DIPS

**Keith Wassung** · 07-06-2005, 09:26 PM

Many years ago, while serving in the military, I was sent on a temporary assignment to the west coast for a couple of weeks to attend a technical school. After checking in at the base, I changed my clothing and went in search of the base gym. This particular base had just built a state of the art athletic complex with basketball courts, racquetball courts, indoor running track and two indoor pools.

Though I hoped that the weight room would be well equipped, I was not surprised to find a small dusty room in the back littered with assorted bars and plates and few basic pieces of rusty equipment. I trained for about forty-five minutes and decided to finish up with a couple of hard sets of bar dips. I have always enjoyed doing bar dips, it is a basic exercise that doesn't require a whole lot of thought, you can just focus on going up and down and pushing them to the absolute limit. Dips are probably the easiest exercise that you can do forced reps and negatives without the aid of a spotter. The small weight room had no equipment for dips and I was unable to rig up a temporary set of dip bars. I left the weight room and walked down the hall into the basketball court area in hopes of finding a couple of chairs or some railings which could be used for dips. I spotted an old pair of gymnastic parallel bars in a corner of the gym. I went back to the weight room, collected a couple of 25lb plates along with my belt and dipping hook and walked back to the parallel bars to do a couple of sets of dips to complete my training for that day. Those three sets of dips were easily the best three sets of dips that I had ever done in my life. The movement was smooth, the weight felt relatively light and when I was done I felt a deep ache throughout my entire upper body. I thought that maybe the wooden bars had a bit of spring to them and that they were giving me an artificial bounce. I had used the very ends of the bars and I concluded that they were as rigid as any steel parallel bars. I continued to use the gymnast bars for the next two weeks and I improved my weight for reps on each successive workout. When I resumed my training at my normal gym back home, I was disappointed to find that I was unable to duplicate the weight and reps that I had so easily performed on the gymnastic bars. Several months later, I trained at a small private gym, which featured equipment that had been custom made by the owner. The dip bars were constructed out of heavy-duty two-inch pipe. Using these bars, I again had a phenomenal dip workout. I concluded that it was the thickness of the bars themselves that were responsible for the increased performance. I have always made it a point since then do perform my bar dips with very thick bars. I believe that the added thickness helps distribute the weight more evenly across the hands and wrists, resulting in a more efficient movement. The difference between using standard dip bars and extra thick dip bars has to be experienced to be believed. If you are training in a commercial gym, it is simple to modify a set of regular dips bars to an increased thickness. You could make a plastic sleeve out of PVC piping and then wrap small towels around the bars and then slide the piping over the bars. You can also purchase Olympic bar adapter sleeves at most sporting goods store. These sleeves allow you to convert an exercise bar into one that can accept Olympic plates (why anyone would want to do that is beyond me) The sleeves can slide over most dips bars that are open ended to create a two-inch sleeve. If you train at home you can purchase a couple of two-inch metal pipes from any hardware store and with the aid of some in-expensive muffler clamps, create a thick dip bar apparatus in your power rack. Use your imagination and be creative-you might just end up with a stronger and better developed upper body.

Keith Wassung

DarkFalcon · 07-06-2005, 10:55 PM

Hmmm..can't say I've ever thought that grip size would make any difference. I'm a huge believer in dips so this is a good thing. When I used to do dips at home I'd do them between the washing machine and dryer with a flat palm grip. I did feel strong in this position since it's similar to a push-up but I found my wrist's hurting. I'll see what I can come with at my gym.

Apootheosis · 07-17-2005, 03:10 AM

good post! did the wide bars help your forearm growth or just growth in general?

**ravadongon** · 07-17-2005, 03:20 AM

Nice post. We've got two captain's chairs/dip stations at our school gym, one's got a thick handle for doing dips, the other has a much thinner one. I also found it weird one time when I had to use the thinner one that I was doing less on dips. Probably due to the old P=F/A formula...

sword chucks · 07-23-2005, 03:49 AM

nice post. I will use this info

must be like how pushups are easier with your palms on the ground than they are with knucles on the ground

**powerman2000** · 07-23-2005, 12:11 PM

Why did I have a feeling that Keith was in the military? :service:

LatsMakeTheMan · 07-25-2005, 03:36 AM

I've had a similar experience.....

The dip station at my school's gym had a "normal" size set of dip bars, and on the opposite side were some thicker bars. I didn't think much of it at first, and voluntarily used the thinner side for a while simply because that was what I was used to. However, one day I tried the thicker side, and found that the dips "felt" better. This better feeling enabled me to get more reps with more weight, just as you described. Since then I haven't been able to find a set of dip bars with thicker bars, but at least it's nice to see that I'm not the only one who's experienced this :bigthumbu

