Many amateur bodybuilders falsely believe that bicep curls are the only way to develop massive arms. If you fall into that category, I must say that you might be wrong. Tricep work is essential if you want massive arms. The triceps are a more significant muscle than the biceps and seem to respond to exercise more quickly for most people.

Tricep exercises might be challenging to perform when working out at home. However, it’s not entirely out of the question. Chair Dips are an excellent way to strengthen your triceps. And you’ll need a few items to get the job done.

The first item you’ll need is a pair of seats with backs to rest your hands. You should be able to wrap your fingers over the top of the backrest of the chairs and hold on securely. In addition, if the upper edges of the backrest aren’t rounded, they can cause a lot of pain after a while.

Gloves are another essential piece of equipment. You can put off buying those pricey weightlifting gloves any longer. The gloves you can get at Home Depot for three dollars will serve you well. If you’re wondering why you’re supposed to wear gloves, it’s so that your hands don’t hurt as much, especially when you’re doing more difficult chair dips.

A pillow or thin cushion is usually the last item you’ll want to bring. In a moment, I’ll explain why you’ll require this.

You can practice this exercise at one of three different difficulty levels. There are three levels to choose from: the beginner level (recommended for those with less arm strength), the intermediate level, and the advanced level. But before I reveal the specifics of the process, let me outline the framework.

The gloves are meant to be worn on the hands. Chairs should be placed so that their backs face each other and are hip-width apart. Position them such that, when holding on to the top of the backrests, your hands barely brush against your hips. When people put their weight on the backs of their chairs, they can easily topple over if the seats are too far apart. Your bottom should rest on a pillow or cushion. The cushion is meant to soften the blow to your knees in the case of a fall.

When you do this for the first time, the chairs may sway and topple over if you press down on the backrest and try to move them. Applying a light outward push on the backrests will prevent this from happening.

Well, let me give you the cliff notes version. To keep the chairs from toppling over, you must maintain your weight by holding onto the tops of the backrests with your arms while pushing out slightly. The next step is to raise your feet a foot or two off the ground by bending your lower leg. Carefully lower yourself down once your upper arms are horizontal (i.e., parallel to the floor). When you reach that position, you should stand back up and lower your legs to start over. You should try to perform this as many times as possible. In other words, continue performing the dips until you cannot do so.

All you’re doing is thinking of the worst possible outcomes. Quickly gaining strength from doing the negatives, you’ll soon be able to progress to the next level of this workout.

If you want to work up to the intermediate level, you’ll need to be able to do both positive and negative movements with your arms alone. The starting point is the same. You raise your feet off the ground by grabbing the tops of the chair backs. The next step is a gentle descent until the upper arms are horizontal, followed by a controlled ascent. As many times as possible, you should do this.

You’ll need more than seats, gloves, and a pillow for the advanced version. You’ll need a dumbbell and some weight plates. The chairs are still set up similarly, and the same motions are performed (especially at the intermediate level). The only change is that instead of holding the dumbbell in your hands, you’ll place it between your legs. If you wish to increase the workout’s difficulty, add weight plates to the dumbbell.

Now, to ensure you don’t mess anything up, I’ll review some potential pitfalls.

The “jackhammer” dips, in which the person hardly moves their arms and rapidly raises and lowers their entire body, are a prevalent kind of bad form when completing this exercise. The benefits of jackhammer dips are often overstated because of their limited range of motion. Thus, it would be best if you avoided jackhammer dips. If you don’t think you have the strength for total dips yet, you can consistently execute the simplified version I outlined above.

Going too low or deep is another typical error while performing dips. They reach almost down to the armpits. The vast majority of people who act in this way do so out of kindness. However, performing dips at that depth is dangerous and could lead to severe damage. The shoulder pain is accurate, and you’re not helping your triceps by going that far. Hold at the horizontal arm position.

Swinging is yet another common blunder. The momentum you create when you ride makes the exercise simpler. Thus, most people do it (whether they realize it or not). That is, they are relieving their arms of some of the weight-bearing stress. When that happens, the workout becomes useless. Swinging does more than lighten your load; it also limits your arm’s mobility. Therefore, when you turn, you’re not working up much of a sweat.

Doing dips with your hands flat on a table or other horizontal surfaces is also not recommended. When working with a flat surface, the stress on your wrists from keeping them in a level position increases dramatically. That’s why I advised the older method of using seats.

I have one last warning for you before I wrap things up. You shouldn’t do dips if your shoulders hurt. This is due to the abnormal stress placed on the shoulders whenever the elbows go behind the plane of the body. Injuries are more likely to occur due to the instability of the shoulder in that position. Because your elbows are forward, the skull crusher is a more suitable workout for you.

Jonathan Castor authored the piece you’re reading. Castor’s passions include fitness and health-related writing and education. He is well-known for his extensive body of work on muscular development. If you’re interested in learning some bodybuilding exercises,

Read also: https://cnnislands.com/fitness/