Everything about a Dipping Belt including the top 4 exercises.

In this blog, we will explain to you from A to Z what a Dipping Belt is, what you can use it for, the advantages of a Dipping Belt, and which exercises it is suitable for.

But we will also tell you why we had our Dipping Belt made the way we did, there are of course reasons behind this.

What is a Dipping belt?

The name says it all a bit, a belt used for dipping. And of course, we don't mean dipping your nachos in guacamole, if you know you know. 

No, we are talking about the exercise Dips here, a favorite exercise for some of us and a terrible exercise for others. Why? We'll get back to that later. 

So, what exactly is a dipping belt?

In short, it is a belt, often made of leather or neoprene with a chain link at both ends. You put the belt (obviously) around your waist, and hang weights (a kettlebell or a plate) on the chain to make an exercise heavier because it has become too light with your body weight since you invested in Thor Gear and have become godlike strong.

Bodyweight VS extra weight with a weighted belt

Let's be clear that there is no benefit to using a dipping belt if you haven't got your form right for certain exercises yet. If you add weight to an exercise you don't have under control yet, you only increase the chance of injury, so don't do it. Ego aside and first learn the exercise properly. 

Form over weight at all times.

BUT, if you have mastered an exercise and can add a repetition (or more) every week, and instead of your triceps failing on a dip, your lungs fail because you can do 50 reps, then a dipping belt is very useful.

This allows you to add weight when you reach a certain repetition range (say you train in the 5-10 rep range and you have done 3x10), then next time you can hang a plate of, for example, 1.25kg on the belt to apply 'Progressive Overload' again.

Exercises with a dipping belt

There are plenty of exercises where you can use a dipping belt; below I will briefly explain the most common ones.

Weighted chin-up or pull-up:

Would this still need explanation, you might say? Sometimes when I walk in the gym and see people doing this exercise, then yes. 

No, we're not talking about 'kipping' the 'cross-fit pull-up' here, but we are talking about the chin-up or pull-up. 

This means ideally pulling yourself up with your chest to the bar and from there fully lowering yourself until you are completely 'hanging'. 

So no repetitions where you throw your chin over the bar like a pigeon, and also not halfway where you drop down and do a little jump in the air to work yourself back up. 

Controlled repetitions with a full 'Range of Motion'

Can't do this yet? Then first get stronger on, for example, a lat pulldown or do 'negative' repetitions. 

You were always so positive, Martijn? Yeah yeah, hear me out. 

Negative repetitions involve, for example, a pull-up where you jump up until your chest touches the bar and then slowly lower yourself down from there. This can be, for example, 3 seconds and you do this 5 times. 

From there, you might do it 6 times the next time and build up to, for example, 10.

You can also adjust your tempo so that at some point you don't lower for 3 seconds but for example 5 or even 10 seconds.

You can vary a lot here, so especially see what works for you.

By the way, you can also do this with other exercises, such as the Bench Press.

Advantages of doing this with a dipping belt:

A pull-up or chin-up is a fairly large and tiring exercise; you will probably notice that when you do these exercises with higher repetitions, you get tired quickly and your repetitions drop quickly. Suppose you do 20 the first time; there is a good chance that you might only get 15 afterward (if your set was close to failure).

By adding extra weight, which provides better resistance, your repetition range will be much lower, so you might end up with a repetition range of, for example, 5-10. It could very well be that you get 9/7/6 reps and thus build up less fatigue than in the range of 15-20 repetitions. 

Because your fatigue is lower in a lower repetition range, you have better resistance, and you can make faster progress due to mechanical tension, adding weight to your pull-ups or chin-ups is a great tool for more progress.

Be careful not to hang on too much weight so that you start compensating for good form.

Weighted push-ups:

I hear you thinking; Push-Ups? Dude, I did these when I was 13, had seen my first Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, and decided I wanted a chest like his, so I did 200 push-ups every day before going to sleep. This, by the way, did not work. 

I feel your pain, really. But the push-up is a great exercise, especially when you do it weighted. With a strong carry-over to the Bench Press, it certainly doesn't hurt to include it in your programming.

