Training guide
Bench dips, or chair dips, are dips with your hands on the edge of a bench or chair behind you and your feet on the floor. You bend your elbows straight back to lower until they reach about a right angle, then press back up. Bending your knees makes them easier; straightening your legs makes them harder. Each step has a 3D demo below.
They're a strong triceps exercise you can do anywhere, but they take your shoulder further back than any other dip: in a lab study of 13 experienced men, to the very end of the range each man reached in a maximal test. No study has shown that this causes injury, so the advice is proportionate: keep them shallow, and skip them if the front of your shoulder hurts.
This guide covers the technique, bent and straight legs, how deep to go, your shoulders, elbows and wrists, swaps that spare the shoulder, and how many to do.
Hands on the edge of a sturdy bench, or a chair pushed against a wall, fingers pointing forward and feet on the floor in front of you. Bend your elbows straight back until your upper arms are about level with the floor, then press back up. Bent knees make it easier and straight legs harder, as our move pages and NASM (the National Academy of Sports Medicine) teach it.
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In the one motion and muscle study, 13 experienced men drew lower peak activity from 6 of 9 muscles in a bench dip than in a bar dip, the triceps included. In a study of 15 women funded by the American Council on Exercise (ACE), bench dips drew 87% of the triceps activity of the best of eight exercises.
Bench dips reached 101% of the shoulder range each man reached in a maximal test, against 88% for bar dips and 69% for ring dips, because your trunk can't lean forward. The researchers think loading the shoulder this far back, again and again, might strain the front of the joint; no injuries were measured.
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No study shows they cause injury. In a self-selected survey, 21% of gym users who did bench dips linked them to pain, fewer than for bodyweight triceps dips, and a physiotherapy programme for painful rotator cuffs used chair dips in its last phase. But they aren't the shoulder-friendly option: keep them shallow, and skip them if the front of your shoulder hurts.
We found no study of how much of your weight your arms carry in any bench dip. Bent knees, then straight legs, is coaching practice. Past straight legs, our dips guide moves you on to a dip machine or assisted bar dips rather than raising your feet or adding weight.
3 sets of 8 to 12 at your step, stopping 1 to 3 reps short of failure, 2 or 3 times a week, as our dips guide and dip progression use them. NASM teaches 3 sets of 8 to 15.
From our bench dip move pages, NASM's bench dip guide and the set-up in ACE's triceps study; the 2-second lowering and the breathing are editorial. The easier start, with your knees bent and feet close, is the bent-knee bench dip in the ladder below. Skip bench dips if the front of your shoulder hurts.
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The movement on the figure: Bench dip
Bench dips, chair dips, couch dips and tricep dips at home are one exercise: your hands behind you on something solid, your feet on the floor, so your legs take part of your weight. That's why they're usually the first dip people learn. The ACE study used a low bench and says just about any sturdy chair or ledge can be used.
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Mainly the triceps at the back of your upper arm, which straighten your elbow, with the chest and the front of the shoulder helping and the muscles around your shoulder blades holding you steady. In the motion study, chest and front-shoulder activity was "relatively low" in the bench dip compared with the bar dip, and one coaching source says bench dips emphasise the shoulders and triceps more than the chest.
Your upper arm moves behind your body while your trunk stays upright. The men in the motion study leaned only about 13 degrees in a bench dip against about 37 on parallel bars, so the shoulder went back about 88 degrees: the end of the range each man reached in his own deepest bar dip.
Comfortable loading of your wrists and shoulders with your hands behind you, as our move pages ask, and no pain at the front of your shoulder when you reach behind you.
A higher bench makes the dip easier; the motion study's author suggests raising the bench as an easier step. Longer arms on a low bench take the shoulder further back for the same elbow bend (our reasoning). People with loose or hypermobile shoulders sit nearer the end of their range: the motion study's authors urge caution at the end of the range for unstable shoulders, while a hypermobility programme still lists triceps dips on a chair or bench once neck and shoulder control are good enough.
