Doing Chest Dips At Home

You know, the truth is, to do chest dips, you don't really need specialized equipment like a dip stand, dipping station or power rack.

All you need are two stable platforms that are at least at the level of your hips. I know it can be hard to find two such platforms that are exactly the same height as each other, but just look around your house, and with a little creativity, I'm sure you'll find something.

I for example, started out using the corner of my mom's kitchen worktop, where the edges of the worktop come together at right-angles, forming a V-shape. I've also used two shoe-holder shelves set side-by side.

There was this one time when my mom had guests and I couldn't work out anywhere downstairs, so I went upstairs and started scanning the rooms, looking for something else I could use.

I eventually found the solution in my attic – between a table-top and the headboard of my brother's bed. By bringing my knees up in front of me, I could go just low enough to get that perfect stretch in my pecs.

Another option is to use the backrest of two chairs. At some point in the future I'll make some videos of how you can use furniture at home to do chest dips, but for now, you can check out the video below by good ol' Scooby.

Note that in the video Scooby talks about dips as being an exercise for the ‘arms', but as I've discussed with you before in this article, dips are perhaps the best exercise you can do for the chest.

If you want to better target the chest, just remember to use a wide grip (i.e. place the chairs wider apart), flare your elbows out to your sides during the movement, and lean your torso forward.

Huge Arms? Don't forget triceps - Do dips!

Now, admittedly doing dips on the backrest of two chairs is not ideal. Scooby talks about applying outward pressure to prevent the chairs from toppling inwards. This is very difficult to do, especially toward the end of your final set, when you are putting everything into the exercise.

If you didn't manage to find two level platforms at home that you can do chest dips on, and don't like the idea of spending $90 on a cheap piece of plastic they call a dip stand, or more than $200 on something more solid, then you can always get yourself a pair of saw horses.

Not only can you get a decent set for $50 or less, you can even fold them away, so they take up almost zero space in your room.

And remember, the secret to building that powerful chest quickly and easily, is to do the right type of exercises that force your chest muscles to grow. You can discover the right way to exercise the chest by learning about other powerful bodyweight chest exercises for losing man boobs here:

Click here to learn about other powerful bodyweight chest exercises for losing man boobs

10 thoughts on “Doing Chest Dips At Home”

  1. I just started using the backrests of 2 chairs and to prevent the toppling over I just put 2 kettlebells (20kg and 16kg respectively) on the chairs to help weigh them down, and that has worked pretty well. One question I have: what should the actual/safe width of the backrests/bars be ideally for chest dips be? Thanks in advance.

    Reply
    • Hi Ray. Be careful, 20kg and 16kg may not be enough, and the chairs could still topple. If you are after chest width, Vince Gironda recommended for the handlebars to be around 32 inches apart. But this does depend on your build – how tall or short you are, so you can lessen or increase the width by a few inches if you need.

      Reply
  2. Hey Garry,
    I am doing 3hours of intence workout in gym but can get rid of man boobs and bloody fat belly what to do to get rid of them in 30 days I have tried many thing like starving ,low fat diet etc plz help thanks in advance

    Reply
  3. This is what I’ve been looking for. I started doing dips in the kitchen like you described and it’s safe to say I’m hooked. I feel the pump in my chest after one day. My goal is to have that definition on the outer edges of the chest to give me that ‘armor plate’ look.

    Reply
  4. Hey Garry,
    Are there any exercises in the Chest Sculpting Blueprint involving weights that this can replace, and are there any exercises that can replace the deadlift?
    Humbly,
    John G

    Reply
    • Hi John

      You can do dips instead of the bench press. Or if you’re looking to replace dips, then you can do the decline bench press.

      Some exercises like dips and the deadlift can never be fully replaced by another exercise. If you’re unable to do the deadlift though, say due to an injury, then you can target the main muscle groups of this exercise separately.

      The deadlift trains mostly your legs and hips, putting more emphasis on the hips.

      You can train your legs using the barbell squat, leg press, lunges, or pistol squats. You can train your hips using hip extensions and good mornings.

      Reply

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