Marty Gallagher | Dip Technique

Comparing dips to squats is the ultimate compliment for dips. Physiologically, squats and dips have a lot of commonalities: both dips and squats require the upper arm or upper leg be eccentrically lowered to a point “below parallel” (to the floor) before arising concentrically.

I started doing dips after reading a blurb in a Strength & Health gossip column that related that all the top York Olympic weightlifters were performing weighted dips for 3-5 rep sets to improve their overhead pressing: the press was still an Olympic lift. The column noted that all the dipping lifters had cut the sleeves off their sweatshirts to show off their newly bulging triceps. I wanted me some of that. I wanted a bigger overhead press and bulging triceps. Since I had no dip bars, I had to improvise.

We had a set of sturdy steps leading down from the kitchen into the unfinished basement. I positioned a wooden step ladder (opened) adjacent to the descending stairsteps. By placing a short section of two x four board atop the ladder I created one dip handhold. The other handhold was a basement step now the same height. I would step up onto the ladder, place my right hand on the board atop the ladder and use the edge of a basement step as my left handhold. I would step off into the space between the step ladder and the step. I would start in the locked-out position and lower down to slightly below parallel before pushing erect.

It took me six-weeks to work up to 20 reps in the no-weight dip. At that point we (my training partners and I) strapped on weight. I had a pair of iron ‘weight boots’ that came with an ancient barbell set. No one used them. They weighed 5 pounds and had a long canvas strap for affixing the iron boots to the calves, Roman sandal style. We used the strap to tie the iron boots to our waist. Each iron boot had a hole through the sole to slide a dumbbell. As we got stronger, we’d add a dumbbell to the iron boot dip apparatus.

One of the greatest compliments I have ever gotten in my life occurred when I had to undergo a physical exam before being allowed to play football. This particular doctor saw a lot of athletes on a regular basis. When I stripped off my shirt he exclaimed, “Good God!” his eyes bugged. “The backs of your arms are swollen – did you get bit by a spider?” He started prodding them. “Are you allergic to bee stings? Did you get stung?” He was serious and concerned until I flexed them and yawned. Weighted dips, done right, are the Mac Daddy of tricep exercises.

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