Chest Dip
chest
What moves the load, and what it costs
8.0MET
Chest is the prime mover, with the triceps, front deltoid assisting. The heaviest bodyweight chest exercise there is. It is also the one most likely to annoy a shoulder, so build the range slowly and stop where the shoulders stay down.
Cue: Lean the torso forward about 30 degrees and let the elbows travel slightly wider than the ribs.
स्रोत·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·वर्गवारी: कॅलिस्थेनिक्स, तीव्र·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
SHARED AXIS · SEVEN VALUES FROM ONE TABLE · HIGHLIGHTED ROW IS THIS MOVEMENT
The compendium files chest dip under a category, not a lift. Read the ladder as position, not precision: this is heavier work than sitting quietly by a factor of 8.0, and at the top end of what a gym floor produces.
Turning that MET value into a real energy cost
- Map the movement to a published category. The compendium measures categories of conditioning work, never individual lifts, so chest dip is filed under कॅलिस्थेनिक्स (उदा. पुश-अप, सिट-अप, पुल-अप), तीव्र श्रम.
- Take the category's MET value — 8.0. One MET is the cost of sitting quietly, so this is 8.0 times resting metabolism.
- Multiply by 3.5 to get millilitres of oxygen per kilogram per minute, the unit the MET is actually defined in.
- Multiply by your bodyweight in kilograms and divide by 200. The result is kilocalories per minute of work.
- Count working minutes only. Under load, not under the roof — a set of eight is about 25 seconds of the hour you were there.
kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × body mass (kg) ÷ 200 Chest Dip: 8.0 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200 = 9.80 kcal/min
स्रोत·ACSM metabolic equation + 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·REFERENCE BODY MASS 70 KG·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
What is actually doing the work
| Muscle | Role | What it does here |
|---|---|---|
| ChestPectoralis major | Prime mover | Brings the upper arm across the body and forward (shoulder horizontal adduction and flexion). The clavicular head contributes more when the arm travels up and in; the sternal head when it travels down and in. |
| Tricepsट्रायसेप्स ब्रॅकाय | Synergist / stabiliser | कोपर सरळ करतो. लाँग हेड खांद्यावरूनही जातो, त्यामुळे हात डोक्यावर असताना त्यावर सर्वाधिक ताण आणि भार येतो. |
| Front deltoidAnterior deltoid | Synergist / stabiliser | Raises the arm to the front (shoulder flexion) and assists horizontal adduction. Prime mover in overhead pressing, heavy synergist in every bench press. |
The prime mover produces the movement against the resistance; synergists assist and stabilisers hold a joint still without moving it. An exercise trains the whole muscle it loads — there is no way to work only part of a muscle, and no exercise removes fat from the area around it.
Set up, then earn the rep
Dip bars, Bodyweight. Every rep should look like the first one. The moment it stops looking like the first one, the set is finished.
पॅटर्न · पुश
- Take a firm grip on the bars and press up to straight arms with the shoulders pulled down away from the ears.
- Choose your lean: an upright torso with tucked elbows loads the triceps, a forward lean of 20 to 30 degrees loads the chest.
- Lean the torso forward about 30 degrees and let the elbows travel slightly wider than the ribs.
- Lower under control until the upper arm is roughly parallel to the floor, or until you feel the shoulder start to shrug — whichever comes first.
- Drive back up without letting the shoulders creep towards the ears.
- Keep the legs quiet. Swinging the knees to generate momentum turns a strength exercise into a mess.
Where this one breaks down
Not theory. These are the faults you correct on a gym floor, and the correction that actually works.
Going too deep.
Depth past the point where the shoulder shrugs up is where dips earn their reputation. Stop at the range you can control with the shoulders down.
Shrugging at the bottom.
If the shoulders rise towards the ears at the bottom, you have run out of position. Shorten the range or use assistance until the strength is there.
Swinging the legs.
Momentum takes the load off exactly the range you were trying to train.
Adding weight before the range is complete.
