Spot on. There are two kinds of instability - 'good' instability, which can be countered with muscular force, like in ring dips, and 'bad' instability, such as a slippery surface, where no amount of muscular exertion will make any difference.
Little tip: Once you got the groove of basic ring dips, put your rings at around chest height and now start your set by pushing out at the lowest portion (no jumping!). This makes them even harder, and it makes sure you're not cheating yourself of any range of motion. It also makes it easy to superset them with L-Sit Pullups without changing your ring height, which are at roughly the same level of difficulty.
Alpha Destiny referred to these as “dead dips” because they start from the floor like a deadlift. I’ve been doing these for a long time as one of my primary weighted dip variants and they are fantastic! The L sit pull-up superset is genius!
Rings are like the dumbbells of calisthenics, but to an even higher extent because every upper body and core muscle is working to the max to stabilize you the weigh you’d be on a regular dip. Add weight to the rings your functional and absolute strength simultaneously will sky rocket. And ofc improved mobility, stability and better activation of the pecs and on pull-ups you might get better bicep activation
For older lifters: You might find that the freedom of the hands to rotate, and hence elbows and even the shoulders, might make some ring exercises easier on your joints than bar exercises (although muscle-wise rings tend to be more challenging). Anecdotal data point: I had developed burning forearm pain when pronating, which took almost 2 years to resolve, but what allowed me to train again pain free was largely getting away from the bar. Just my two cents.
When you can do ring Dips you know you're getting strong. it humbled me early!!! I never forget shaking like a leaf when I first jumped up on them lol but once you get used to them they're game changing.
This. I got shitload of equpement, but right after dumbbells and pullups bar, rings are the best spent money. First time i got on rings i was shaking like crazy.
On most of the parallel bars I use I find that it doesn't really hit my chest as much as I want it to, more so the shoulders and arms. And bars can differ a lot with width and angle, but for me training aesthetics I found that rings hit my pecs much better like nothing else I've used. With being able to go all the way down and on the concentric to push my hands closer together it really does use all areas of the chest. It kind of combines a regular dip with a chest fly for better activation.
I like the word "correlated" to link weight, resistance and tension. Thanks for the wisdom Matt! Always good to receive your review of these exercises :)
Great video and insights. I couldn't help notice the Romania flag up on the wall ..........I'm off there for Christmas, seems an odd coincidence! Could I ask why its there?
I guess it's because a different type of instability. You can cancel the movement of the rings with your own strength, but you can't do quite the same with a bosu ball. Try it yourself and if it works for you then i don't see why you souldn't do it.
as I mentioned, challenging your stability is good but only to a point. Too much instability will compromise your muscle tension rather rather than promote it.
Hey Matt, is it not risky for your shoulder joints to start with ring dips and especially for those who are heavy and have the strength to do them but with a bad form? What about starting with a ring support hold and fixing the shaking first and then safely being able to proceed with ring dips when feeling stable? Anyway, great video as always! BFLF
You should train the dips on the bars first until you can do a certain amount, clean form, no pain. And working on ring support holds is a good idea too. But once you've done that, you're good to go. I originally got shoulder pain from dips. So roughly 18 months ago, I went through the stages of rehabing my dips. Started with singles for many sets on the bars, made sure my form was tight and no pain emerged. Two weeks later did doubles. A bit later triples. Around 9-10 months later I was at sets of 10 and then switched to the rings. It was a really slow process, but I gradually got better and now I'm already working on ring muscle ups. No pain anymore.
It can be if you jump into them too quickly. I coach clients to become very proficient and comfortable with ring push-ups, RTO push-ups, and holding the top of the dip position while doing knee/leg raises. If they can get stable and comfortable with all of that, then dips are very manageable and safe.
Hey man thanks for the informative video! I read en watch lots of videos and (almost) everbody advices me to go to a RTO (rings turned out) position after every dip, I dont see you doing that in the video, what is your opinion about this? Thanks in advance!
I never found much benefit from doing that. It's kind of wonky and it's never done anything for my back or chest activation. People tell me, but it get's your chest engaged, and I'm like "Well why aren't you engaging your chest to begin with? But use your own experience as a guide
I know what you mean. My attitude is all about finding ways to make the muscles work harder, but without needing as much weight. I used to think more weight was better, but now I look at it more as a liability
Spot on. There are two kinds of instability - 'good' instability, which can be countered with muscular force, like in ring dips, and 'bad' instability, such as a slippery surface, where no amount of muscular exertion will make any difference.
Little tip: Once you got the groove of basic ring dips, put your rings at around chest height and now start your set by pushing out at the lowest portion (no jumping!). This makes them even harder, and it makes sure you're not cheating yourself of any range of motion. It also makes it easy to superset them with L-Sit Pullups without changing your ring height, which are at roughly the same level of difficulty.
Alpha Destiny referred to these as “dead dips” because they start from the floor like a deadlift. I’ve been doing these for a long time as one of my primary weighted dip variants and they are fantastic!
The L sit pull-up superset is genius!
nice tip
😁
Rings are like the dumbbells of calisthenics, but to an even higher extent because every upper body and core muscle is working to the max to stabilize you the weigh you’d be on a regular dip. Add weight to the rings your functional and absolute strength simultaneously will sky rocket. And ofc improved mobility, stability and better activation of the pecs and on pull-ups you might get better bicep activation
Very astute observations good sir!
