If you are in a hurry and just want to find out what the best dip station for building upper body strength, then I’d recommend the Ultimate Body Press Dip Bar Fitness Station as the best one.
Although weightlifting can be an excellent way to build strong and powerful muscles, calisthenics can also provide intense workouts that can sculpt, build and strengthen your entire body.
Among the wide variety of calisthenic exercises, dips are one of the most elite and powerful exercises for building upper-body strength.
If you want to be able to build strong and ripped chest, triceps, back, shoulder and abdominal muscles, then you want to include dips in your arsenal.
However, if you want to be able to perform dips in a safe and stable environment, then you may want to consider purchasing a dip station.
We’re going to cover what a dip station is and the differences between it and a very similar machine known as a power tower.
We’ll discuss the advantages of a dip station and go into critical features that you want to look out for when considering a dip station for your home.
From there, we will present you with the top 5 best dip stations that are available on the market today.
We’ll cover their features, strengths and weaknesses, and provide you with our #1 pick for best dip station.
Here are the top dip stations we’ll be reviewing:
- AmazonBasics Dip Fitness Bar
- Yaheetech Heavy Duty Dip Stand
- Ultimate Body Press Dip Bar Fitness Station
- Titan Fitness HD Dip Station Stand Body Press Black Solid Foam Grips
- Black Mountain Products Heavy Duty Stand 3000-Pound Rated Dip Station
Dip Stations: What You Need To Know
Before we try to cover what which machine is the best dip station on the market, we want to actually cover what dip stations are and what they are used for.
While these machines are very simple, they are very versatile and can help you perform a number of different upper body exercises.
What Are Dip Stations?
Dip stations are fairly simple piece of equipment.
They are designed so that you can perform the classic “dip” exercise, which many don’t realize is a form of push-up.
The dip itself has two, primary variations: leg-assisted and free-form/elevated dips.
The equipment itself belongs to a class of devices known as parallete bars.
Parallette bars are a pair of elevated, free-standing bars that are meant to mimick the standard parallel bars in gymnastics.
Not all parallette bars are dip bars.
In fact, standard parallette bars are only slightly elevated from the floor, and allow people to train modified push-ups, leg-raised isolations, and planking exercises.
While dip stations can be used for all these exercises, their key, standout feature is their height.
Because dip station bars are elevated 2.5 – 3 feet off the ground, dip stations have a much larger variety of exercises that you can perform with them.
What Are Dip Stations Used For?
As we stated earlier, dip stations are designed for performing dips.
Like push-ups, dips are practiced so that you can strengthen your triceps, chest and shoulder muscles.
The exercise is performed very similar to a push-up, but your body is kept in a primarily vertical position.
I also stated that dips comes in two variations.
The leg-assisted version is performed with your legs out in front of you on the floor, while the free-form has your legs elevated off the ground completely.
Both variations require you to support the majority of your weight with your arms, with the legs taking some of the weight in this ssisted version.
While dip stations allow you to perform a large variety of dipping exercises, the versatility of this equipment allows you to strength the entire upper body with this simple device.
There are five primary exercises that people perform with this machine.
We already mentioned planking, modified push-ups and leg raises.
In addition to this, dip stations allow you to perform modified pull-ups and its namesake, dips.
No Lower-Body Exercises?
As you can see, the five, standard exercises that you can perform with a dip station give you full coverage on the muscles above the waist.
In addition, the versatility of dip bars give you more than enough potential to dynamically strengthen these muscles by employing modifications to these classic, calisthenic movements.
However, I’d like for you to take a look at this brief, two-minute video demonstrating the potential of dip stations.
Because dip stations are so lightweight and versatile, you can creatively find ways to train your entire body with dip bars.
Using only one bar can enhance grip variations, and the elevation allows you to perform various leg exercises as well.
Features: What To Look For In A Dip Station
Now that you know what dip bars are, you want to make sure that you get bars that suit your needs.
Dip stations are almost always portable, but there are key features that you need to consider based on your body type.
The key features that will determine the right set of bars for you are the height, width and maximum weight limit.
Height
To do free-form dips on portable bars, you have to bend your knees.
Even with this modification in form, you will still need to make sure that the dip bars you use are elevated high enough to match your body length.
If you are under 6-ft tall, then a dip bar that is between 28-31 inches will work just fine. However, if you are over this height, you want to find dip bars that are at least 33 inches.
Width
Dips require your arms to be close to your body in order to perform them safely and effectively.
While increasing the width of your arms from your body can help you target the chest more, you typically want you arms close to the body.
The width of your arms will determine how wide you far apart the width of the dip station should be.
If you are looking for the best dip station, you might want to look into stations with adjustable with or varying angles along the width.
Maximum Weight Limit
The maximum weight limit is a very important factor to consider when looking for a dip station.
Not only does this number dictate how heavy a person can be to use it, but the weight limit often dictates the stability of the machine.
Bars with a heavier max weight are often more stable, and the last thing you want is for your station to collapse while you are using it.
Another consideration for your weight capacity is the ability to support the use of weight belts.
If you use weight belts, then your maximum capacity has to be able to hold your body weight in addition to the weight from the belt.
