The best chest exercises for MEN focus on growing chest muscle as quickly and efficiently as possible and at the same time, widening the chest to give you that unstoppable masculine look.
When it comes to burning chest fat and losing man boobs, while at the same time, growing muscle and sculpting an unstoppable manly chest, chest dips are perhaps the best I've ever known. They're far better than the bench press, pushups, cable crossovers, and dumbbell flys.
I was first convinced about using this exercise when I learned about a guy called Vince Gironda. Now let me tell you a little about Vince. Vince was a bodybuilding legend who was known as the ‘Iron Guru', and known for getting his clients big and ripped in record time.
For 50 years, he trained more champion physique competitors than anyone in the business. He trained some of the most famous bodybuilders, as well as some of the world's best actors and actresses. He was also known to get great results with regular Joes like you and me.
Vince was the “go-to” guy for absolutely anyone who wanted to get into shape. Now you could argue that there were and are plenty of other guys around who know a lot about training, but Vince was different.
Back in the day, Vince came up with a lot of weird and controversial ideas about exercise and nutrition, a lot of people thought he was crazy and avoided taking his advice, or even going to his gym. But what we're finding now, is that new scientific research is showing us that Vince was right all along!
One of Vince's most controversial ideas was that the bench press is a poor exercise for the chest. In fact, he threw out all the benches in his gym and replaced them with dipping stations.
Vince believed that when it comes to developing the chest, the chest dip is a far superior exercise to the bench press, and guess what? Electromyogram (EMG) studies today, reveal that he was right!
Why Chest Dips Are The Best Chest Exercise For Men
If you could do just one chest exercise to carve out a set of pecs that you see on the statue of a Greek god, the Hulk or a mythological beast, it would be chest dips. Not the bench press, not pushups, and certainly not dumbbell flys.
Chest dips work the entire upper body, and really give you that hormonal boost you need to grow muscle, tone your chest and lose those man boobs. They work your arms, your shoulders, your chest and your upper back.
Chest dips are a powerful exercise for building a muscular chest. They also work your entire upper body including your back, arms and shoulders.
When it comes to both performance and sculpting your body through muscle-growth and hormonal stimulation, bodyweight exercises always come on top.
This is largely because unlike weight-training, which tends to isolate one particular body-part, bodyweight exercises require you to stabilize your entire body as it moves through space.
When you use your core stabilizers and other muscles throughout your body, not only do you get a bigger testosterone boost from the workout…
…you also lose more fat, and gain a more even distribution of muscle throughout the body, which means better posture, less injuries and a better more attractive appearance.
The testosterone boost you get from activating so many muscle groups, is one reason why chest dips are the most powerful chest exercise for men in particular.
Since most guys rely almost completely on the bench press for building chest muscle, let's discuss…
Why Dips Are FAR Better Than The Bench Press For Building A Hurculean Chest
Disadvantages Of The Bench Press
1. A Poor Exercise For The Chest
Now don’t get me wrong, many bodybuilders DO use the bench press to build some huge muscles. But did you ever stop to think how many people fail with the bench press?
Almost every guy that goes to the gym spends time on the bench press – but how many of these guys end up getting a huge, wide, stone-slab-like chest that gets women weak at the knees?
See, the trouble with the bench press is that it is more an exercise for the front deltoids of your shoulders, than it is an exercise for the chest. EMG studies reveal that the front deltoids receive the same stimulation as the pectoralis major of the chest during the flat bench press.
The front deltoids are very small in comparison to the pectoralis major muscle of the chest.
Since the front deltoids in your shoulders are tiny compared to the huge pectoralis major muscle in your chest, during the bench press your shoulders will fatigue way before your chest even starts to get a proper workout.
So you will end your workout before fully involving your chest.
2. The Most Common Cause Of Shoulder Injuries In The Gym
Due to the rising popularity of the bench press, rotator cuff surgery is at an all time high.
