Assisted Chest Dip (kneeling)

Description

How to do Assisted Chest Dip (kneeling)

1. 01
   Setup

   Adjust the machine's pad to a comfortable height and select your desired assistance weight. Kneel on the pad, grasping the parallel handles with a neutral grip, slightly wider than shoulder-width.

2. 02
   Setup

   Lean your torso slightly forward, tuck your chin, and depress your scapulae (pulling your shoulder blades down) to set your chest for the movement.

3. 03

   Inhale and slowly lower your body by bending your elbows, allowing them to flare out slightly, until your shoulders are below your elbows. Maintain the forward lean throughout the descent.

4. 04

   Exhale and powerfully push through your palms to extend your elbows, driving your body back up to the starting position. Focus on squeezing your chest at the top of the movement.

5. 05

   Avoid locking out your elbows completely at the top to maintain continuous tension in the chest and triceps. Control the movement for the entire range of motion.

Tips

• Maintain a consistent forward lean of your torso throughout the entire exercise to effectively target the sternal head of the pectoralis major.
• Control the eccentric (lowering) phase, taking 2-3 seconds to descend, which maximizes time under tension and promotes greater muscle growth.
• Actively depress your shoulder blades at the start and maintain this position to protect your shoulders and enhance chest activation, preventing shrugging.
• Breathe in as you lower your body and exhale forcefully as you push back up, which helps with core stability and power generation.

Common mistakes

• Not leaning forward enough shifts the emphasis predominantly to the triceps; ensure a significant forward lean from the start to target the chest effectively.
• Shrugging your shoulders up towards your ears can strain the neck and shoulders; actively depress and retract your shoulder blades to keep tension in the target muscles.
• Using too much assistance weight reduces the challenge and muscle stimulus; gradually decrease the assistance as your strength improves to ensure progressive overload.