The dip is not only a significant movement to train as an athlete, but it is also required for more advanced movements later on. This movement trains your triceps and is an opportunity to engage your back, shoulders and chest while dipping.
Start training your dip by practicing the “top” and “bottom” ring support positions. Our recommended drills to develop “dip” strength can be found in a previous post of ours. We’ve also covered the best way to scale ring dips.
In this post, we are going to review the next step for beginners who are familiar with the movement and have been practicing a variety of drills, but want to progress to the next level. Maybe you have one strict ring dip before the second one starts to fall apart. So, now what?
Our most recommended modification for dips is False Grips with a band. This allows you to simulate a similar body position to a strict muscle up. Even if you don’t own a pair of False Grips, it is still the preferred scaling option over the “bent knees variation” as it is more transferrable to other movements. The way you would do this is by literally holding the band on the rings. For additional safety, we recommend wrapping the band so that it doesn’t snap out of your grip once in use.
Here’s what the recommended movement looks like:
Start with a thicker band and as time goes on decrease the strength of the band. If you stay consistent with this protocol, you’ll start to develop the proper muscle strength and stabilization to continue to build upon.
Putting in the work for this movement may not come off as “sexy”, but it pays off. Similar to pull-ups, you have to keep chipping away at the development of the movement and supporting muscles to continue to layer on additional reps.