The bench press places too much strain on the rotator cuff muscles of the shoulders, and very commonly leads to injury, damage and wear & tear of the rotator cuff over time.
For this reason, the bench press is widely reported as being the most common cause of shoulder injuries in the gym.
3. Kills Shoulder Flexibility, Leading To More Injuries
The bench press puts massive strain on your shoulders, which makes your rotator cuff muscles tighter and tighter over time.
The first sign of this is when you start to find it difficult to reach behind your back as if to do up a bra (not that I have ever tried one on, but you know what I mean ;) ).
Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t having big muscles that makes you inflexible, but rather, incorrect training. If you have read ‘Stretching Scientifically’ by Thomas Kurz, you’ll know that big muscles actually make you MORE flexible.
4. Torn Pecs (Pectoralis Major Rupture)
Yet another common injury with the bench press. Here’s a video of a guy tearing his left pec during a set of bench presses. Warning: this video is NOT for the faint hearted.
Watch as this guy tears his left pec with the bench press… Youuch!
With this injury, the tendon that attaches your pectoralis major muscle to your upper arm bone, is torn right off the bone. It can be extremely painful and in most cases requires surgical repair. It will take many months before you are lifting anything again.
Advantages Of Dips For Developing The Chest
1. Faster And Better Development Of The Chest
When doing dips, you are moving your arms in a downward motion. This downward motion ensures that you bypass the shoulders and isolate the chest muscles far better than any other compound exercise for the chest.
Although your shoulders are still involved to a large extent and get an excellent workout, they are not as engaged and overloaded as they are during the bench press.
Studies have shown that the deltoids are much less involved during the decline bench press, compared to the horizontal bench press.
Since chest dips are the bodyweight version of an extreme decline bench press, this means that dips put more focus on the chest than on the shoulders compared to the bench press.
2. Wider Chest Development
I’ve seen guys with 6-pack abs who look like scrawny wimps when they have a shirt on. The key to looking like an unstoppable alpha-male is to work on widening that upper body, namely your chest and upper back.
Chest dips performed with a wide grip and the elbows flared to the sides, target the outer chest better than pushups, bench presses, or any other exercise. In doing so, they give you that huge, wide chest that resembles a set of stone slabs set on your chest sideways.
Chest dips give you wider chest development than the bench press.
Developing a wide chest is yet another reason why chest dips are the best chest exercise for men.
3. Increased Shoulder Flexibility
At the bottom of the movement your shoulder muscles are both strengthened and stretched, giving you improved flexibility.
Do be careful however, since if you already have inflexible and/or weak shoulders, you can still suffer shoulder injuries while doing dips, especially with weighted dips.
The key is to only go as low as you feel comfortable. Over time, your shoulders will get stronger and you'll be able to descend write the way down, thereby fully stretching those pecs.
4. Dips Are Functional – They Give You Strength That You Can Use
Dips require you to lift and move your entire body through space. You need to keep your body tight so you maintain your posture, and as a result you not only involve your chest, upper back, shoulders and arms, but also your legs, abdomen and lower back.
It is a true whole-body workout that trains your body to function as a unit as opposed to targeting individual sections of the body.
By working your entire body in this way, dips will help you to lose weight, look better and build strength all round. They will help make you a better athlete, better able to handle yourself in a fight, better able to manage your body weight, and even help you bench more.
5. Hormonal Stimulation – Better For Weight Loss And Man Boob Reduction
Because dips engage your entire body, they result in a greater release of testosterone and growth hormone both during and after the workout. Increased levels of these hormones help to reduce man boobs, burn fat and pack on extra muscle.
How To Do Chest Dips The Right Way
Dips can be modified to focus on the triceps, upper back or chest. Here I will tell you how to do chest dips.
Place your hands on two parallel bars on either side of you.
If you don’t have access to parallel bars, you can also use two tables, or the back-rests of two chairs facing away from each other.
