Ring Dip

The dip has long been a staple compound exercise in many athletes’ routines. It’s great for working the triceps, chest and shoulder muscles in one manoeuvre, not working any one muscle group in isolation.

The ring dip exercise is the standard dip, performed on gymnastics rings. The determination and strength it takes to overcome the instability of the rings takes this exercise to another level. It feels like every upper body muscle is called into play to help stabilise and control the movement and we found that using the rings to perform dips really hit our lats and chest.

To perform the ring dip you should set the rings to a height where your feet will not touch the ground between repetitions. Assume the support position, where you suspend your body above the rings with your arms straight. Now lower your body down by bending at the elbows and by keeping your shoulders close to your sides. Keep the movement steady and controlled, you should try to achieve a full range of motion by taking your shoulders down until they almost touch your hands. Once at the bottom of the move simply push your body back up to the starting position.

Progressing with the Ring Dip

By performing full range of motion on the dip and taking the move as low as you can go you will find this will greatly help you to develop the shoulder strength and flexibility to perform a muscle-up.

Another variation on the standard ring dip described above is the wide dip. This is carried out in the same way as the standard dip except the arms are moved out from the body to the sides. This will greatly increase the difficulty of the exercise but by mastering the wide ring dip and being able to perform it in a slow, controlled manner will stand you in good stead for progressing to the advanced iron cross exercise.

Finding it difficult?

If you are having difficulties in carrying out a full dip we recommend that you first master the support position. The ring support position is the beginning body position of the dip. You should be able to maintain the a support position and do partial dips, and gradually increase the range of motion as you get stronger until you can perform full dips.

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