Assisted Dips for Triceps

If you want to strengthen and tone your triceps at the back of your upper arms, make dips part of your strength-training routine. This exercise is challenging because you lift your entire body weight while doing it. If you're not strong enough to do this, assisted dips can help you reduce the weight you're lifting, develop strength and get used to the dipping motion.

  1. About the Triceps

    • Your triceps are three-headed, horseshoe-shaped muscles that make up about 60 percent of your upper arms. Triceps dips target all three heads of this muscle -- the medial head located in the middle of your upper arm, the lateral head on the outer part, and the long head on the inner part. Your triceps are activated each time you straighten your arms. They act as injury-preventing shock absorbers, and strengthening them can improve the appearance of your arms and enhance your athletic performance in sports that require throwing, pushing and swinging.

    Machine-Assisted Dips

    • An assisted-dip machine can make the move easier because it helps you lift your body weight. Before starting the exercise, adjust the weight stack of the machine to the desired assistance -- the more weight you use, the easier the dip will be. Then grasp the handles with an overhand grip with your hands directly below your shoulders. Step on the assistance lever with your feet and slowly bend your elbows and lower your body down until your upper arms are parallel to the floor. Then push yourself up to the starting position while allowing the machine to help lift your weight.

    Self-Assisted Dips

    • Self-assisted dips are ideal if there's no assisted-dip machine available. The exercise is done using parallel bars, which are often used to do the unassisted version of the exercise. Place a bench below your feet and bend at your knees as you dip down. Because your feet are on the bench the entire time, they help support your weight -- you're not lifting your entire body weight, but still experience the full range of motion.

    Bench Dips

    • Bench dips are considered to be a self-assisted dip variety, because the seated position of the exercise and your heels, which remain on the floor, lighten the lifting load. The exercise is done while sitting on the floor with your legs straight and your hands on the edge of a bench behind you. Your fingers face forward and your elbows are bent to 90 degrees. You then straighten your arms to raise your buttocks and legs off the floor. Move up and down in this manner without sitting down until completing the set.