- Prop yourself up with your arms straight and your elbows locked out.
- Bend your knees so your feet are behind you. This helps to balance your weight as you lean forward. Leaning forward is necessary to target the chest.
- Bending at the elbows, lower your body in a slow and controlled fashion, without ever touching your feet or knees to the ground. Breath in while doing this.
- Stop when your shoulders are level with your elbows, then while breathing out, slowly raise yourself back up to the starting position.
- Repeat steps 3-4, always making sure to maintain good posture and a forward-leaning position.
In case that ain't clear enough, check out the following video:
Incorporating Dips Into Your Training
Changing The Resistance
The only real problem with bodyweight exercises is unlike with weights it isn't easy to change the level of resistance. But not being easy doesn't mean it's impossible. All you need is a little creativity and you can change the resistance all you like.
If you're not accustomed to training, or you are a little on the heavy side, you may find it difficult to perform even one repetition of dips. If this is the case with you, then all is not lost since there are many things you can do to work around the problem.
This includes getting someone to help you, letting your feet touch the ground and aiding the lift with your legs, doing static holds at the top position or doing partial reps and negative reps to condition yourself until you are strong enough to do full reps.
If you find dips to be too easy, you can do weighted dips by wearing a backpack and throwing some weight plates into it, or using a weight belt with weights hanging off it, holding a weight plate between your knees, or getting your buddy to jump on your back.
Combining Dips With Other Exercises
If you just did dips and nothing else, your chest and upper body would look phenomenal. You will however get better results if you combine dips with other exercises that target different portions of your chest – like incline and decline pushups and, in the gym, cable crossovers and the pec dec.
If you are working on your chest, it's also important to work on your upper back for good posture, symmetry and that wider look.
In order to get that truly wide, masculine and unstoppable upper body physique, it's important also to do upper back exercises like bent-over rows, pullups and lat pulldowns.
If you only worked out your chest, your shoulders would be pulled forward in a hunched position. If on the other hand you work out your chest and upper back equally, your shoulders will be in a neutral position in the middle and to the sides, giving you a wider appearance.
It is also important to throw some whole-body training and leg training into the mix, to help get rid of those overlying layers of fat.
Dips may be a good exercise for building muscle and burning fat, but it is well known that nothing gets rid of excess fat than whole-body training and a good diet.
“Won't Dips Make Your Man Boobs Stick Out?”
I'm yet to see this happen. It is theoretically possible that in a minority of guys, dips will stimulate more of the lower chest than the upper chest.
However, EMG studies have shown that, surprisingly enough, the decline bench press stimulates the upper portion of the pectoralis major muscle, better than it does the lower.
I'm willing to bet that dips (again, dips being like an extreme decline bench press) stimulate the upper chest just as well as the lower, since all of my clients who only do dips, end up getting perfectly even chest development.
But hey, EMG studies also show that the incline bench press does isolate the upper chest more, so if you are for whatever reason, afraid that your lower chest will get bigger and your man boobs will stick out if you do dips, then you can always do both dips and incline presses to even things out.
How To Use Dips To Get Rid Of Man Boobs
Dips can help you build a powerful chest, but when it comes to losing man boobs, dips are just one piece of the puzzle.
Man boobs are caused by a hormonal imbalance–too much of the female hormone estrogen and too little of the male hormone testosterone.
Though dips help do boost testosterone levels, you'll see far better results if you combine dips with other powerful exercises as part of a whole body training system.
The following link will take you to a free video where I reveal some unusual methods you can use to get rid of your man boobs:
Click Here To Watch A Free Video On How To Lose Man Boobs Naturally
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Hi Garry,
I just finished reading your Chest Sculpting Blueprint, and I loved it…especially all of the science behind how our bodies grow muscles and respond to different stimulation. It really helps to know the “why” behind the method.