In a lab study of 13 experienced men, using electromyography (EMG), which measures muscle activity through the skin, bar dips drew higher peak activity than bench dips in six of nine muscles: the chest, the front of the shoulder, the triceps, the upper trapezius, the serratus anterior and the lats. Peak triceps activity was about 25% higher on the bars. The men used their own technique for 4 reps, and the bench dip was done on a handle set at bench height. It is one small study, and muscle activity shows effort, not what a muscle will build.
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In the same men, the bench dip took the shoulder to about 88 degrees behind the body, 101% of the range each man reached in a maximal test, against 88% for bar dips and 69% for ring dips. The "maximal" test was each man's own deepest bar dip, held for 3 seconds. The author explains why: a bench dip doesn't let you tip your chest forward.
In an ACE-funded study of 15 women aged 20 to 24 with lifting experience, the diamond push-up drew the most triceps activity of eight exercises, and bench dips and kickbacks came next at 87% of it. Overhead extensions, pushdowns, lying extensions and the close-grip bench press drew less.
Two details from the full thesis: the diamond (triangle) push-up was done on the knees, and the loads weren't matched, because the weighted exercises used 70% of each woman's maximum while dips and push-ups used body weight. It wasn't peer reviewed.
In a self-selected online survey of 1,387 gym users, 21% of the 301 who did bench dips linked them to pain, against 35% for bodyweight triceps dips and 9% for machine dips. Nobody was examined and nobody counted how often they dipped.
Serious dip injuries are rare case reports: chest muscle tears during weighted bar dips and a ring dip, a stress fracture at the top of the breastbone from bar dips, a collarbone and rib fracture during "triceps dips", and a collarbone stress fracture in a 13-year-old after about 20 triceps dips; neither of the last two reports says which kind of dip. Case reports show what can happen, not how often.
Studies of weight trainers with loose or painful shoulders link them to behind-the-neck pulldowns and presses, and to raises and upright rows above shoulder height. Their published summaries don't mention dips, and we couldn't read whether their questionnaires asked about them. No study has tested dips as a cause.
An 8-week programme for 51 people with painful rotator cuff tendons used chair dips to 90 degrees at the elbow, bent legs first, in its last phase, and a hypermobility programme lists triceps dips on a chair or bench. After surgery to stabilise a dislocating shoulder, one Danish guideline waits 16 weeks before triceps dips. These programmes used dips among many exercises, so they show dips are used in rehab, not that dips themselves helped.
With your knees bent and feet close, your legs take more of your weight; walking your feet out and straightening your legs puts more on your arms. NASM's easier version brings the feet closer or bends the knees. This is coaching practice that matches everyone's experience, not a measured fraction.
We found no study of how much of your body weight your arms carry in any bench dip. The motion study's author reasons that it could cut either way: your feet share the load, but your body sits further in front of your hands, which may put unexpectedly high loads on your arms.
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Coaches make bench dips harder by putting the feet on a second bench or a plate in the lap. We don't recommend either as the next step: they add load to a shoulder position that's already at the end of its range (our reading of the motion data). Our dips guide moves on to a dip machine, assisted bar dips or bar dips instead. Neither version has a 3D demo.
Floor dips, with your hands on the floor behind you, are the shortest range of the same position (no 3D demo). On a chair, push it against a wall and use one without wheels. Use a couch or sofa only if it's solid and can't tip or slide.
NASM teaches bench dips to about 90 degrees at the elbow, and the rotator cuff programme used chair dips to 90 degrees. A hospital sports medicine handout says never to go below 90 degrees of elbow bend on parallel bars. These are expert advice and programme rules, not trial results.
The men in the motion study chose their own depth and still reached 101% of their maximal shoulder range in the bench dip. Going deeper pushes past it, so stop at a right angle or before.
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In 15 men doing bar dips to failure, the deepest joint angles didn't change as they tired, but 2 of the 4 men who failed a rep went past their maximal range. End each set before a rep fails.
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One coaching source says to lower as far as possible; NASM says about a right angle. No study has compared bench dip depths, so we follow the motion data and our dips guide: about a right angle, or less if the front of your shoulder complains.
