Horizontal push
Dips
Bodyweight pressing downward. The most effective triceps and lower-chest exercise — and one of the most demanding for the shoulder.
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Level
- Advanced
- Primary muscles
- Triceps, Lower chest
- Secondary muscles
- Front deltoids
- Working range
- 6–12 reps · RIR 2
Step by step
- 1Grip the bars and support yourself on straight arms. Shoulder blades pulled down — do not let the shoulders ride up to the ears.
- 2Lean the torso forward slightly for chest emphasis; stay upright for triceps.
- 3Lower until your upper arms are roughly parallel to the floor.
- 4Press back up without locking the elbows hard at the top.
What makes the biggest difference
- Upper arms parallel is the end of the range, not a checkpoint on the way lower.
Common mistakes
Going too deep
Below parallel the shoulder enters end-range extension — the most common source of injury here. Stop at parallel.
Shoulders shrugging up to the ears
Keep the shoulder blades depressed throughout, including at the top.
What to do instead
Too hard through full range
Band-assisted or machine-assisted dips
Assistance lets you train the correct range instead of shortening it for lack of strength.
Front shoulder pain
Skull crushers or triceps pushdowns
Train the triceps without end-range shoulder extension.
Contraindications
- Any front-of-shoulder pain — this exercise will make it worse.
- Shoulder instability or a history of dislocations — pick a different triceps exercise.
This is not medical advice. If any of these apply to you, or the exercise causes pain, talk to a doctor or physiotherapist before returning to training.
Similar exercises
Log your sets and watch the progression
You enter weight, reps and RIR — the app computes your estimated 1RM, plots the strength curve and suggests the next session’s load along with the reasoning.
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