So let's say you have the weight lifting equipment (pull up bar and dip bars) you need to do chin ups and dips.

These 2 exercises are 2 of the best 7 weight lifting exercises as shown in the 7 core weight lifting exercises here at WLC:

1. Squat

2. Deadlift

3. Bench Press

4. Row

5. Overhead Press

6. Chin Up

7. Dip

In other words, if you want the best overall results, you need to be doing chin ups and dips.

The issue, though, for many beginners to weight lifting is they are very intimidated with chin ups and dips because they are very difficult for beginners as body weight is just too much for most people when starting out.

But, I can tell you today that you shouldn't be intimidated. And you don't need a chin up assist machine or a dip assist machine as some gyms have. Those can work too, but using resistance bands to assist you will work much better in the long run.

All you have to do is purchase a set of resistance bands with varying band sizes. The good news is you can combine any bands and get different resistances. The bands will assist you by making your body weight lighter than it needs to be.

I can do many reps with my body weight plus lots of extra weight, but I will use resistance bands at the start of a weight lifting program to make the sets easier at the start of a program. Or, when I want to do really high rep sets (20+ reps), I will use resistance bands to decrease my body weight. So they are very useful even for people who are very experienced weight lifters (I've been lifting since the year 2000).

As you become stronger on chin ups and dips, you can slowly decrease the resistance that is assisting you. You can do this with different combinations of resistance bands. During all of the weight lifting programs I design, you simply increase weight lifted over time. This fits in perfectly with a plan for beginners to slowly decrease the band assistance in chin ups and dips.

You will be doing full body weight chin ups and dips before you know it.

To use the resistance bands to help you, simply wrap them around your chin up bar, pull up bar, or dip handles. For chin ups, simply loop one end through the other and tighten it around the bar. Put your foot, both feet, or just one knee through the loop at the bottom. For dips, wrap the bands around the dip handles multiple times if needed.

Here's a picture of the bands around the chin up bar in our home gym:

Picture of resistance bands around chin up bar

Once you have the resistance bands around the bar or handles, you are ready to go. It's quick and easy to get this ready.

And here's a quick video of my wife showing you how to do these even with a young child running around singing in front of you:

Link to my wife doing band-assisted chin ups

See how easy this is to do chin ups and dips? Anyone can now do chin ups and dips with resistance bands. And I highly recommend that all beginners start doing chin ups and dips from the very beginning. These are 2 amazing upper body exercises!

There's no need to do lat pulldowns as they aren't even close to chin ups. And there's no need to do chair dips or bench dips as they aren't even close to dips. Many people do those exercises as substitutes for chin ups and dips. Once you start doing chin ups and dips and stop doing those exercises, you will see much better results!