Dips are an effective exercise for building strength in your chest, shoulders and triceps and they can increase your whole upper body strength. However, there isn't just one standard way to do them. It is possible to vary how you do them so you target different muscle groups. If you feel that your chest development is lagging behind the rest of your upper body, then it is a wise idea to evaluate how to best perform dips.
Positioning and Technique
The standard dip, where you keep your body upright and use a fairly narrow grip is okay for targeting your chest, but doing it this way mainly makes it a triceps exercise. To make it a more chest-dominant exercise, use a wider set of bars and lean forward slightly throughout the movement. This still hits your triceps, but places a lot more emphasis on your chest muscles. For even more chest activation, Charles Poliquin, owner of the Poliquin Performance Center advises using V-shaped dipping bars.
Gironda Dips
Gironda dips were pioneered by former champion bodybuilder Vince Gironda. Gironda was such a fan of dips that he didn't even have a bench press in his gym, feeling that dips were a far superior chest exercise. To perform Gironda dips, use V-shaped bars again, but turn your hands around so that your thumbs are outside the bar and your fingers inside. Round your upper back and descend as low as possible while flaring your elbows out. These can take some getting used to if you usually do regular dips, so don't try to do lots of reps too soon.
Pec Minor Dips
Pec minor dips target the muscles at the side of your chest -- the pec minors. Set up as you would for a normal dip and drop down as low as you can without bending your arms. This will only be a small range of motion, but you should feel a stretch in the side of your chest. Pause for a second, and then push up forcefully by squeezing your chest muscles. Bodybuilding coach John Meadows, CSCS, CISSN recommends doing these at the end of your workout and performing three sets to failure.
Progressions
The previous three exercises all target your chest muscles more than standard upright dips, but after time, even these may not be enough to stimulate your chest once you become used to doing them. When you feel that they are no longer effective, you have a couple of options. Try adding extra resistance by wearing a weighted vest, using a dipping belt, or attaching resistance bands around your body to increase the load. You may also wish to consider pre-exhausting your chest first. Perform a few sets of bench presses or dumbbell presses before your dips, so that your chest is already slightly fatigued and has to work harder during the dips.
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