Gymnastic Rings are one of the best Calisthenic tools you can purchase. They allow you to train your whole body, from basic moves like Rows to complex moves like Skin the Cat and Muscle Ups. They are truly one of the most functional pieces of bodyweight training equipment you can buy. A great exercise is Gymnastic Ring Dips, which build the Chest, Shoulders, Triceps, Core and even the Back. Many people struggle to feel the Chest working when performing regular Dips, so this is a great alternative to really feel the chest working. Here’s how to do them and why they are so good.
Setup
Anchor your Rings to a high anchor point. Aim to have the Rings around Chest height.
Allow enough space below the Rings for your bent legs to go through, so you don’t touch the floor.
How to
Grab hold of the Rings and jump up to the top position, with your arms straight and locked.
Squeezing your arms in at your side, begin to bend your arms and lower down. For Gymnastic/Calisthenic style dips keep your scapula and shoulders protracted, this helps train the shoulders and scapula for more complex moves like muscle ups. For most Chest focus, retract your scapula, keeping your shoulders pinned back.
Lower down until your lower and upper arm are at least 90 degrees, or upper arm is parallel with the floor. If you are more advanced in dips it is perfectly safe to go as low as possible. Aim to build up to your shoulders/chest are touching the Rings.
Press back up to the top, ensuring your arms are still squeezing at your side.
Why Gymnastic Ring Dips are better than normal Dips
Stability
On regular parallel bars or Parallettes you don’t need to stabilise your body, merely support the weight. With Rings you must use your shoulder stabiliser muscles throughout the exercise to keep your body balanced.
Increased muscle activation
Because your shoulders are working to stabilise and balance your body you will be engaging more muscles.
Increased chest squeeze
As you must keep the Rings tight to your body, you are squeezing the chest muscles together to do so. This really helps train the chest and is great for those people who don’t feel the chest squeeze in regular bar dips.