I am anxious to get started with your 12 week beginner program. I do have a quick question for you first. How do you feel about substituting the flat bench press with assisted dips (on that machine where you can use the weights attached to offset your bodyweight) coupled with maybe dumbbell pullovers or incline dumbbell press?
The reason I ask is that every time I do bench press for any extended period of time I usually end up with shoulder pain.
Thanks in advance,
Chad
Hi Chad
Assisted dips are great, they’d probably work better than the bench press. Dumbbell pullovers are an excellent adjunct to dips, because they hit the upper chest very well, without putting too much stress on the triceps.
If you can though, I would suggest you avoid doing assisted dips and go straight into doing full bodyweight dips without any support. If you can’t do a single rep, or if you can’t do 5 or more reps, then start by doing partial reps, where you only descend by a couple of inches from the top position. Use a pile of books beneath your knees to help you stay consistent with your level of descent. Then over time, move one book away so you are going progressively deeper. I find this method gets my clients into doing full bodyweight dips much quicker than doing assisted dips.
Sir,
Hi. I heave man boobs since i was 11. I am 16 now and not yet reduced a bit of my man boobs. As I’m 16 yeas old still, I have a doubt if I too can do such dips..
Am I too small to the dips yet? Or is it the right age to start?
Hi Aakash, 16 is not too young to start doing dips. Get started doing dips by all means, but be sure to take a more holistic approach to man boob reduction by fixing your diet, avoiding environmental estrogen exposure, boosting testosterone, and doing whole-body resistance training rather than just dips.
Garry, I purchased your chest sculpting blueprint. Instead of doinG bench press, I have incorporated dips, then I follow the order you show on your workout schedule. I'm an experienced weight lifter, i wanted to know if i should also add the dumbell press right after the dips and then do the rest of the exercises as you have referenced. I need to get used to working out 3 days a week. I been working out 5 days a week. Looking for your opinion. thanks.
Hi Raul
You can do the dumbbell press right after dips, the only downside is you may find yourself overworking your triceps, so you will gain little benefit from doing the dumbbell press straight after dips. If I’m doing dips during a workout, to target the upper pecs on the same workout, I tend to do the dumbbell pullover, which does not put the same form of stress on the triceps, yet hits the upper pecs very well.
This is one of those situations where isolation exercises come in handy when you want to hit one muscle group from multiple angles without overworking the smaller muscle group in a compound exercise. If you do dips, followed by incline dumbbell presses, followed by the neck press, then the triceps will be so exhausted by the time you get to the neck press, that that exercise will hardly work your chest at all.
For a guy with no gym, will dips and hindu sqauts be enough to add size to upper and lower body, or must one add pushups?
Dips and hindu squats will get you far. You would however, do better if you got yourself a barbell and did some weighted squats. You’d also do better if you added in some pullups and either shoulder presses with dumbbells, or handstand pushups. As a beginner, normal pushups are not needed if you are doing dips.
Thanks, Garry, but ATM I have time constraints, money issues etc. So that's why I wondered if these two exercise – dips and hindu squats – will give me enough strength and size in six months, after which if I am lucky I could join a gym.
I read about Gironda dips 8 months ago and I spent 5 months conditioning and strengthening my deltoids just to be sure I could perform them comfortably. I do them on a flat surfaces with my fingers pointed in to flare my elbows easier. Anyways I've never felt my pecs flex more forcefully especially at the top of the movement when I'm getting back on the stool.
An unexpected benefit is that it is somehow adding to my upper back and neck thickness.
Awesome Rubes, great to hear you’re getting along well with the exercise. Dips do indeed work the upper back, it’s a whole upper-body exercise, some refer to it as the upper body squat.
Dips are great, but I feel leaning forward puts strain on the back, not just the chest. GOing vertical (just up and down) is better … even though the delt/tri get a lot of work, the chest also gets enough stimulation.
Thanks for your input Ahmd.
Do it however you feel works best for you. I do agree that vertical dips still work the chest very well.
