get a good enough grip on the bench area right next to your hips.
- Ensure that your fingers are exactly positioned at a shoulder-width apart space, your legs are completely straight and your feet are hip-width apart.
- Next, once you are comfortable with the position that you’re in, you have to lift your body. You have to do so by ensuring that you press your palms to the bench where you’re gripping it, and then proceed to slide your body a little forward. Remember, only do this enough so that your back is not touching the bench/chair.
- The form of the arms is essential in all tricep workouts. You have to lower your body down towards the ground while keeping your arms at a 45-90-degree angle.
- Lastly, you have to pull your whole body up back into the position that it was in step 3 and repeat this as many times as you can to finish your desired rep.
If you wish to make your tricep exercises a little easier on the body, just ensure that your feet are positioned closer to your body to lessen the strain you might be facing. One thing to keep in mind though, is that you have to move enough so that your calf and quad do not get shifted from their 90-degree angle.
If you feel that you are ready to take it up a notch, you can make your tricep dips harder by either using a bent-leg position rather than keeping them straight. Another way to increase the strain is by doing weighted dips by placing a weight on your thighs. Incorporating gears like dip machines, dip bars, and /or rings can be another great way to increase the intensity.
Looking into Tricep Dip Benefits
- Targets different kinds of muscles all at once: A tricep di[ can be considered a compound exercise. Aside from targeting your tricep area, it can also help in maintaining and toning up your upper arm, and shoulders too. Due to this, a tricep dip benefits your overall upper body and can be a great addition to your routine.
- Can also be used as a great way to work your chest: The chest muscles can also be targeted while doing a tricep dip for when you go through the motion of leaning forward to complete the exercise rather than directly lifting your body. This can help your chest muscles and core to get activated and strained.
- Boost your overall functional strength: Not only do tricep dips help build muscle and strength in your tricep and shoulder area, but they also, in turn, help train your body for many other commonly done exercises such as push-ups and pull-ups that can usually be hard for somebody who has not trained the shoulder and joint area properly. Other than this, if your functional strength increases in general, daily activities can also become a lot easier on your body.
- Reduces risk of injuries: A stronger chest shoulder and triceps function ensures a lesser risk of injury. If you’re doing tricep workouts regularly, it also ends up benefiting your elbow and shoulder joints’ health as well.
A thing to note is that while triceps depths are extremely beneficial, there are things to keep in mind to ensure that you only do the best tricep exercises. You should avoid hunching up your shoulders, even if the sudden urge calls for it. Dipping too low to the floor can also be harmful and rather than providing benefits, may hurt your shoulders instead. Lastly, you need to understand the limits of your mobility. Going past what you can do might end up causing you more harm and cause extra strain on your muscles
Conclusion
Tricep dips can be a great addition to your workout regimen, especially if you wish to train your arms to help strengthen and tone them up. While effective, a lot of people, especially beginners, might have a hard time doing full reps of this exercise. Don’t worry, for with time, you can find your pace and easily do it as well. All you need to do is be regular and know your limits.