The motion study's authors propose that repeated loading at the end of the range might strain a ligament at the front of the shoulder. Their review builds that on cadaver studies: the ligament limits how far the arm goes back, and repeated small strains stretched it in cadaver shoulders. They advise limiting depth and not taking every set to failure. No study has measured an injury from bench dips. An ACE follow-up article called dips risky for impingement, but that was opinion: the turning of the arm it described wasn't measured.
Keep shoulder pain to about 5 out of 10 or less during the exercise, back to its usual level by your next session, as our shoulder guides advise. A sharp pinch means lower, lighter or stop.
Keep the depth to about a right angle, keep your shoulders down and back, and use the swaps below if the front of your shoulder complains.
With pain at the front of the shoulder, impingement, AC (acromioclavicular) joint pain, a SLAP tear (a tear of the cartilage rim at the top of the socket), biceps tendon pain or a shoulder that has dislocated or feels loose, our dips guide and shoulder guides leave out bench dips for now. The motion study's authors suggest triangle push-ups or kickbacks for people with unstable shoulders.
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After a recent shoulder dislocation, or shoulder or elbow surgery, follow your surgical team's limits first. One Danish guideline waits 16 weeks before triceps dips after surgery to stabilise the shoulder.
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If you push a manual wheelchair, dips and overhead pressing load the shoulder in positions the spinal cord injury guideline advises limiting: favour rows, pull-downs from shoulder height and rotator cuff work, and stop if it brings on shoulder pain.
3 sets of 8 to 12 at each step, moving on at 3 sets of 12 with no pain at the front of the shoulder (our dip progression's doses and our dips guide's move-on point). After straight legs, the next step is a different exercise: the dip machine at 3 sets of 8 to 12, or the bar dip ladder in our dips guide.
These keep your shoulder in front of you. Diamond push-ups, 2 sets of 6 to 12, hands on a bench to make them easier (our dip progression); close-grip push-ups and the close-grip incline push-up, 2 to 3 sets of 6 to 12, and dumbbell kickbacks, 2 to 3 sets of 12 to 15 (our arm challenge workout); pushdowns and skull crushers, 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 15, and the close-grip bench press, a lighter set then 3 sets of 6 to 8 (our tricep workout).
3D demoDiamond push-upIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoClose-grip push-up (close triceps position)Intermediate · No equipment
3D demoClose-grip incline push-upBeginner · Other / check instructions
3D demoDumbbell triceps kickbackBeginner · A dumbbell
3D demoTriceps pushdownBeginner · A cable machine
3D demoDumbbell skull crusher (lying triceps extension)Intermediate · A dumbbell + A bench or box
3D demoClose-grip barbell bench pressIntermediate · A barbell + A bench or box3 sets of 8 to 12 at your step, as our dips guide and dip progression use them. NASM teaches 3 sets of 8 to 15; one coaching source uses 3 to 5 reps with weight and up to 20 or more without. In your first two weeks, stop with 3 or 4 reps to spare, as our plans advise.
Stop 1 to 3 reps short of failure, and end the set early if the front of your shoulder pinches. Training to failure added at most a trivial amount of growth across 15 studies, and people misjudge the reps they have left by about one.
About 90 seconds to 2 minutes between sets, as our plans suggest for sets of 8 to 12.
2 or 3 times a week with a day between. Count each set towards your weekly triceps sets: our tricep workout counts presses and dips as about half a triceps set each, and about 10 or more hard sets a week built more muscle across reviews.
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Add reps until every set reaches 12, then slow the lowering, then straighten your legs. Once straight-leg dips are easy, move to a dip machine or assisted bar dips, as our dips guide does, rather than climbing further up the bench dip ladder.
At a right angle your shoulder is already at the end of its range. Stop there, or sooner.
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NASM lists shrugging as a mistake that adds shoulder stress. Keep your shoulders down, away from your ears, with your chest up.
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Bend your elbows straight back, with your hands about shoulder-width apart.
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It pulls your shoulders further back. Keep your back close to the bench, as our move page cues.
