questions on bench dips

[GoLdeN M 07]

1) The bench dip works all the muscles the bench press does but does it do a good job in working the front delts?

2) And a few of u know that my left arm is much weaker than my right. Will doing heavy weighted bench dips help it catch up in strength with my right arm? I can do over 9 or 10 reps with 45 lbs on my lap. I need to know enough weight so i can only do 3-5 reps.

[Stephen Johnson]

1) The bench dip works all the muscles the bench press does but does it do a good job in working the front delts?

Perhaps better, since the arms are kept close to the torso when you perform it. That increases the involvement of the triceps and anterior deltoid, and decreases the involvement of the pecs.

2) And a few of u know that my left arm is much weaker than my right. Will doing heavy weighted bench dips help it catch up in strength with my right arm? I can do over 9 or 10 reps with 45 lbs on my lap. I need to know enough weight so i can only do 3-5 reps.

If you have a weaker left arm, you should do pressing/pulling exercises with dumbbells, iso-lateral machines or cables, where each arm presses/pulls the weight independently. Start out with a weight that the weaker arm can handle, and gradually increase it as the weaker arm gets stronger. When you do exercises like the bench dip, the stronger arm will contribute more to the effort.

Don't worry about the stronger arm not getting trained hard while the weaker arm plays catch-up. You don't want to develop a lobster-claw like imbalance between the two.

[Matt Z]

Bench dips are good for triceps, but not for the deltiods and pectorals. This is because the range-of-motion of the shoulder joint is very short in this exercise. Also, the deltoids are designed primerilly to lift the arm, and in a bench dip your pressing down, not up or straight out.

[GoLdeN M 07]

Alright thanx. I understand. But is there a chance that doing weighted bench dips increase my bench?

[Eric]

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Tri ... chDip.html
good for tri

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Pec ... stDip.html
good or chest

both exrx's have the other as synergists (muscle that helps other to do movement)

[DubDub]

Alright thanx. I understand. But is there a chance that doing weighted bench dips increase my bench?

Stronger tri's are definitely supposed to increase your bench, as they are part of the muscle chain involved in the movement. Like many things, it's not a silver bullet, and not a replacement for actually doing bench presses. If you're interested in increasing your bench, I recommend this program, which I have used, and now would swear by (you've probably seen me say that elsewhere on the boards).

[GoLdeN M 07]

Alright thank u that was the answer i was looking for.

[Stephen Johnson]

Bench dips are good for triceps, but not for the deltiods and pectorals. This is because the range-of-motion of the shoulder joint is very short in this exercise. Also, the deltoids are designed primerilly to lift the arm, and in a bench dip your pressing down, not up or straight out.

When I first included weighted bench dips into my workouts years ago, my delts suffered more from DOMS than my triceps. The tie-in to the pecs was sore, as well. Maybe it's just me and my long arms ;-)

[Matt Z]

If you were lacking flexibility in delts and pectorals, these muscles may have been soar just form the intense stretch.

[Stephen Johnson]

If you were lacking flexibility in delts and pectorals, these muscles may have been soar just form the intense stretch.

I have since graduated from bench dips to weighted dips (3 X 3 with 45 lbs), and I still get DOMS in the same places. ;-)

BTW dips are among the best assistance exercises for the bench press

[Matt Z]

Interesting. Regular dips are supposed to be more of an all around chest, front delts and triceps exercise, while bench dips are generally considered just a triceps exercise.

PS.) I recently started doing Assisted Triceps Dips just to get a feel for the exercise. I expect to soon be doing bodyweight dips and then probably weighted dips, although I intend to keep my reps in the 8-12 range.

[TimD]

Hey Matt, what I do for the higher rep dips is something intermediate between pushups and regular P bar dips. You get a pair of chairs or sawhorses, set them at a width that is comfortable for you, and do pushups.It allows an ROM of the P bar dip, without being as intense, but is much more intense than a regular push up. I do these in lieu of regular P bar dips when going at high volume.
Tim

[Matt Z]

I don't think doing sets of 8 with bodyweight will be a problem, since I can can close-grip bench press my weight for 8 reps.

[Stephen Johnson]

PS.) I recently started doing Assisted Triceps Dips just to get a feel for the exercise. I expect to soon be doing bodyweight dips and then probably weighted dips, although I intend to keep my reps in the 8-12 range.

I just did the 3x3 weighted dip thing a couple of times to test my limits. If I did them regularly, they would destroy my elbows and shoulders.

Cybex has a good assist machine, that I use regularly. 3 sets of 10-12 dips with a 8-10 plate assist (40-52 lbs) , supersetted with pull-ups is a good, fast upper body workout.

[Matt Z]

I've been using a similar machine.