What I’ve Learned From Doing Only Dips and Pull Ups

Tomorrow is November 30th, the last day of my dip and pull up challenge.

To put it briefly things are going great! I am so in love with dips and pull ups that I’m still going to make them the bread and butter of my training for a while longer.

So what can a guy who’s done nothing but dips and pull ups have to say? Well, here ya go:

- The dip is one of the most underrated exercises in existence.

The push up usually gets the most props for the pushing calisthenic exercise of choice. In the world of free weights, the dip often plays second fiddle to the bench press or machine press.

I used to think that as well, but I now believe that the dip is, hands down, my favorite upper body pressing exercise.  I wrote a post about it on why I love it so much, but for the time being I’ll take the dip over every other form of pressing exercise. It works things so well and to such a great effect. There is little to complain about this move. Once the technique is solid you can use the dip to build upper body strength and muscle that will rival any other exercise.

- Pay attention to your legs during pull ups.

Like many, I used to kick, kip and flail my legs while doing pull ups. This past month has taught me that correct pull up technique requires conscious use of the legs.

Have you ever seen a fish flopping at the end of a fishing line as it’s pulled from the water? The energy of the fish flows up the line to the rod and into the arms of the fisherman. The same thing happens when you move your legs while doing pull ups. As your legs move it changes how your upper body is working through the move.

In some cases the use of the legs is done on purpose like with a kipping pull up. However, if you’re not kipping be sure to lock those gams in place and not let them move one tiny bit.

- A small exercise selection can lead to over training a bit more easily.

Each workout would either be dip or pull up focused. I might throw in some leg or core work but for the most part each workout was 75% just dips or pull ups.

This made my workouts short and very efficient. It also caused me to really work myself into the ground and face more workload than I could handle.

If you’re focusing on just one move for a workout, don’t be afraid to end the workout after 15-20 minutes. If you’re focused on the exercise at hand you’ll have done more of that move in 10 minutes than most people do in a month!

- You can get a complete and total workout with just dips an pull ups.

Yes Virginia, you can do nothing but dips and pull ups and get fantastic results.  The two moves work every muscle in the upper body in an efficient and effective way. Of course it’s fun to do hand stands and rear flys on suspension straps, but knowing we don’t have to do them just makes them all the more fun.

I’ll continue my little project into December, but I plan to focus a bit more on handstand work. Until then, I look forward to learning what other projects you’re taking on yourself.