Started by Tomas Johansson, September 30, 2009 · 20 Replies · 7,422 Views
I have been doing bulgarian dips and they start feeling too easy. I am moving my training indoors so the only dips station I have available is the rings mounted in a standard doorframe so I can't continue with bulgarian dips anyhow since it's too narrow.
Any suggestions on how to progress, is standard weigthed ring dips the only way to go or is there any clever method of doing them harder like there is a l-sit for the pull-ups?
When the dip variations become too easy, it is time to progress onward to HSPU & MPPr variations.
Yours in Fitness,
Coach Sommer
I like to go deeper and slower. I did 32 dips on a right angle bar the other day. Today I had wide parllel bars (in a playground) and only did 11 deep slow dips, though it was right after some pullups.
I have my chinup bar between 2 walls and can sort of do bulgarian dips. Have you got an attic/loft in your house? I can span a barbell across mine to raise my rings and have far more room. Sort of like this setup 
Make sure you still work on speed. Strength is useless if your body isn't used to applying it quickly! Part of why the dips are easy is that your straps are short. If you go to a gymnastics gym and get on regulation rings you will soon find out that it is a whole new ball game.
Look at this video, it seems to be a bar fixed in the centre with just one rope holding it to a tree, then the rings are on either side, so it has to be balanced. This should add instability.
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He also does chinups and you can get a better look at the single bar.
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It would be quite easy to make a bar like this on a tree. There is a similar device in a local playground near me, I might give it a go there when its empty to see if it is worthwhile making.
This guy (Steve Maxwell) is an embarrassment to the dip. Mr Dip, I offer my humble and sincere condolences at the unseemly molestation you were subjected to in Mr. Maxwell's video. Here at gymnasticbodies we will treat you with the respect you deserve.
As a side note, I own the jungle gym, I got it before I got my rings. They are similar pieces of equipment, but the rings are to be preferred for the most part. There are some interesting accessory exercises that are more easily or more comfortably performed on the jungle gym, but they offer little, if anything, to the gymnast. Martial artists and sprint-type athletes may gain some useful performance increases from them.
Finally, I hope and pray that there is no one here who performs their dips in any fashion even close to resembling the mediocrity with which Mr. Maxwell failed himself and the fitness community at large.
there was a recent CF journal that talked about that the hips should drop during the dip rather than just the torso.
there was a recent CF journal that talked about that the hips should drop during the dip rather than just the torso.
The ability of people to find shortcuts to in order to avoid work during conditioning is truly staggering; as well as somewhat perplexing. Isn't the entire point of working out to seek ways to stress the organism and force it into an adaptative response (e.g. increased strength)?
Why do people intentionally go out of their way to rob themselves of potential benefits? The answer is actually rather simple; they are placing their ego ahead of their commitment to results. They would rather have the ego-boost and bragging rights of saying they can do 25 XR Dips (regardless of how poorly and ineffectively they are performed) than face the harsh reality of admitting that they are only capable of performing 5 (or often much less!) XR Dips correctly.
Personally I consider performing XR Dips with the hips dropping as physically necessary as putting one foot in front of the other while walking.
Yours in Fitness,
Coach Sommer
Yeah, my L5 Erik used to dips like this if I remember. I noticed the other day, he doesn't do them this way on rings. He still might on PB but since we haven't done them on PB in awhile, I dunno.
im so glad ive always trained with the hips dropping. seeing people who cheat on form makes me laugh when they say they can do 20 dips with 60-80 pounds hanging off them
so when you all are saying having your hips drop do you mean dropping straight down as opposed to leaning forward where you could say that the hips are staying more level.
LOL after watching the video above I see what people mean about not dropping the hips.
code_b said:so when you all are saying having your hips drop do you mean dropping straight down as opposed to leaning forward where you could say that the hips are staying more level.
Watch his hips in the video. They barely move.
