HBP/PE9 (Korean dip) Form Check

Did a bunch of single Koreans starting from the bottom. How's the one in the video? At the top I'm not sitting on the bar despite the glute compression. My plan is to first continue to do single dips from the bottom until I nearly always succeed, then do singles from the top and after mastering those I should be able to string reps together.

Maintaining body tension in an arch hollow and pushing the hips forward while pressing upwards at an angle is how I'm cueing myself.

very nice effort @Petri Widsten i would just want to add that you have to keep your legs/feet together and also i cannot see if the bar reached the bottom of your scapula which should be the range of motion of the korean dips.

one more thing, it is better that when you submit video for form check to do more than one rep.

Ok, feet and legs together. Not sure about the scapula but I can try to go a bit further under the bar if that's what you mean.

The next form check will have more reps. Today was my first time doing the full dip as my first two sessions where just hangs and swings as I was getting used to having the bar behind my back. Thank you, Leo.

no worries @Petri Widsten keep posting

Bit of a swing here, and as Leo said difficult to gauge the depth. Hands are a little wider than I use personally but I don't think that will matter here. Shoulders are moving well

When you aay starting from the bottom, how are you setting that up? You may get more out of performing slow singles with a top and bottom pause; I find it difficult to set my shoulders and grip just right if I don't start from a support

11 hours ago, Jon Douglas said:

Bit of a swing here, and as Leo said difficult to gauge the depth. Hands are a little wider than I use personally but I don't think that will matter here. Shoulders are moving well

When you aay starting from the bottom, how are you setting that up? You may get more out of performing slow singles with a top and bottom pause; I find it difficult to set my shoulders and grip just right if I don't start from a support

I've been starting by setting my grip with my feet on the floor, getting into a hang and pushing up from a slight swing. For me the main challenge when beginning was actually making it to a top support position without getting stuck or making it to the top but failing to lock out. It took me more than 10 attempts before I managed to do this but then I started to succeed more and more often. For this I was focusing on getting the body shape and timing right. I haven't tried them from the top yet. When I gain more experience and am able to string a few reps together I'll try to do them more slowly, with pauses as you said, Jon.

Hello @Leo Trinidad@Jon Douglas

Feet are mostly staying together now, or at least close :-). Can you please comment on my ROM? My near-term goal is to stop for 1 s at the top between reps.

Hi @Petri Widsten form is getting better. make sure you pause a bit on top. do not bend your knees. can you please take the video from the side if possible?

Cheers Leo. Side views are quite limited due to the frame of the Smith machine and other fixed gym machines. I'll try to get a diagonal view for my next form check.

@Leo Trinidad@Jon Douglas

Well, here are the first and last sets from today's 5 x 4. I hope the angle is better this time.

looking a lot better @Petri Widsten just make sure to lock your elbows on the top position. (4b is definitely better than 4a video)

6 hours ago, Leo Trinidad said:

looking a lot better @Petri Widsten just make sure to lock your elbows on the top position. (4b is definitely better than 4a video)

Hi Leo. Yes, always locking the elbows is what I'm striving for now. I think it's just a matter of a few more sessions to achieve that consistently and lock the pattern in the muscle memory. Koreans are possibly the most technically challenging of the F1-2 dip variants.

@Leo Trinidad @Jon Douglas

Is this form good enough for mastery?

Hi Petri,

They are getting better each time. You still need to work on getting a little bit deaper on each rep. Slow down just a bit so that you can focus on form and positioning. You're almost there!

Hey Jeremy, thanks for checking. By deeper do you mean body more horizontal at the bottom?

Yes .

make sure you lock your knees @Petri Widsten

6 hours ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

Yes .

Is there a way to achieve a more horizontal bottom position slowly or should I just swing a bit more?

I'm a bit confused as the athlete in the course video doesn't get very horizontal either but seems to use as little momentum as possible. 

For sure a bit of swing it is necessary, the more thoracic spine mobility you have, the less you need to lower down since you can create more space for the bar.

36 minutes ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

For sure a bit of swing it is necessary, the more thoracic spine mobility you have, the less you need to lower down since you can create more space for the bar.

I've noticed that too - it helps to try to keep an arched back.

So when I'm told to get 'deeper' at the bottom, does it actually mean I should try to a) arch a bit more and swing less or b) just get more horizontal at the bottom which would require a bit more swinging?

I try to emulate the course video that shows and arched back, little swing but NOT a horizontal bottom position (i.e., option a).

Sorry if I'm a bit confused. I want to get this right but am still not sure what the goal is. Some cues would be nice.

Swing and arch must be balanced, more arch in the T-spine leads to more shoulder extension range of motion that means more possibility to move horizontal safety. The swing should not be more than now.

Thank you Alessandro. I'll work on thoracic arching before reposting.

On ‎19‎/‎09‎/‎2016 at 9:41 AM, Alessandro Mainente said:

 more arch in the T-spine leads to more shoulder extension range of motion that means more possibility to move horizontal safety

Ok, I tried to dip with more arching but can't notice much difference to previous form. I think my shoulder extension mobility is not too bad but my thoracic mobility is lagging and until it catches up it's not realistic for me to expect that I should be able to arch more when dipping. I doubt the dips help to improve t-mobility very much so the improvement has to come from other exercises. I've recently started elbow bridges and as you can see I still have a long way to go :-). What do you think?

The good news is that I can now consistently bust out my sets of 5. Should I continue training just these overgrip Koreans or can I split my training between overgrip and undergrip?

They are not bad, your actual situation with thoracic mobility is very bad and you need to spend more time on it, I suggest Thoracis Spine course. In your case this limitation is reflected by your necessity to increase the extension in order to move lower.

Yeah, thanks Alessandro, I'm doing Thoracic Stretch to improve. Here's my elevated bridge. I have to work on straightening the legs now. But regarding the Koreans, is it ok for me to train them with both grips or should I stick with overgrip only?