The parallel-bar dip lowers your whole bodyweight between two bars and presses it back up, and held upright with the elbows tucked it becomes the heaviest triceps exercise most people can do. It is the only bodyweight movement that loads the triceps like a main lift, and it takes weight on a belt cleanly once bodyweight stops being enough.
How to do it
- Stay upright — leaning forward turns this into a chest dip.
- Lower until the upper arms are parallel, then press back up.
Common mistakes
- Dropping below parallel, where the shoulder takes the load instead of the triceps.
What it trains
- Triceps
- extend the elbows to press you back up — the prime mover when the torso stays upright
- Chest
- takes over as soon as you lean forward, which is how the same movement becomes a chest exercise
- Front delts
- work hardest at the bottom, where the upper arm sits furthest behind the body
- Abs
- keep the legs from swinging, which is what turns a dip into a kip
Variations and alternatives
Common questions
How do I dip for triceps instead of chest?
Stay upright and keep the elbows close to your ribs. Leaning the torso forward and letting the elbows flare puts the chest in charge — same bars, different exercise. Bars roughly shoulder width help, since very wide ones force the flare.
How deep should I go?
Until your upper arms are roughly parallel with the floor. Deeper is possible and some people are comfortable there, but the shoulder is at the end of its range under full bodyweight, so it is the first place to cut range if the front of the shoulder complains.
How do I progress once bodyweight dips are easy?
Add weight with a dip belt, a loaded backpack or a dumbbell between the feet. Dips add load very easily compared with most bodyweight movements, and StackUp lets you log added weight on a rep-based exercise so the added kilos show up in your history.
I cannot do a single dip — where do I start?
Use an assisted dip machine or a band across the bars, and do slow lowerings from the top under your own control. Bench dips also build some of the strength, though they are a much lighter version of the same pattern.
In StackUp. Logged as reps per set. Add weight if you use a belt or a dumbbell and StackUp progresses it like any other lift. Get the app.
Arms