You want them going deeper along with the lowering of your body... so you're actually lower your center of mass to do the ful amount of work
I've now been trying chest rolls to headstand and it seems that this is the only gymnastics exercise so far that is hurting my back. I have had an herniated disc that was operated in 2000 and I don't have much problem from it but when doing the back bending for chest rolls it irritates the same nerve going down the leg as I had problem with so I think I will stay clear of this exercise. Is there any other multi plane pressing you suggest I could try at the same difficulty or should I just do headstand push ups twice a week instead. Is headstand push ups suitable to be trained the same day as frontlever pulls?
Check my training program on http://ringstrength.blogspot.com/ if you want to know more about my program.
Although I've never done dips on rings, I've done the on P bars. I like to keep my legs straight with my body. Everything except my arms move, and I can do about 11 of those. Try leaning forward (keeping the body flat!) and doing them... it gets much harder. In theory, I suppose you'd eventually end up in a planche through that variation.
That is indeed one path to the PB planche pushup/dip!
Coach Sommer said:. Isn't the entire point of working out to seek ways to stress the organism and force it into an adaptative response (e.g. increased strength)?
Yes, I wasn't posting the video as a demonstration of good form! I was interested in opinions on the instability it might cause to have the rings on a bar which is fixed in the centre and free to move.
I had a go on the playground bar like this but it was very short, I could only hold my 2 hands close together, and it was quite low. I imagine if you did pullups on a bar like this with a wide grip it might force you to use both arms more evenly, which might help people who might inadvertently be pulling more with their strong hand. And conversely you might be able to purposely move one hand closer/further from the centre of the bar so force one side to work harder, the other arm just assisting.
That is an interesting concept. For dips it won't be as useful, because the string will be in your face. Two lines suspending it wide enough for the face to fit between them would work pretty well for dips. As for the pullups, yes, you could do that. It would accomplish the same thing that doing OAC work with off hand assistance. You'd end up with the same effect, since you'd have to counter-balance the rod with the other hand. In the end, I don't think it offers as much as the rings, because no matter how you slice it, your hands are both attached to one solid object. While the object itself is unstable, your body in relation to it is very stable. Because of that there is less actual instability for the joints to deal with than there is with rings, and therefore the suspended bar is of very limited value. While not worthless, it offers nothing that fixed bars do not, and it offers less in the way of challenging the body than the rings do.
slizzardman said:That is an interesting concept. For dips it won't be as useful, because the string will be in your face..
He has this straps going on either side of a bar, the bar is attached only in the centre, check again, you cannot see it at first, but look as the camera moves you can see it.
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If you exerted more force on one side than the other the bar would be like a see-saw and tip over. This is the instability I wanted, I posted the chinup video since it shows how the bar is attached a bit better.
Yes, but I also expect people might be more comfortable with arms in the regular position. For a similar effect I sometimes just do chinups/pullups with 2 fingers of one hand on the bar, so I have to pull harder with the other.slizzardman said:It would accomplish the same thing that doing OAC work with off hand assistance. You'd end up with the same effect, since you'd have to counter-balance the rod with the other hand.
I only have my rings on a chinup bar, so if I had a short loop and a second bar with the rings on it then it should increase instability, and might work me harder. I will give it a try when I get a chance and report back.
You are misunderstanding me. The Jungle Gym he is using for dips is no different functionally from a set of rings, other than the buckles being in an inconvenient place for doing handstand pushups and deeper dips. I'd know, I own the thing.
I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on how it feels, but if you have the rod perfectly balanced I don't think you're going to notice much of a difference unless you are severely unbalanced strength-wise. Still, I don't actually know, so I'm looking forward to a report! 
i don't think the bar adds any real instability for pullups, but i do like the oac idea... it may add some for dips... but i think the interesting motion would be to do free standing ring handstand on a pair of rings attached to the bar... i imagine it would add a lot of instability... might give this a shot when i have some time and the shoulder is better