ACE's cue is to push back up using your hands rather than your legs. Your legs should help only as much as you need; if they're doing the work, do fewer, better reps.
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Lower over about 2 seconds, and don't take every set to failure, as the motion study's author advises.
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Push it against a wall, and don't use anything with wheels.
Bar dips worked the triceps, chest and front of the shoulder harder, and took the shoulder less far back (88% of the maximal range against 101%). They're harder, because your arms lift all your weight. Our dips guide has the ladder from one to the other.
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Diamond push-ups (on the knees) topped the ACE study for triceps activity, and keep your shoulders in front of you. The motion study's authors name them for people with unstable shoulders.
Kickbacks matched bench dips at 87% of the top exercise's triceps activity; overhead extensions, pushdowns and lying extensions drew a little less. Their loads weren't matched to the dips, and activity isn't growth. Our tricep kickback, extension and skull crusher guides cover them.
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Machine dips were the dip least often linked to pain in the survey (9%). The machine also lets you choose the weight.
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Shoulder circles (shoulder CARs), 3 slow circles each way with each arm, at their move page's dose; scapular push-ups, 2 sets of 10, and band pull-aparts, 2 sets of 15 (our dip progression); the wrist and forearm flow for 60 seconds and the cross-body shoulder stretch for 30 seconds each side (our arm challenge workout); the overhead triceps stretch at its move page's dose, 15 to 30 seconds, 2 to 4 times each side, skipped if your shoulder hurts.
3D demoShoulder CARs (controlled articular rotations)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoScapular push-up (push-up plus)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoBand pull-apartIntermediate · A band
3D demoWrist & forearm flowBeginner · No equipment
3D demoCross-body shoulder stretchBeginner · No equipment
3D demoOverhead triceps stretchBeginner · No equipmentSee "Leave them out for now" above, and use the swaps.
Some discomfort during these exercises is fine and doesn't mean you are doing damage. Keep it to about 5 out of 10 or less. It should settle within half an hour or so, and your hand should be no worse the next morning. If it is, do fewer, smaller or lighter next time, not nothing. That's our wrist pain guides' rule.
Turn your fingers forward, keep the range short, or use the dip machine's handles, which let your palms face in.
With triceps tendon pain, shorten the range or swap to pushdowns for a while, as our dips guide suggests, and see our triceps tendinopathy guide. We found no study of elbow load in dips.
After heart surgery through the breastbone, a heart or lung transplant, or breast cancer surgery or reconstruction, follow your surgical team's advice before pushing or lifting with your arms, as our move pages say.
Ask your heart team first: our arm challenge workout notes that the British Heart Foundation advises avoiding press-ups, and a bench dip also lifts much of your body weight on your arms (our reasoning).
With controlled high blood pressure, the American Heart Association considers low- to moderate-intensity strength training with proper breathing safe. Breathe out as you lift, as our breathing guide advises. Stop well short of grinding reps.
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With a pacemaker or defibrillator, the American Heart Association asks you to check with your doctor before upper-body strength training, because repeated arm movements can damage or dislodge the leads.
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Dips you already do can carry on while they're comfortable, as our dips guide says. The NHS advises starting any new exercise gently in pregnancy.
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The dip progression walks the ladder from bent-knee bench dips to the dip machine and bar dips. The arm workouts use bench dips on a chair or bench; the tricep and chest and triceps workouts use dips or the dip machine.
Work up to bar dips: bent-knee and straight-leg bench dips, a support hold, slow lowering and assisted dips, then full dips and ring dips.
20 minBeginner9 movesA band, A bench or boxA 30-minute bodyweight arm workout: chin-ups and rows for the biceps, close-grip push-ups and dips for the triceps, and a bar hang for your grip.
30 minIntermediate8 movesPull-up bar, A bench or boxA 20-minute arm session for the 30-day arm challenge: a push-up step with a row, then a curl with a triceps move, with or without dumbbells.
20 minBeginner20 movesA wall, A bench or boxA 35-minute triceps session: a close-grip bench press or dips, then overhead extensions, skull crushers and pushdowns, about 10 hard sets.