If we keep the feet forward instead of back and do vertical dips … nothing can beat that. It is amazing workout for the entire upper body. Leaning forward also works, but the thing is, most beginners are afraid to go down fully in that position… so the result is that the back does all the work, there is too much strain there. So maybe people can try both variations and see what suits them.
Chest dips is the best. I notice size gains, but more peculiarly the shape is also beautiful now. I cant explain it … i dont mean thickness but the very shape of the chest is beautiful thanks to chest dips.
Hi Garry,
I love dips & they along with pullups are a must have in any workout program I do. Started doing them with the assisted dip machine until I could do them without the assistance & have done them ever since. Any workout program I do that has Bench Press I automatically replace with dips. Never really liked BB Bench Press, it just never felt right for me.
Vince Gironda was quite specific about feet placement on chest dips: they go in FRONT of you, not behind. This isolates the pecs. Your diagram above shows the feet behind. That’s going to work the triceps most. According to Gironda’a instructions, when viewed from the side, your body should look like a crescent moon – feer and head in front, back rounded. Google and you’ll see diagrams.
Hi Demian, thanks for your input. Yes, you are right about Gironda’s version of dips with the feet in front. I personally prefer to do this version when I am using a piece of apparatus that allows enough space for placing your feet forward. The reason I show the traditional knees bent and feet backward version of dips, is as follows:
1. It’s easier to do. Gironda’s version requires strong abdominals for holding the legs in this position long enough to do multiple sets of dips.
2. It’s more convenient to do this version of dips on non-conventional apparatus, as you can get by with a lower platform for hand placement (since your knees are bent), and with less space in front of you – such as in the corner your kitchen worktable.
Hi Garry, nice site. Dips are amazing. But one doubt. When I do them, my arms feel it not my chest. But when I take measurements, my chest is also growing along with arms. So if the chest is also growing, why dont i feel the burn in chest while doing dips… why do i only feel it in my arms?
Hi Gus, good question.
The answer is that the burn in your muscles when you are working out, is not necessary for muscle growth. When doing squats for example, most people feel it in their quadriceps at the front of their thighs, but you’ll also notice that both your hamstrings and glutes grow to a huge extent, and this despite not even realizing that you are working these muscles.
Thanks, Garry, I understand. But why does everyone talk of pump? is it so popular?
Also is it ok for a beginner to just do full body workouts three times a week? No isolation at all, only compound movts. like dips, military press etc.
People believe in the pump because everyone has subscribed to the “no pain no gain” theory. Though some level of effort and pain is necessary if you want to build an impressive physique, people seem to believe there is a linear correlation between pain and gain – as though the more pain there is, the more gain there is, and if there is no pain, then there can’t be any gain. This is totally not true.
Those of us in the know realize that the “pump” is not necessarily a signal that your muscles will grow.
Full body compound workouts three times a week without isolation exercises, is the best exercise for beginners.
Thanks again, Garry. If the pump is not a reliable sign, do we consider strength alone as a reliable sign that the muscles are growing?
Also reg. compound movements, is it okay to do just one compound exercise for upper body (per session) or do we need at least two? The reason I am asking is, unlike isolation, compound movts like dips/bench are so exhausting … so doing many compounds in one session is hard…..
Hi Gus. Increase in strength is not a reliable sign either, as strength can increase via neuromuscular conditioning, where the size of the muscle does not increase. The best way to know whether your muscles are growing is to take regular measurements using a tape measure.
Another good indication is progressive resistance. If you are lifting in the hypertrophy range, and are able to progressively lift slightly heavier weights each workout, then chances are that your muscles are growing.
One compound exercise isn’t really enough I’m afraid. You have to do three for the upper body, so you can target the shoulders, back and chest. If you find it exhausting, just increase your rest periods between exercises. So once you have finished doing dips, rest as long as it takes for to feel refreshed and ready enough to do pullups.
