What can I substitute Dips for?

I literally cannot do a single dip, What can I sub these with and get the same result.

We're talking about tricep dips here I take it? What technique have you been using, hands on a step board or a bar, using your entire body weight or keeping your feet on the ground?

I have arthritic wrists and triceps aren't exactly my strongest part, but my motto is "work on your weaknesses" and with hard work dips have actually become one of my all-time favourite tricep exercises. I do them using two step boards with my feet up and weights on my lap. The trick is that they get easier with time, it just takes practice and believe me, no matter how hard eeking out even that one dip may feel right now, you're bound to see improvements if you stick with it. You could try using the one hundred push-ups challenge program or something similar.

If they for whatever reason still feel impossible after you've tried a few different styles, is there a reason you must include dips? There are plenty of tricep workouts out there from pull-overs to skull chrushers that will work the same mucles and once you've gotten stronger, you may find you're able to include dips in your program as well.

I needed to do dips as pat of My Starting Strength 5x5's.

I guess I'll have to look into other exercises for my triceps, and maybe something to work up my core strength.

I could only bench like 30 pounds today, I was so embarrased.

Dips are an assistance exercise you can add in after 2-3 months on the base program - when you're just starting out, stick to the core lifts as they will give you all the training stimulus you need. Bench presses will build up your triceps like anything when you've never done them before ;)

 There's no need to be embarrassed over what you can and can't do - you're training to improve on what your current capacity is, not to compete with some arbitrary 'standard'. There's always going to be someone faster, stronger or better than you unless you're Michael Phelps - so what? You can still be faster, stronger or better than what you were last year - or last week.

Do you have an assisted dip machine at your gym?  I can probably only do one actual dip, so when I work out I use the assisted dip so I can do more than one...  If you use that, then you can slowly weane yourself off it until you can do dips all by yourself.

If not close-handed push ups are a good tricep move.

I learned to do dips by at first concentrating only on the negative part of the lift, the lowering part.

I would climb up on the dip stand, bend my elbows slowly til my triceps were parallel to the floor.  I would try to push back up but it wasn't happening, yet.  I just kept climbing back up and lowering myself back down, doing as many sets and reps as I could.

Eventually I was able to start pushing myself back up a little bit and a little bit more. 

Now I can do 3 full sets of 12 before my hands and wrists give out.

Give it a try, it worked for me and I"m an old woman!