35 minIntermediate7 movesA barbell, A bench or boxBiceps, triceps and forearms: curls, hammer curls, skull crushers, pushdowns, concentration curls and dips.
35 minBeginner7 movesA dumbbell, A bench or boxA 55-minute gym session for a split: the bench press, an incline dumbbell press, cable flys and dips for your chest, then two triceps extensions.
55 minIntermediate11 movesA band, A barbellA free 30-day arm challenge with or without weights: three 20-minute sessions a week, rest days, a ladder for every move and honest words on arm fat.
3 training days20 minBeginner3 days a weekA 12-week calisthenics plan for beginners: three bodyweight sessions a week with push-up, pull-up, squat and dip ladders, and a bar if you have one.
3 training days40 minBeginnerIf you get chest pain or pressure, feel faint or dizzy, are unusually breathless, or your heart races or beats irregularly during exercise, as our plans advise. The American Heart Association says these need immediate medical evaluation.
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For chest pain that comes on suddenly and doesn't go away, feels tight or like squeezing, spreads to your arms, neck, jaw, stomach or back, or comes with sweating, feeling sick, light-headedness or breathlessness; arm pain that comes on suddenly with pressure, heaviness or squeezing across your chest; severe difficulty breathing, or a chest that feels tight or heavy; someone who faints while exercising; palpitations that don't go away, or come with chest pain, shortness of breath or feeling faint; or a headache that starts suddenly and is extremely painful, especially while lifting or straining. The NHS says a bleed on the brain may be more likely when lifting something heavy. Don't drive yourself to A&E.
Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 for a headache that's triggered or made worse by coughing, sneezing, bending down or exercising.
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Same day (NHS 111 or an urgent treatment centre): a pop or tearing at the front of the armpit or chest during a lift, a dip or a tackle, followed by bruising into the chest or upper arm, a change in the shape of the chest or armpit (a thinner or lost armpit fold, or a chest or nipple that looks uneven), or weakness pushing. Don't wait for it to settle: it can be a torn pec tendon. In the US, go to urgent care.
It's usually a strained chest wall or costochondritis, which the NHS links to repetitive upper body movements like lifting, and very rarely dips have caused a stress fracture there. Stop dips while it hurts. Get help from NHS 111 (in the US, urgent care) if you think you have costochondritis; call 999 for chest pain that started suddenly or spreads to your arm, neck or jaw.
Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 for sudden or very bad shoulder pain, an arm you can't move, a shoulder that has changed shape or is badly swollen, pins and needles that don't go away, no feeling in your arm or shoulder, an arm or shoulder that's hot or cold to touch, pain after an injury or a fall, severe pain in both shoulders, or feeling feverish or unwell. Go to A&E if, after an injury, you can't move your arm or your shoulder looks out of place or has changed shape. See a GP if shoulder pain is getting worse or hasn't improved after 2 weeks.
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A snap at the back of the elbow with sudden pain and weakness straightening the arm needs an urgent treatment centre or A&E. An ache there that builds over weeks: see our triceps tendinopathy guide.
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A pop or snap with sudden pain at the front of the elbow, especially with bruising, a gap at the front of the elbow or a bulge in the upper arm, can be a torn biceps tendon. Go to an urgent treatment centre or A&E (in the US, urgent care) the same day, and don't wait for it to settle, as our biceps guides say.
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For severe wrist pain; feeling faint, dizzy or sick from the pain; a snap, grinding or popping noise at the time of the injury; being unable to move your wrist or hold things; a wrist that has changed shape or colour; a very painful, hot or red lump; or lost feeling in your hand. In the US, use urgent care.
If wrist pain is no better after 2 weeks of home treatment, or comes with tingling, diabetes, or a hot, swollen, stiff wrist.
Muscle soreness for a day or two after a new or harder session is common and fades. Sharp pain, or pain that builds during a set or lingers into the next day, isn't: swap to an easier version, and see a clinician if it persists, as our plans advise. The NHS says to stop exercising straight away if you feel any pain or become unwell, and to get help from 111 if symptoms worry you or don't go away.
