Korean Dips

meras said:

is that an olympic bar on a dip station? how did you attach it?

Well yes sir it is! I have found though that there are better bars availible now. They are usually preset with weights and does not have that increased friction in the middle which believe or not makes a small difference.

 

But to get to your question; As an old scout I simply used rope to tie it real tight. If you know your ropes you can get it tight enough so it doesn't rotate.

Some progress on korean dips:

after some practice I think it looks better than the first attempt.

only problem: doing 5x5 is quite taximg for my shoulders, I had pain in my left shoulders for 3 days, probably stressed too much the tendons/joints and these refused to do any more work the following days!

could it be because I did not warm up enough? or maybe I exaggerated the ROM or was too fast in the reps?

Yeah the reps look good but a bit fast in my opinion. Could very well be that the muscles are unable to protect the joint with that speed in such an exposed position, almost becomes kind of a kip where you bounce off the joint.

I agree. A little too much momentum.  Much improved, though, and body line is a little less curved - still might try to keep it straighter yet, though. 

thanks, will work on these details!

This is what it looks like after some more work:

 

 

Should look slower and more controlled...I think is ok and, most importantly, no more pain in the shoulders after the reps.

 

Now I moved to the undergrip variation...it feels quite different and I'm not yet able to do 5x5 with a decent form, but it is slowly improving...

Very nice form in my opinion!

Strong improvement!

Thanks! So happy that my efforts are paying off!

 

Next week will training in another gym that has parallel bars, so I'll give my first attempt to Russian dips...let's see what happens!

I'm making too slow progress with these - not a strength issue but a technique one. For ages I've been scared of falling backwards when sitting on top of the bar and today I had a huge fail in the other direction - a 270deg swing right down and back. Fortunately I held on, otherwise it would've been a belly flop onto the floor. Very embarassing 

Having another go this afternoon, and will film it for help please 

Yeah I had the same fear of falling which I think was 80% of the reason for not being able to do them, the other part mobility/technique getting hips to clear the bar.

 

I spent some time at the bottom position isometrically + worked partial reps where my hips would hit the bar. After 2-4 sessions I nailed full range reps after the 3rd set (and did another 3 sets).  The next couple sessions it took a few reps of partials before I was able to achieve the full range ones again. Was all skill/technique/confidence.

Thanks Art, that is encouraging 

 

 

Edit: Well I did an afternoon session and have settled on having my feet on bands to assist in the flow of the movement. Will gradually decrease the assistance and hope to have mastery soon.

Sorry, no embarassing video 

I find also very useful to warm up a little bit before just to "remember" the movement.

 

Then, as you drop down from the bar, I think is important to brink the legs back and don't be afraid of maximizing the ROM: it is counter-intuitive but for me this actually helps when you push to go back over the bar.

 

Also don't lose control of the movement and "protect" the shoulders.

I wanted to share my experience with these. I first attempted this exercise TWO months ago! I was quite frustrated as I had been cruising right along on HBP exercises prior to that. Certainly there is a fear of falling backward which fortunately gets much better. I followed another's advice on here about holding the bottom position. first 5 sets of 10 seconds and working up to 5 sets of 20 seconds. I followed with 5 reps of PE8 so I would not get weaker while working on these. It occurred to me that my shoulders were very, very tight on the bottom. Once I worked up to 20 seconds I realized I could hold the bottom position very comfortably and not be in pain. So thank you to those who advised holding the bottom position and working up time of hold. It worked for me and I know I will hit my 5 sets of 5 on these within a week or two! One last thing, I ordered the stand alone pullup bar recommended by some on the forum, the one you can pack up and take anywhere. Due to the fear of falling backwards, it's essential obviously to be closer to the ground.

eagle said:

I One last thing, I ordered the stand alone pullup bar recommended by some on the forum, the one you can pack up and take anywhere.

Congrats on your progression

Do you have a link or a pic of this pullup bar?

Hi Mats!

Thanks ! Yes, the website is Trapezerigging.com The pullup bar is the Elite XL Freestanding Pullup Bar. I got both types of bar, that is the one with handles as well as the one without. It is VERY well made. It is light and strong and easily holds my bodyweight of 190 pounds (86.2 kg). I really like the idea of being able to bring it with me if I'm in the middle of nowhere and still be able to do pullups. You can certainly hang rings from it for that matter (e.g. horizontal pullups).

I have this fear of pushing up too hard and falling backwards too. Has anyone actually fallen backwards as a result of this? Maybe I should just go ahead and fall backwards with a spotter and see if I can get out of it safely.

LateStarter@46 said:

I have this fear of pushing up too hard and falling backwards too. Has anyone actually fallen backwards as a result of this? Maybe I should just go ahead and fall backwards with a spotter and see if I can get out of it safely.

Benefit of training on playground monkey bars

LateStarter@46,

I think I might at some point fall backwards but if so I will just hang on to the bar and it should be ok. The funny thing is when I first started these I was using my pullup bar, and being that high off the ground made me very, very nervous, like I was hanging off a building or something (I don't like heights at all!). But the lower bar calmed those fears anyway.

when I was doing these today I realized something else.  At first I tried to slide myself along the bar, it's a natural inclination.  But as soon as you keep your body off/away from the bar, your form improves immediately.

Also, as soon as I 'gave in' to the body swing on the down and used it to come back up, that helped progressing with these.

recently I finally complete 5x5 (or more) undergrip korean dips with decent form, although I'm not yet fully sure how.....! probably keeping the body a bit away from the bar helped as well!