mivi320 · 07-26-2005, 03:06 AM

Another good post, Keith. Great read. :bigthumbu

07-06-2005, 09:26 PM	#1
Keith Wassung Gold Member Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 84 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 6	DIPS Many years ago, while serving in the military, I was sent on a temporary assignment to the west coast for a couple of weeks to attend a technical school. After checking in at the base, I changed my clothing and went in search of the base gym. This particular base had just built a state of the art athletic complex with basketball courts, racquetball courts, indoor running track and two indoor pools. Though I hoped that the weight room would be well equipped, I was not surprised to find a small dusty room in the back littered with assorted bars and plates and few basic pieces of rusty equipment. I trained for about forty-five minutes and decided to finish up with a couple of hard sets of bar dips. I have always enjoyed doing bar dips, it is a basic exercise that doesn't require a whole lot of thought, you can just focus on going up and down and pushing them to the absolute limit. Dips are probably the easiest exercise that you can do forced reps and negatives without the aid of a spotter. The small weight room had no equipment for dips and I was unable to rig up a temporary set of dip bars. I left the weight room and walked down the hall into the basketball court area in hopes of finding a couple of chairs or some railings which could be used for dips. I spotted an old pair of gymnastic parallel bars in a corner of the gym. I went back to the weight room, collected a couple of 25lb plates along with my belt and dipping hook and walked back to the parallel bars to do a couple of sets of dips to complete my training for that day. Those three sets of dips were easily the best three sets of dips that I had ever done in my life. The movement was smooth, the weight felt relatively light and when I was done I felt a deep ache throughout my entire upper body. I thought that maybe the wooden bars had a bit of spring to them and that they were giving me an artificial bounce. I had used the very ends of the bars and I concluded that they were as rigid as any steel parallel bars. I continued to use the gymnast bars for the next two weeks and I improved my weight for reps on each successive workout. When I resumed my training at my normal gym back home, I was disappointed to find that I was unable to duplicate the weight and reps that I had so easily performed on the gymnastic bars. Several months later, I trained at a small private gym, which featured equipment that had been custom made by the owner. The dip bars were constructed out of heavy-duty two-inch pipe. Using these bars, I again had a phenomenal dip workout. I concluded that it was the thickness of the bars themselves that were responsible for the increased performance. I have always made it a point since then do perform my bar dips with very thick bars. I believe that the added thickness helps distribute the weight more evenly across the hands and wrists, resulting in a more efficient movement. The difference between using standard dip bars and extra thick dip bars has to be experienced to be believed. If you are training in a commercial gym, it is simple to modify a set of regular dips bars to an increased thickness. You could make a plastic sleeve out of PVC piping and then wrap small towels around the bars and then slide the piping over the bars. You can also purchase Olympic bar adapter sleeves at most sporting goods store. These sleeves allow you to convert an exercise bar into one that can accept Olympic plates (why anyone would want to do that is beyond me) The sleeves can slide over most dips bars that are open ended to create a two-inch sleeve. If you train at home you can purchase a couple of two-inch metal pipes from any hardware store and with the aid of some in-expensive muffler clamps, create a thick dip bar apparatus in your power rack. Use your imagination and be creative-you might just end up with a stronger and better developed upper body. Keith Wassung

07-17-2005, 03:20 AM	#4
ravadongon Audere est Facere Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Perth, Australia Posts: 372 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 7	Nice post. We've got two captain's chairs/dip stations at our school gym, one's got a thick handle for doing dips, the other has a much thinner one. I also found it weird one time when I had to use the thinner one that I was doing less on dips. Probably due to the old P=F/A formula... __________________ My Weight Training Log - http://ironmass.com/forums/showthread.php?p=112673 For Full Journal visit - http://forum.athletes.com/showthread.php?t=2466 or http://charliefrancis.com/community/...ad.php?t=11822.

07-23-2005, 12:11 PM	#6
powerman2000 The Old Moderator Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Colorado Posts: 4,223 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 203	Why did I have a feeling that Keith was in the military? :service: __________________ Don't forget to periodize Best BP 507 lbs competitive Best Squat 705 lbs competitive Best DL 650 lbs competitive Guns don't kill people, men who come home early do. My workout log http://www.ironmass.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6247

07-25-2005, 03:36 AM	#7
LatsMakeTheMan Pro Stature Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 185 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 5	I've had a similar experience..... The dip station at my school's gym had a "normal" size set of dip bars, and on the opposite side were some thicker bars. I didn't think much of it at first, and voluntarily used the thinner side for a while simply because that was what I was used to. However, one day I tried the thicker side, and found that the dips "felt" better. This better feeling enabled me to get more reps with more weight, just as you described. Since then I haven't been able to find a set of dip bars with thicker bars, but at least it's nice to see that I'm not the only one who's experienced this :bigthumbu __________________ Super Saiyan in training..... My MySpace account....come love me: http://www.myspace.com/eric2080

07-26-2005, 03:06 AM	#8
mivi320 Amateur Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Alabama Posts: 88 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 9	Another good post, Keith. Great read. :bigthumbu __________________ "Bodybuilding is a martathon, not a sprint."

07-06-2005, 10:55 PM	#2
DarkFalcon I've got a RAGING clue! Join Date: May 2005 Location: dnyc99's cleaning staff Posts: 11,511 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 299	Hmmm..can't say I've ever thought that grip size would make any difference. I'm a huge believer in dips so this is a good thing. When I used to do dips at home I'd do them between the washing machine and dryer with a flat palm grip. I did feel strong in this position since it's similar to a push-up but I found my wrist's hurting. I'll see what I can come with at my gym.

07-17-2005, 03:10 AM	#3
Apootheosis Pro Stature Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 625 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 10	good post! did the wide bars help your forearm growth or just growth in general?

07-23-2005, 03:49 AM	#5
sword chucks Pro Stature Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: in orange T-shirt Posts: 277 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 6	nice post. I will use this info must be like how pushups are easier with your palms on the ground than they are with knucles on the ground

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