Machine Dip

What is the Machine Dip?

The machine dip lets you train the dip pattern with a selectorized or assisted machine instead of full bodyweight. It’s a compound press that loads the triceps hard, and the pin-loaded stack means you can dial the resistance up or down precisely, assisting a beginner who can’t yet do bodyweight dips, or overloading past bodyweight for a stronger lifter.

Muscles worked

Primary: Triceps

The triceps extends the elbows to drive the handles down and lock out, the main mover in the upright dip pattern the machine guides.

Secondary: Chest, Shoulders

The chest and front shoulders assist through the bottom of the press, taking more load the more the movement leans forward.

How to perform the Machine Dip

1. Sit in the dip machine, set the seat height so the handles sit near your lower chest, and grip them with a neutral grip.
2. The machine fixes the movement path, so it trains the triceps press pattern without the shoulder-stability demand of bodyweight dips.
3. Keep the torso upright and the elbows tracking back along the ribs to bias the triceps over the chest.
4. Press the handles down by extending the elbows until the arms are nearly straight.
5. Squeeze the lockout, keeping the shoulders down and away from the ears rather than shrugging.
6. Let the handles rise under control until the elbows reach roughly 90 degrees, then press again.

Suggested working range: 8–15 reps. Default progression: double progression.

Mechanics

A guided, bilateral pressing compound: both the elbows and shoulders move under load, driven by a fixed machine path and a pin-loaded stack. The adjustable resistance is the point: it scales the dip below bodyweight to assist a beginner or above it to overload, without changing the pattern.

Form cues

• •Set the seat and pad so your torso stays upright to keep the triceps emphasis.
• •Grip the handles and lower until the upper arms are about parallel, elbows tracking back.
• •Press down by extending the elbows to a full lockout without shrugging.
• •Pick a load (assisting or added) that keeps every rep controlled.

Common mistakes

• •Leaning the torso far forward, which shifts the load onto the chest instead of the triceps.
• •Shrugging the shoulders up toward the ears instead of keeping them down.
• •Letting the elbows flare wide rather than tracking back along the ribs.
• •Slamming the handles up on the return instead of controlling the eccentric.

Variations & alternatives

• •Bodyweight parallel-bar dip, the unassisted compound this machine mirrors.
• •Bench dip, a bodyweight regression with the feet on the floor.
• •Weighted dip, a belt or vest to overload the bodyweight version.
• •Close-grip bench press, a barbell triceps compound alternative.

Tricep Pushdown

Triceps · Cable

Overhead Tricep Extension

Triceps · Dumbbell

Skull Crusher

Triceps · Barbell

Tricep Dip

Triceps · Bodyweight

Close-Grip Bench Press

Triceps · Barbell

Programming: sets, reps & when to use it

Program the machine dip in the library’s 8–15 rep range as a triceps compound. Use the assist to build reps if you can’t yet do bodyweight dips, or load past bodyweight once they’re easy. Keep the torso upright for triceps emphasis and run it after your main pressing; two to four sets works well.

Frequently asked questions