Bench Dips

What the bench dip actually trains

A bench dip is a bodyweight pressing exercise where you support yourself on the edge of a bench with your hands beside your hips, lower your body by bending the elbows, and press back up until the arms are straight.

The triceps brachii does the elbow extension, with all three heads contributing. The anterior deltoid and the sternal fibres of the chest assist, since the arm is also moving relative to the torso, though elbow extension dominates.

The three heads are not interchangeable. Kholinne and colleagues examined their individual contributions to elbow extension and found each plays a distinct role, with the long head, which crosses the shoulder as well as the elbow, behaving differently depending on where the shoulder sits.

That point is the interesting one here, and it is not flattering. In a bench dip your upper arms sit behind your torso, which puts the shoulder in extension and shortens the long head. Maeo and colleagues found that elbow extension trained with the shoulder flexed, that is to say overhead, produced substantially greater long head growth than the same work with the arm at the side. A bench dip goes further in the opposite direction than almost anything else you can do.

So this is largely a lateral and medial head exercise, and it should not be the only triceps work in a programme.

The other thing to understand is the ceiling. What you lift is a fraction of your bodyweight, set by where your feet are, and that fraction does not grow with you. Bench dips are limited by leverage rather than by what your triceps can handle, which is why most people outgrow them within a few months.

Setting up and executing

Sit on the edge of a bench with your hands beside your hips, gripping the edge with the fingers pointing forward.

Walk your feet out until your hips clear the bench. Keep the knees bent for an easier version, or straighten the legs for a harder one. Set the shoulders down away from the ears before you begin.

Lower the hips by bending the elbows, keeping your back close to the bench edge rather than letting it drift forward.

Stop when the elbows reach roughly ninety degrees. There is nothing useful below that.

Press back up by straightening the arms, finishing at lockout without shrugging.

The mistakes that cost you the most

Going too deep is the fault that gives this exercise its reputation. Below about ninety degrees the shoulder is driven into deep extension while bearing load, and the triceps gains nothing from the extra distance. Kolber and colleagues reviewed shoulder injuries attributed to resistance training and flagged loaded end range positions as worth treating with care. Set your depth and hold to it.

Hips drifting away from the bench is the setup version of the same error. If your feet are too far out and your hips travel forward as you descend, the load shifts to the front of the shoulder and the lever gets longer.

Shrugging at the bottom is common and easy to miss. Ludewig and Reynolds described how scapular position relates to shoulder joint problems, and letting the shoulders ride towards the ears under load is the position worth avoiding.

Bouncing out of the bottom removes the hardest part of the rep. Pallarés and colleagues found full range training beat partial range work, and a controlled bottom within a sensible depth is the version of full range that applies here.

Sticking with them too long is the strategic mistake. Once you can perform twenty five clean reps, the set is a conditioning effort rather than triceps training.

Sets, reps and rest by goal

Because the load is fixed by leverage, the honest programming is higher repetition.

For muscle gain, three sets of ten to twenty with ninety seconds rest. For strength, three sets of eight to twelve with two minutes, which only works if you are adding weight. In a fat loss phase, three sets of fifteen to twenty five with a minute.

The progression path is short and you should plan for it. First straighten the legs. Then elevate the feet on a second bench. Then place a plate across your thighs. After that, move to parallel bar dips or a machine, which can be loaded indefinitely.

Schoenfeld and colleagues found a dose response between weekly hard sets and hypertrophy, and bench dips are a cheap way to add triceps sets when equipment is scarce. They are a poor way to add them when a cable station is free.

Refalo and colleagues found stopping a rep or two short of failure produces comparable growth to training to failure. On a bodyweight movement with a fixed load that guidance loosens, since the only way to make a light set hard is to take it close to the end.

Keep the depth honest as you fatigue. The reps that get deeper and sloppier are the ones that cause problems.

Where it fits in your split

After the pressing, as accessory triceps work.

On push, pull and legs they go on push day once the bench and overhead work is done. On an upper and lower split they fit near the end of either upper session. On a bro split they belong on arm day after the loaded triceps work. On a bodyweight programme they are a genuine main triceps movement, because the alternatives are limited.

The real question is whether you should be doing them at all. If you have a cable station, a dip station or a machine, there is very little bench dips do that those do not do better and with kinder shoulder mechanics.

Where they earn their place is in a home gym, a hotel room or a park, or as a finisher when the machines are busy. Judged on that basis they are perfectly good.

Pair them with an overhead extension so the part of the triceps this movement neglects is covered elsewhere.

Variations worth knowing

The feet elevated bench dip puts your heels on a second bench, increasing the share of bodyweight you press and buying a few more months of progression.

The weighted bench dip places a plate across the thighs and is the only genuine way to keep loading the movement, though balancing it becomes awkward quickly.

The parallel bar dip has your hands beside you rather than behind you, a far kinder shoulder position that allows loading with a belt indefinitely.

The triceps dip machine reproduces the pattern seated with a selectorised stack, removing both the leverage ceiling and the shoulder position.

The close grip push-up trains the triceps prone and spares the shoulder the extended position altogether.

And the overhead triceps extension trains the long head at length, which is the thing bench dips are least able to do.

What the evidence says

Kholinne and colleagues examined the role of each head of the triceps brachii in elbow extension and found the three heads contribute differently, which is why shoulder position changes what a triceps exercise trains.

Maeo and colleagues found that elbow extension trained with the shoulder flexed produced substantially greater long head hypertrophy than the same work performed with the arm in a neutral position. A bench dip holds the shoulder in extension, so it sits at the unfavourable end of that spectrum for the long head.

Kolber and colleagues reviewed shoulder injuries attributed to resistance training and identified loaded end range positions as worth treating carefully, which is the basis for limiting depth to about ninety degrees.

Ludewig and Reynolds described the association between scapular kinematics and glenohumeral joint problems, supporting the cue to keep the shoulders set down rather than shrugged under load.

Pallarés and colleagues found full range training produced better strength and hypertrophy outcomes than partial range training, which is why the depth you choose should be reached on every rep rather than shrinking as you tire.

Schoenfeld and colleagues found a dose response between weekly hard sets and hypertrophy, which is the argument for using bench dips as accessory volume when better options are unavailable.

And Refalo and colleagues found stopping short of failure produces comparable growth to training to failure, with the caveat that a fixed light load leaves less room to stop early.

Common questions

How deep should I go?

To roughly ninety degrees at the elbow, and no further. Below that the shoulder is loaded in deep extension while the triceps gains nothing. Pick a depth, reach it on every rep, and do not let it creep as you fatigue.

Why do bench dips bother my shoulders?

Because your hands are behind your body, which places the shoulder in a position it does not tolerate well under load. Keeping your back close to the bench, the shoulders set down and the depth conservative usually fixes it.

How do I make them harder?

Straighten your legs, then elevate your feet on a second bench, then rest a plate across your thighs. That progression buys you a few months, after which you need a dip station or a machine.

Do they train the whole triceps?

No. With the shoulder held in extension the long head is shortened, and Maeo and colleagues found long head growth is substantially better when elbow extension is trained with the shoulder flexed instead. Add an overhead extension somewhere in the week.

How do these compare with parallel bar dips?

Parallel bar dips are better in almost every respect. Your hands sit beside you rather than behind you, the shoulder position is easier to tolerate, and you can add weight with a belt indefinitely. Bench dips exist because a bench is easier to find than a dip station.