I go into exercise in more detail in my program, the Chest Sculpting Blueprint.
Yes! Dips are great for chest and also great for triceps and it put so little stress on elbows.
Hi Garry,should I do chest DIPS or Decline Bench Press?In either case I feel once a week is enough(worried about droppy chest,so not more than once a week I feel).
Hi Ankit
Both are good exercises, and hit the entire chest very well. If you had to choose one from the other, I would say dips were better, because as a bodyweight exercise, it brings a whole load of other stabilizers into the mix.
Sir u advised me on dips in may. I’ve been doing it religiously to get amazing result on my chest. But fat has also accumulated around my belly. But I only weigh 160 pounds at 5 10. Do I create a slight caloric deficit and continue dips/lifting? Is that advisable or will I lose muscle?
Hello Garry,
I want to thank you first of all. It is because of you that i have started lifting whereas earlier i was doing only cardio. Your programs are simply amazing and i hope i get good results following them.
Just a question after reading this post. In your program Chest Sculpting Blueprint you have mentioned of Bench press as the chest exercise for beginners but here you mentioned that Dips is far more better and effective than the bench press. Your program says bench press and your post says dips so where do I go now?
Also if bench press is not that effective than why did you incorporate it in the program?
I’d be glad to know that. Thank you so much once again.
Hi Sagar, thanks for your question.
Sorry if I didn’t make this clear. I use the bench press only as an example – because it’s the one chest exercise that most people are familiar with. From pages 122-136, I detail all the different chest exercises you can do instead of the bench press (including both dips, and the guillotine press), it’s up to you which exercise you want to do.
Hi, i cant do pull ups…so is it ok if i try out only dips for a few weeks and then increse my strength and do pull ups….or will i hav to do dips along with push ups…will it be fruitful?
p.s.-i dont go to gym
Hi Rohan. Dips are not a good substitute for pullups, since both exercises work different muscle groups. Dips require pushing strength, pullups require pulling strength. If you can’t do pullups, there are many different things you can do to get stronger in this movement, until you can start doing full repetition pullups.
One popular method is to pulldowns with a lat pulldown machine. You can simulate the pullups using this machine, with a lighter weight than your body weight. Gradually increase the weight over time, until you are able to lift your bodyweight. You say you don’t have access to a gym, so you may not be able to use this method. Thankfully though, this is not the best method for you to get good at doing pullups, because it can take extremely long, and you may never get to the point where you can pull-down your bodyweight.
Instead, get yourself a stool or a chair, and start doing partial-rep pullups from the top-most position, where your elbows are bent all the way, and the bar is touching your chest. Lower yourself by an inch or two, and pull yourself back up again. Do 3 sets of 5-10 repetitions.
Since you won’t be causing much of a metabolic disturbance in your body by doing such small partial reps, you can do this every day, even twice a day. Over time as it gets easier, increase the range of motion by an inch at a time. Soon you’ll find yourself able to do full ROM pullups.
Hope this helps.
Hi Garry,
It was enjoyable to read above post with my sincere attention. I am doing dips from past 3months and it was pumping all chest,triceps,and little on shoulder muscles at beginning weeks. Slowly slowly it stopped pumping and made muscles more flexible that while doing dips my both elbows can be easily touched at backside. And I see no growth apart of flexibility in muscles, can you advise the other way to get sculpted chest like models, whom chest is long as well as wide also.
I came hetr by searching information on Google, and found this post worthy than pushing affiliates…. ☺ and looking forward to hear from your side.
Thanks Mate
Hi Jimmy
Yes, if you keep doing the same exercise, your body will eventually adapt to it and you will no longer experience many added benefits from doing it. With a bodyweight exercise like dips, I usually suggest you keep training until you can do 3 sets of 10 repetitions. Once you can do this, you need to start adding weights, or finding some other way to make the exercise more difficult. You can add weights with a dipping belt for example, to increase resistance.
Hope this helps,
Garry