today i'm going to share with you the 10 most common dip mistakes
most people make and they're easily avoidable i'm going to
be teaching you perfect technique so you get faster results and more
progress all right everyone quick question for you what is the most common dip mistake that you
see especially one that could be easily avoided comment below and let's get into the video what
i'd like to discuss first with the calisthenics dip is range of motion now this principle on the
surface seems so basic use a full range of motion but most people make mistakes when it comes to
their dips just because they're looking for ways to make the exercise easier and the first way in
which it does so is quarter range of motion they only bend their arms down a little bit
and then go back to the top that rather pump out more repetitions by using a smaller range of
motion than doing the exercise authentically a second common mistake that people make
is quarter reps at the bottom range of motion the myth is that you can target a muscle to a
greater extent because it's remaining on tension at all times people believe that your chest
is going to be targeted more by staying in the deep position and not locking out now that i've
shown you the mistakes when it comes to range of motion for dips i want to show you how to choose
the perfect technique for you you want to use the maximum range of motion that your mobility permits
the reason why we want to do this is to get a full stretch through our working muscles and the goal
for most people should be about 90 degrees of shoulder extension deeper is even better if you
can achieve it pain-free if you're feeling elbow or shoulder discomfort or joint irritation that
is a sign you've gone too deep just choose what is comfortable for you i really want to drive
home the point about fully locking the elbow every single rep if you are missing that lockout at the
top it's inconsistent you're not using that full range of motion we know that it is very important
for rep to rep consistency and getting the most out of your upper body muscles absolutely must
lock out the next surprisingly common mistake that people make with dips is uncontrolled eccentrics
this mistake happens whether you're a beginner or someone who's advanced and it's pretty normal when
we get tired to start trying to cut corners people dive bomb into the bottom of the dip
and then come back up you're robbing yourself of potential hypertrophy muscle mass gains
in that important negative you're robbing yourself of the opportunity to build strength
in that negative every time it's an opportunity on the way down as well as the way up to get stronger
more importantly for everyone watching if you're dive bombing into your dips with an uncontrolled
negative a fast eccentric you're going to increase your injury risk unnecessarily this
puts a lot more strain on your shoulder and elbow joints those passive structures because you're
not using your muscles as breaks whether you're a beginner or someone advanced whether you're doing
body weight dips or heavy weighted dips respect the negative and you're going to get so much more
results less injury and you'll thank me later for it after hearing me warning you about uncontrolled
negatives you're probably wondering what tempo should you use basically just use control you
don't have to go down super slow taking like eight seconds to do your negative extremes are cool
just use control use a moderate tempo apply that full range of motion and that is going to create
the environment necessary for muscle and strength gain don't over complicate it on the surface dips
look like a very simple exercise you go down you come up but when it comes to the lean many people
make mistakes the first way is leaning too far forward the reason people think leaning forward
is effective for dips is they believe that it's going to put more stress on their chest and their
shoulder muscles although this might be somewhat true for body weight only the problem is with this
type of technique it's not very safe or effective when you get stronger when you're starting to go
a lot deeper when you're adding additional load to the exercise keep in mind if you choose to do
forward lean dips it has a risk to reward ratio if you want to increase intensity over time through
increased range of motion or adding weight to the exercise it comes with more potential for injury
specifically regarding the shoulder joint leaning really far forward puts a ton of strain on this
anterior capsule of the shoulder so it is much better to use a neutral technique to minimize this
anterior strain and put more of the stress onto your deltoids your chest and your triceps it's
honestly not worth the trade-off in my perspective the other technical mistake that people make with
dips is leaning too far backwards the mistaken belief is that this is going to increase the
tricep activation but for anyone that has actually tried this type of form it is a lot more difficult
to achieve depth it creates a lot more stress on the elbow joint and there's a much better
way to do it let's keep things big picture when it comes to perfect dipping technique just go
straight down that's going to allow you to get the maximum range of motion feel the most comfortable
in your shoulder and elbow joints and maximize your mechanical tension in your muscles it's the
best way to keep making progress a huge mistake with dips is using momentum or kipping you'd
say that this is one of the biggest sins when it comes to exercise form is a very common mistake
you definitely need to avoid these mistakes a mistake to keep an eye out for is arching the back
during dips why this happens is when fatigue sets in picture yourself in the bottom of a dip the way
that the body compensates to get through the entire range of motion is by arching the back
using the back extensors to complete the exercise keep an eye out for this and do not make this
mistake the other mistake you're going to see with dips is using momentum via kicking with the legs
this is a huge mistake because you're robbing yourself of the opportunity to build strength
especially out of the bottom you'll see people get to the bottom and then kick aggressively with
the legs this isn't crossfit we don't use momentum we've got to use strict form in order to maximize