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Speak to your GP first if you haven't exercised for some time or have medical conditions or concerns, as the NHS advises. Get advice before hard or straining work if your blood pressure is uncontrolled (140/90 or higher at a clinic, or 135/85 at home), or you have heart disease or chest pain when you're active, a pacemaker or defibrillator, diabetic eye disease, glaucoma, a hernia, recent eye or tummy surgery, or you're pregnant, as our breathing guide lists.
With controlled high blood pressure, the American Heart Association considers low- to moderate-intensity strength training with proper breathing safe. Breathe out as you lift, as our breathing guide advises.
With a pacemaker or defibrillator, the American Heart Association asks you to check with your doctor before upper-body strength training, because repeated arm movements can damage or dislodge the leads.
Overstated, as our dips guide grades it. They do take the shoulder to the end of its range, and the researchers think that might strain the front of the joint over time, but that's a theory from cadaver studies; no study has counted injuries from bench dips. A rotator cuff rehab programme used chair dips to 90 degrees. Keep them shallow and skip them if they hurt.
Easier on the arms, but the furthest-back shoulder position of any dip, and linked to pain more often than machine dips in a survey (21% against 9%).
They drew 87% of the top exercise's triceps activity in one ACE-funded study, where the top exercise was a diamond push-up on the knees; bar dips drew more than bench dips; and muscle activity in one session doesn't predict growth.
Chest activity was relatively low in bench dips. Bar dips with a forward lean, push-ups and presses train the chest.
No study has compared depths, and a right angle at the elbow already puts the shoulder at the end of its range. Coaching bodies teach about 90 degrees.
That's coaching practice, but it loads a position that's already at its limit. Our dips guide moves on to the dip machine and assisted bar dips instead (our editorial choice).
Sit on the edge of a sturdy bench or a chair pushed against a wall, hands beside your hips with your fingers forward, and walk your feet out. Slide your hips off the edge, bend your elbows straight back until they reach about a right angle, then press back up without shrugging. Start with your knees bent and straighten your legs as it gets easier.
Mainly your triceps, with the chest and the front of the shoulder helping. In a study of 13 experienced men, chest and shoulder activity was relatively low in bench dips and higher in bar dips.
Not for most people, but they take the shoulder to the end of its backward range, further than any other dip. No study has counted injuries from them. Keep the depth to about a right angle at the elbow, and skip them if the front of your shoulder hurts.
Until your elbows are bent to about a right angle and your upper arms are about level with the floor, or less if the front of your shoulder complains. In the lab study, that depth already took the men's shoulders to the end of their range.
Bent knees make bench dips easier and straight legs harder. That's coaching practice, because nobody has measured how much weight your arms take in each. Start bent and straighten them as 3 sets of 12 get easy.
Coaches do, but it adds load to a shoulder position that's already at its limit. Our dips guide's next step is a dip machine or assisted bar dips instead.
3 sets of 8 to 12, stopping 1 to 3 reps short of failure, 2 or 3 times a week, as our dips guide and dip progression use them. NASM teaches 3 sets of 8 to 15.
Yes: the same exercise on different furniture. Use a sturdy chair without wheels, pushed against a wall so it can't slide.
Bar dips worked the triceps, chest and shoulders harder in the one comparison, and took the shoulder less far back. Bench dips are easier and need no bars; our dips guide has the ladder from one to the other.
In one ACE-funded study, diamond push-ups done on the knees drew the most triceps activity of eight exercises, and bench dips 87% of it. Diamond push-ups keep your shoulders in front of you, so they're the swap if bench dips bother your shoulders.
Your wrists bend back under load with your hands behind you, and your elbows carry the movement; we found no study of either in bench dips. Turn your fingers forward and keep the range short. A snap at the back of the elbow with weakness straightening the arm needs an urgent treatment centre or A&E.
Not for now with pain at the front of the shoulder, impingement, AC joint pain or a shoulder that has dislocated or feels loose. After surgery to stabilise the shoulder, follow your team: one guideline waits 16 weeks before triceps dips.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