You wonder how you're going to do this with a dipping belt, let me explain:

You place a bar in the Squat Rack (don't panic, we're training Chest today, not legs) at about one meter height (depending on your height).

Place a bench in front of the bar at a distance so that when you put your feet on the bench, you are almost fully extended (in push-up position) and can grip the bar with your arms at about shoulder width or slightly wider. 

Once you've found this setup, you can put on your dipping belt, hang some weight on it, and start building an enormous chest.

Why you want to do push-ups with weight instead of bodyweight:

Because the push-up is such a basic and simple exercise (even though it is often done "wrong"), it is generally quite easy after some practice to do a higher repetition range and really tire yourself out with it.

To still create that extra overload without too much fatigue, we can add extra weight.

By adding weight to your push-ups so that the weight actually 'hangs' in the air downwards, this causes your core to work more and thus you also strengthen core stability. So adding weight to your push-ups is also a good idea for a stronger core.

Weighted muscle-ups:

If you really love Calisthenics and Muscle-Ups are really your thing but you are already so good at them that you can do 20 in a row? Then you can also easily add weight here by simply hanging a kettlebell or plate on your dipping belt to get even stronger. 

Weighted Dips:

Last but certainly not least for some; The Weighted Dips. 

A great exercise for some of us for the chest/triceps and shoulders and for people like me an exercise where everything starts to crack and hurt from the first repetition. Is it age, is it the way pressure is applied to your tendons/muscles? Nobody knows. 

That doesn't take away that if the exercise feels good for you, it can be an extremely valuable exercise for both muscle growth and carry-over to bench pressing.

Let's be honest, your triceps take a huge hit from this exercise. 

Because this is also a bodyweight exercise and you quickly become 'strong' with this exercise, you will also quickly reach the higher repetition ranges here. As mentioned earlier, it is also nice to add weight so you don't build up unnecessary fatigue. 

So, if you can do this exercise without pain or discomfort in your body and you want triceps like horseshoes? Start dipping and immediately hang some weight on it.

What should you consider when buying a Dipping Belt?

When buying a dipping belt, it is good to pay attention to a number of factors, for example, it is important to find out how much weight you can hang on the belt. This also depends on your personal goals and your strength. If you don't feel the need to do exercises with an extra 150kg, then it is not immediately necessary to get a belt that can lift this weight or more.

Important aspects when buying a belt with weight:

Of course, you can just type into Google; Buy dipping belt and you will find plenty.

But, which one do you choose and what should you pay attention to? Below, I will tell you a bit about what to consider when buying a Dipping Belt. Think, for example, about the length of the chain and the material of the belt. 

Length of the chain

Not everyone is naturally the same height or has the same waist size, so the length of the chain affects how low and how close the weight hangs to your body. 

Material of the belt

As mentioned earlier, there are often two types of belts, one made of leather and one made of neoprene. 

So what is actually better?

It is actually a personal preference. Leather is a bit stiffer and gives a certain 'quality' look. However, leather can also cut into your waist more easily. 

Neoprene is a bit softer and can feel nicer around your waist.

Dipping belt from Thor Athletics

In the past, I have used several dipping belts, both neoprene and leather.

Those with leather were always stiff and cut into my waist. I can already hear the hardcore gym bros shouting; NO PAIN NO GAIN. Yeah, that's cool bro but if something feels comfortable, I'm more likely to use it.

The neoprene belts I have used were often very thin and rough on the inside, so they were never very comfortable.

We have chosen to extra thick to use neoprene for this belt instead of leather because generally feels more comfortable than leather because it is less stiff.

The inside of our belt is also soft so it doesn't cut into your waist and feels comfortable.

We have also used an extra heavy chain so you can hang maximum weight on it.

You can add a maximum weight of 100kg to our dipping belt.

The first person who can do a chin-up or pull-up with 100kg extra, send us a DM for a nice surprise.

Click here to view the Dipping belt from Thor Athletics

Thank you for reading this blog, hopefully you found it useful. If you have any questions and/or comments, please let us know via email thorathleticsnl@gmail.com of via DM @thorathletics