The choice between dips or pushups for the chest development depends primarily on your training status and goals. Both exercises work the chest to a varying degree and require a minimal amount of exercise equipment, according to MayoClinic.com. Body weight exercises, such as dips or pushups, are great for novice lifters but can be used by advanced lifters as well.
Pushups
Pushups are a fundamental body weight exercise that require you to stabilize your body while pushing it up and down. Lie with your stomach flat on the floor and place your hands flat on the ground underneath your shoulders. Extend your legs back so that your toes are on the ground. Extend your arms while lifting your upper body and core off of the ground. After you reach full extension, you may lower your body close to, but not touching the floor, and repeat.
Dips
Dips require a set of parallel bars or a dipping station to be performed. Grab the parallel bars so that your thumbs cross over the bar toward your body while your fingers wrap the outer portion of the bar. Your arms should be fully extended. Lower your body by bending at your elbows. Slightly lean forward at your chest as you make your descent. Keep lowering until you feel a slight stretch in your chest or your upper arm becomes parallel to the floor. Contract your chest and triceps muscles and fully extend your arms.
Benefits
Resistance training exercises, such as dips or pushups, are associated with improvements in muscle size and strength, according to the American Heart Association journal, "Circulation." For these two exercises, muscles of your chest, triceps and shoulders will see the most improvements in muscle size and strength. Resistance training is also beneficial for improving functioning of your cardiovascular system and boosting your metabolism.
Considerations
Pushups primarily focus on the combination of shoulder and chest muscles while dips emphasize the tricep and chest combination. Pushups are traditionally considered to place more emphasis on the chest musculature than dips; however, leaning forward while performing the dips will highly increase the recruitment of your chest muscles during the exercise. Dips can also be performed by keeping your body upright which causes a high workload on the triceps but reduces the tension on your chest muscles.
References
- MayoClinic.com; Slide Show - Weight Training Exercises; July 2, 2010
- American Council on Exercise: Bodyweight Dips
- American College of Sports Medicine Fit Society Page; Building Strength Safely; Michael Bird; Fall 2002
- "Circulation"; American Heart Association Science Advisory; Resistance Exercise in Individuals With and Without Cardiovascular Disease; Michael L. Pollock, Barry A. Franklin, Gary J. Balady; 2000
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