Differences Between A Dip Station & A Power Tower
While dip stations are a very versatile tool for performing dips and other calisthenic exercises, it is not the only piece of training equipment with dip bars.
Power towers are calisthenic training machines that allow you to train pull ups and dips.
Both machines are designed to train the upper body, but the power tower is designed to accommodate vertical/standard pull-ups and allow you to train dips without bending your knees.
However, power towers are far more expensive and far larger. Dip stations are often easily portable, and can be relocated as you see fit.
Dip stations honestly have the versatility to act as a portable gym for anyone who enjoys versatile and effective calisthenic workouts.
Top 5 Best Dip Stations
Now that you know what dip stations are, how they are used and what features to look for, we are going to take a look at the top 5 best dip stations.
After we list the features, strengths and weaknesses of each of these machines, we will determine our pick for best dip station.
AmazonBasics Dip Fitness Bar
The AmazonBasics Dip Fitness Bar is a versatile machine that you can use for all your upper-body strengthening needs.
With a 661-pound weight capacity and a height of 38 inches, this dip station can accommodate all shapes and body types.
This lightweight and portable machine is made for stable and safety.
Floor pads are designed for maximum slip-resistance and floor protection, and a wide base to avoid tipping over.
The foam grips ensure that you don’t slip while performing your workouts.
This machine supports the use of weight straps and suspension rings, so you can add to your already large arsenal of dip-station exercises.
To top it all off, AmazonBasics provides a 1-year warranty to all its customers.
Pros
- Slip-resistant and built for stability
- 1-year warranty
- Accommodates add-ons
- Relatively cheap
Cons
- Foam grips are somewhat uncomfortable
Yaheetech Heavy Duty Dip Stand
The Yaheetech Heavy Duty Stand Parallel Bar is designed to live up to its name.
This station comes with wide foot stands to maximize balance and stability.
The steel stands and covered in rubber so that they don’t scratch the floor and prevent slipping.
The 51.5-inch height ensures that even the tallest people can use this machine.
With a 500-lb weight limit, this machine fits a large variety of body types, and can accommodate weighted exercises for most individuals.
Pros
- Can accommodate very tall people
- Relatively low price
- Heavy Duty and very stable
Cons
- Very wide for a dip station
Ultimate Body Press Dip Bar Fitness Station
The Ultimate Body Press Dip Bar is a USA-designed machine that is designed for optimal calisthenic support.
This machine requires no tools to assemble, and folds easily for convenient transport and storage. With a height of 3 feet, this machine accommodates people of all body lengths.
This station supports a number of different resistance add-ons that allow you to access even more exercise options.
Foam pads help hold the station in place and avoid slipping while the wide-leg frames prevent you from tipping over.
Ultimate Body Press offers an impressive 10-year warranty for these bars, meaning that you are ensured against machine breakdown and defects of any kind.
Pros
- 10-year warranty
- No tools needed for assembly
- Can be taken apart for easy assembly
Cons
- Relatively low weigh limit – 350 lbs
- Relatively expensive
Titan Fitness HD Dip Station Stand Body Press Black Solid Foam Grips
The Titan Fitness HD Dip Station is a one-size-fit-all choice for quality dip stations.
With an impressive 750-pound weight capacity and height of 39 inches, this machine can support all shapes and sizes.
It’s large weight limit also means you can use additional weights to increase the intensity of your workouts.
This lightweight machine is easy to assemble and even easier to transport and store in small spaces.
You can perform all the classic dip station exercises for your back, chest, triceps, biceps and abs, giving you full access to the upper-body exercises you need.
Pros
- 750-lb weight capacity
- Relatively inexpensive
- Can accommodate a lot of extra resistance
Cons
- No known warranty
Black Mountain Products Heavy Duty Stand 3000-Pound Rated Dip Station
The Black Mountain 3000-pound Dip Station looks to put the “heavy duty” in heavy duty dip stations.
This machine has a 3000-pound weight capacity, meaning that even a gorilla could use it without difficulty.
You can use extra weights to increase your resistance without worrying if the machine will break down.
This transportable device has stabilizing pads that allow it to remain stationary and firm on most surfaces.
You can perform the full variety of dip-station exercises with it, getting a complete upper-body workout with one machine.
One of the greatest features is Black Mountain’s lifetime warranty with the purchase of this dip station.
If there is any defect or flaw in design, or the machine break downs, Black Mountain will repair or replace your machine.
Pros
- 3000-lb weight limit
- Lifetime Warranty
- Stabilizing pads for a variety of surfaces
Cons
- Reports of wobbling issues
Conclusion: What Is the Best Dip Station?
There are qualities that each of these dip stations had that were universal. All of these dip stations were rather inexpensive.
They are all portable and can fit into small spaces in the home.
However, our #1 pick in dip stations has to go to the Ultimate Body Press Dip Bar. The reason for this is due to its versatility.
At first glance, the low weight limit looks very problematic.
However, this machine is designed so that added resistance can come in the for of bands instead of free-weight bars.
Because of this, it only needs to support body weight and 350 lbs accommodates a wide-range of body weights.
Beside this, the Ultimate Fitness Dip Station requires no tools for assembly. No tools means that it is not only easy to build, but easy to take apart.
This allows it to be transported easier than any other machine on the list, and this is why we give it our #1 spot.
