Added Weight
Weighted Dip Strength Standards
The dip is the heaviest bodyweight press there is, and most people have no idea what a good one looks like once a belt is involved. Every number here is the weight you add. Enter your bodyweight to see your beginner to elite figures and where your best single sits.
Find Your Weighted Dip Level
Enter your bodyweight, pick your sex, and put in your best lift. Everything below updates as you type.
What a Weighted Dip Really Measures
A vertical press, carrying you as well as the plates.
A dip is a vertical press: you support yourself on parallel bars, lower until the upper arms reach roughly parallel with the floor, and press back to a locked elbow. The chest, front delts and triceps do the work, and how you lean decides the split. An upright torso pushes the emphasis to the triceps, a forward lean brings the lower chest in. Adding a plate on a belt turns it into a loadable barbell-style lift.
It is the strongest bodyweight press most people own. Because you are already moving your whole body, a trained lifter is usually handling more total load in a dip than in a bench press at the same point in their training, at least until the bench becomes a specialised, practised lift of its own.
Where These Numbers Come From
Anchored straight to bodyweight, then sense-checked against the bench.
Like the weighted pull-up, the dip is a bodyweight lift with a load bolted on, so the added weight cannot sensibly be expressed as a share of a barbell lift. It is set directly as a share of bodyweight instead: nothing at beginner, fifteen percent at novice, thirty-five percent at intermediate, sixty percent at advanced and ninety percent at elite for men, with a lower scale for women.
The sense check is against the bench press standards. At the intermediate level that scale puts a man's total dip load at about 1.35 times his bodyweight, comfortably above his bench press standard, which matches what most lifters find. Towards the top of the table the two converge and then cross, because an elite bench press is a specialised competition lift and the dip is not.
| Level | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | no added weight | no added weight |
| Novice | 15 percent of bodyweight | 5 percent of bodyweight |
| Intermediate | 35 percent of bodyweight | 15 percent of bodyweight |
| Advanced | 60 percent of bodyweight | 30 percent of bodyweight |
| Elite | 90 percent of bodyweight | 55 percent of bodyweight |
These standards are estimates derived from typical ratios to the main lifts, rounded to the nearest 5 lb. The bench, squat, deadlift and overhead press figures they are built on are the bodyweight-ratio approximations published on our strength standards page, which are aligned with widely used references in the strength and conditioning field including ExRx.net. Nothing here is measured lab data, and no table anywhere else has been copied. Treat every figure as a target to aim at, not a verdict on you.
Weighted Dip Standards for Men
Weight added on the belt for a 1-rep max, by bodyweight.
| Bodyweight | Beginner | Novice | Intermediate | Advanced | Elite |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 110 lb | Bodyweight only | 15 lb | 40 lb | 65 lb | 100 lb |
| 130 lb | Bodyweight only | 20 lb | 45 lb | 80 lb | 115 lb |
| 150 lb | Bodyweight only | 25 lb | 55 lb | 90 lb | 135 lb |
| 170 lb | Bodyweight only | 25 lb | 60 lb | 100 lb | 155 lb |
| 190 lb (your bodyweight) | Bodyweight only | 30 lb | 65 lb | 115 lb | 170 lb |
| 210 lb | Bodyweight only | 30 lb | 75 lb | 125 lb | 190 lb |
| 230 lb | Bodyweight only | 35 lb | 80 lb | 140 lb | 205 lb |
| 250 lb | Bodyweight only | 40 lb | 90 lb | 150 lb | 225 lb |
Weighted Dip Standards for Women
Weight added on the belt for a 1-rep max, by bodyweight.
| Bodyweight | Beginner | Novice | Intermediate | Advanced | Elite |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 110 lb | Bodyweight only | 5 lb | 15 lb | 35 lb | 60 lb |
| 130 lb | Bodyweight only | 5 lb | 20 lb | 40 lb | 70 lb |
| 150 lb | Bodyweight only | 10 lb | 25 lb | 45 lb | 85 lb |
| 170 lb | Bodyweight only | 10 lb | 25 lb | 50 lb | 95 lb |
| 190 lb | Bodyweight only | 10 lb | 30 lb | 55 lb | 105 lb |
| 210 lb | Bodyweight only | 10 lb | 30 lb | 65 lb | 115 lb |
| 230 lb | Bodyweight only | 10 lb | 35 lb | 70 lb | 125 lb |
| 250 lb | Bodyweight only | 15 lb | 40 lb | 75 lb | 140 lb |
A Worked Example
What a plate and a half on the belt actually says.
A 190 lb man at the intermediate standard adds 65 lb for a single, a total of 255 lb, and the advanced mark is 115 lb added for a total of 305 lb. If he does five reps with a 45 lb plate, that is 235 lb of total load, and the estimate for a single comes out near 80 lb added, so he has cleared the intermediate mark of 65 lb and is heading for advanced.
Compare that to his bench. At 190 lb bodyweight the intermediate bench standard is 190 lb, and his intermediate dip total is 255 lb. If your dip total is well under your bench, the usual culprits are depth and a shoulder position you do not trust, not a lack of pressing strength.
What These Standards Cannot Tell You
Depth and shoulder comfort decide most of it.
Dip depth is the first thing to go when weight is added. These standards assume the upper arm reaching roughly parallel to the floor at the bottom. Half-repping a heavy belt is a different exercise and belongs on a different table, and it is also the version most likely to leave your shoulders sore.
The dip is not for everyone. Some shoulders do not tolerate the bottom position no matter how carefully the load is built, and no strength standard is worth a joint. If the bottom of a dip pinches or aches, narrow the bars, shorten the range or use a press instead. There is no table entry for training through it.
More Tools
Check your pressing across the bar, the dumbbells and the bars.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about these standards.
How much weight should I add to my dips?
At 190 lb bodyweight the intermediate mark is 65 lb added and the advanced mark is 115 lb added. At 140 lb an intermediate woman adds about 20 lb. Enter your own bodyweight for your five figures.
What is a good weighted dip?
Adding a third of your bodyweight for a single is a solid intermediate result, half your bodyweight is closing on advanced, and near your full bodyweight is the elite row on this scale.
Do these dip numbers include bodyweight?
No. The figures are the weight you add on a belt or in a vest. Add your bodyweight for the total load, which is the number to compare against a bench press.
Should I be able to dip more than I bench?
In total load, usually yes for most of your training life, because the dip carries your bodyweight through a strong range. Once a bench press becomes a practised, specialised lift the two get much closer.
Do dips build chest or triceps?
Both, and the balance is set by your torso. Leaning forward with the elbows flared brings the lower chest in, staying upright with the elbows close puts more on the triceps.
How are these weighted dip standards calculated?
The added weight is a share of bodyweight at each level, rounded to the nearest 5 lb, then sense-checked against our bench press standards so the two pages tell a consistent story.