Full-range bodyweight dips first, then a belt.
Regress it, or progress it
Regress — earn it first
Progress — the next demand
Prescription: load, reps, rest
Read off the goal, then hold the technique constant as the load climbs. Derived from the movement's mechanics, not invented for this page: a compound lift loads several joints, so it tolerates heavy loads and needs long rests.
| Goal | Sets | Reps | Rest | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strength | 3–5 | 3–6 | 3–5 min | Heavy loads need long rests. Cutting rest to two minutes turns a strength set into a conditioning set. |
| Muscle size | 3–4 | 6–12 | 90–180 sec | Take most sets to within one to three reps of failure. Total weekly hard sets per muscle matters more than the exact rep number. |
| Endurance / fat loss | 2–4 | 12–20 | 45–75 sec | Lighter loads and shorter rests. Fat loss is decided by the diet; this preserves muscle while it happens. |
| First month | 2–3 | 8–10 | 2 मिनिटे | Well short of failure, same weight every set, until the movement looks the same on the last rep as the first. |
Time under load, in kilocalories
Read these as minutes of work, not minutes in the building. A set of eight takes about twenty-five seconds; the rest of the hour is rest, chalk and queueing.
Mapped category: कॅलिस्थेनिक्स (उदा. पुश-अप, सिट-अप, पुल-अप), तीव्र श्रम — 8.0 MET. That is the published category this movement is filed under, not a measurement of this specific lift.
Worked at 8.0 MET × 3.5 × 70 kg ÷ 200 = 9.80 kcal per working minute for a 70 kg adult. Scale it by your own bodyweight; the equation is linear. The full activity dataset lives at BurnLab.
स्रोत·2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities·CATEGORY VALUE, NOT A PER-EXERCISE MEASUREMENT·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
If the rack is taken
Substitutes train the same prime mover through the same pattern with different kit. Computed from the muscle and pattern data on this card, not hand-picked to fill a grid.
Nothing at all to hand: आर्चर पुश-अप is the closest match — same prime mover, same pattern, no kit.
Where it sits in a week
One movement is not a programme. The twelve templates put these in order, including 6 that need no gym at all.
The questions that come up on the floor
What muscles does the chest dip work?
Chest Dip is a compound movement in which the chest is the prime mover, assisted by the triceps, front deltoid. Brings the upper arm across the body and forward (shoulder horizontal adduction and flexion). The clavicular head contributes more when the arm travels up and in; the sternal head when it travels down and in.
Is the chest dip good for beginners?
No. It rates 4 out of 5 for technical demand — real technical demand — worth having someone watch your first sessions. Build to it through the easier progressions on this page; the barbell bench press is the usual step before it.
What can I do instead of the chest dip at home?
The closest no-equipment substitute is the archer push-up, which trains the same prime mover through the same movement pattern. It will not load you as heavily, so use higher reps and slower tempo to make up the difference.
How many sets and reps of the chest dip should I do?
For muscle size, 3–4 sets of 6–12 with 90–180 sec rest. For strength, 3–5 sets of 3–6 with 3–5 min rest. In your first month, 2–3 sets of 8–10, stopping well short of failure. Total weekly hard sets per muscle group matters more than the exact rep number in any of these ranges.
Does the chest dip burn fat from the chest?
No. No exercise removes fat from the area it trains — spot reduction has been tested repeatedly and does not happen. Training the chest builds the muscle underneath; where body fat is lost from is decided by an overall calorie deficit and by your genetics, not by which exercise you chose.
Muscle roles follow standard kinesiology references and are described by joint action rather than by gym convention — see how this site is built. Energy figures are derived from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. Every reference is named and dated on the sources page. General information only — not medical or coaching advice. Load, form and progression should be adjusted to your own experience and any injury history. When in doubt, get coached in person.
स्रोत·Published exercise references·MUSCLE ROLES ASSIGNED BY JOINT ACTION·पुनरावलोकन जुलै 2026
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