strength and muscular size with calisthenics a common mistake or a way of cheating when
it comes to especially weighed calisthenics is a dipping technique where the shoulders
go forward and the hips go back what's happening here is those two movements at the opposing joints
essentially cancel each other out you're not actually getting a full range of motion
this is how people cheat to increase the weight without necessarily getting the full results that
a full range of motion dip provides keep that one in mind the final mistake that i want to mention
which is very common to see is the swinging dip people move in a pendulum essentially rocking
back and forth throughout their dips this goes alongside the uncontrolled eccentric
and just using a swinging or momentum motion to get oneself through the exercise without actually
using muscular control and reaping the benefits that strict technique actually provides a lack of
consistency when it comes to dipping technique is a very common and easily avoidable mistake
i'm talking inconsistent tempo some reps are fast some reps are slow we see inconsistent technique
as well sometimes people are locking out all the way sometimes they're getting a partial lockout
sometimes they go down halfway sometimes they go down all the way you really need
to use a consistent technique every rep every workout because this way you can measure your
progress objectively you know that you're actually progressing if you're inconsistent you're going to
get inconsistent results i'd like to continue our dipping discussion by talking about the grip and
also the technique in terms of what is best for you should you use a wide grip should you use
a narrow grip it's one of those things you need to choose based on your anthropometry everyone's
different everyone has different limb lengths and preferences so for you if you're comfortable doing
your dips on this arrangement it doesn't give you any shoulder or elbow pain but moving here does
this is the option for you and vice versa if you find that this is giving you issues but if you're
doing your closer grip technique and it feels comfortable go for that the big picture thing
is you don't want to use a technique just because someone said it's best whether it's a friend or
some expert that you've seen on the internet you need to go with your body you know your body best
choose what is most comfortable choose what you're strongest with and that's going to
give you the best results and long-term progress just another extra point that i want to share with
you when it comes to dips don't think that you have to do them always facing this way
as you can see from the bars it orientates itself in a certain direction some of you gonna feel
comfortable if you're facing the rack this way or others might find you're more comfortable this way
choose a setup which is most comfortable for you and of course experiment find what feels strongest
a common weighted calisthenics mistake is the setup and also the intention of how you're doing
your way to dips you see so many people do this and it's such an easily avoidable mistake
it is letting the weight plates literally swing like this why is this not a good idea
well if the weight is moving around everywhere it's going to create unnecessary instability so
this is going to increase the strain going through your shoulders it's going to increase your risk of
swinging around during your dips and basically you're not going to be as stable and as strong
if the weight plate is going all over the place a weighted dip setup that i'm not a fan of is
tucking the knees during your reps it's much more likely that you're going to arch
your back when you're doing weighted dips with this particular technique
for those of you that want to perfect your way to dip to maximize strength
maximize stability minimize injury risk and maximize muscular tension mechanical tension
just keep your legs squeezed this is going to keep the weight plate directly under your center of
mass and it's going to create the most stability and you'll be the strongest using this technique
best to set up the dips so that it's high enough so you can keep your legs straight to squeeze the
legs together keep the weight plate in place and your dipping technique absolutely perfect
let's talk scapular and back positioning for dips the common mistakes that you're going to see
are shrugging up scapula elevation and also scapular protraction this is generally
combined with hunchback thoracic flexion this is incorrect dipping form definitely avoid this let's
talk optimal technique for successful dips it all starts with a proud posture thoracic extension
next if we look at our scapula we want to squeeze our shoulder blades together
and down this retraction and depression is going to center our humerus upper arm bone
within our scapular glenoid fossa this position is optimal for strength this position is optimal for
injury prevention and this is going to maximize your upper body muscles and the function during
exercise moving on a problem that i see a lot of people make is going way too heavy with their
weighted dips as we've already discussed in this video the dip exercise it's inherently unstable
so if you're throwing on a ton of weight and you're doing one two three reps it's not
really worth it your risk of injury is much higher and there's a much smarter way to get more from
your dips drop the loads a little bit keep the intensity at a more moderate rep range so you can
play around with the 10 15 20 even up to 30 rep range without the inherent risk which comes from i
guess ego training with heavy weighted dips watch out for that one in closing here's why i recommend
chasing perfection when it comes to your dipping technique you're going to maximize your results
in terms of strength and muscular gain while minimizing injury risk further to this it's
important you have standards for yourself and you take pride in your form this way over time you're
going to see objective improvements through your own effort that's been genuine and you
know that the adaptations have been earned by you and you alone this is really important when
it comes to dips and it's going to keep you in the calisthenics game for years to come