For older lifters: You might find that the freedom of the hands to rotate, and hence elbows and even the shoulders, might make some ring exercises easier on your joints than bar exercises (although muscle-wise rings tend to be more challenging). Anecdotal data point: I had developed burning forearm pain when pronating, which took almost 2 years to resolve, but what allowed me to train again pain free was largely getting away from the bar. Just my two cents.
Great point K Dub! didn't think of that but you're 100% on point
When you can do ring Dips you know you're getting strong. it humbled me early!!!
I never forget shaking like a leaf when I first jumped up on them lol but once you get used to them they're game changing.
Couldn't agree more. There's also something ingerantly satisfying to doing them as well.
This. I got shitload of equpement, but right after dumbbells and pullups bar, rings are the best spent money. First time i got on rings i was shaking like crazy.
After doing ring dips for a while, my reps on bar dips went up significantly.
On most of the parallel bars I use I find that it doesn't really hit my chest as much as I want it to, more so the shoulders and arms. And bars can differ a lot with width and angle, but for me training aesthetics I found that rings hit my pecs much better like nothing else I've used. With being able to go all the way down and on the concentric to push my hands closer together it really does use all areas of the chest. It kind of combines a regular dip with a chest fly for better activation.
I like the word "correlated" to link weight, resistance and tension. Thanks for the wisdom Matt! Always good to receive your review of these exercises :)
Thank you my friend! Words like that can do wonders to unlock a deeper understanding of what's going on in the world of fitness and training
great video, thank you
Just started with rings this summer. Took a while before I bang out multiple reps. Stick with it people
Big thumbs up and respect for your perseverance Jamie
For beginers it's generaly better to start with bars to have that basic strengh, but after that it's ideal to use them both.
Just bought the rings and found dips on them to be way harder. Thanks, Matt, you're just on time =)
only harder for like 3 weeks or less then its the same thing
@@6996Gunslinger Thanks, bro!
As a 55 years old I still prefer rings.sometimes also weighted version.they are killers..in a good way.
Just got some rings. Can do lots of dips with bars. With rings, hardly 3 reps lol. Very humbling
Thank you sir for your effort, may you have a happy day
Great video and insights. I couldn't help notice the Romania flag up on the wall ..........I'm off there for Christmas, seems an odd coincidence! Could I ask why its there?
Romeo Delta Papa ~ stability is key. Please have a convo with Brandon; as lacking lots and lots of stability
tbh, I learned on rings and now bars don't feel quite right for me.
Always a source of inspiration
rings are just way more fun and way more comfortable for me i love them
KAIZOKU ONI OREWA NARU
I have rings, and dip bars. I'm thinking about just doing dip holds at the top with my rings. I do them with my bars.
The rings MAKE your stabilizers be recruited. Rings are superior
Moving from failure in open to closed chained movements begets the most hypertrophy.
The problem is that I feel like my shoulders are going to pop. Any tips on how to deal with this?
God bless you for your insight. Praise Jesus! Looking forward to eventually doing rings
If instability is so good, then why we do not squat and deadlift on bosu ball ?
I guess it's because a different type of instability. You can cancel the movement of the rings with your own strength, but you can't do quite the same with a bosu ball. Try it yourself and if it works for you then i don't see why you souldn't do it.
as I mentioned, challenging your stability is good but only to a point. Too much instability will compromise your muscle tension rather rather than promote it.
Hey Matt, is it not risky for your shoulder joints to start with ring dips and especially for those who are heavy and have the strength to do them but with a bad form? What about starting with a ring support hold and fixing the shaking first and then safely being able to proceed with ring dips when feeling stable? Anyway, great video as always! BFLF
You should train the dips on the bars first until you can do a certain amount, clean form, no pain. And working on ring support holds is a good idea too. But once you've done that, you're good to go.
I originally got shoulder pain from dips. So roughly 18 months ago, I went through the stages of rehabing my dips. Started with singles for many sets on the bars, made sure my form was tight and no pain emerged. Two weeks later did doubles. A bit later triples. Around 9-10 months later I was at sets of 10 and then switched to the rings. It was a really slow process, but I gradually got better and now I'm already working on ring muscle ups. No pain anymore.
It can be if you jump into them too quickly. I coach clients to become very proficient and comfortable with ring push-ups, RTO push-ups, and holding the top of the dip position while doing knee/leg raises. If they can get stable and comfortable with all of that, then dips are very manageable and safe.
4 weeks of rings, 4 weeks of bars, track and repeat
Hey man thanks for the informative video! I read en watch lots of videos and (almost) everbody advices me to go to a RTO (rings turned out) position after every dip, I dont see you doing that in the video, what is your opinion about this? Thanks in advance!
I never found much benefit from doing that. It's kind of wonky and it's never done anything for my back or chest activation. People tell me, but it get's your chest engaged, and I'm like "Well why aren't you engaging your chest to begin with?
But use your own experience as a guide
Which metod give better recovery muscle: volume training calisthenics or intense 2-3 set like Paul Wayde said???
It's probably a wash either way. It mostly boils down to the total amount of fatigue and stress you incur from the training.
I've always found rings more challenging and more likely to build muscle.
I prefer ring dips, 'cause with bar dips I have to strap on extra weight, which my 51 years old shoulders don't particularly like.
I know what you mean. My attitude is all about finding ways to make the muscles work harder, but without needing as much weight. I used to think more weight was better, but now I look at it more as a liability
ring dips
Great video! Where’s your wall mounted dip bar from?
That's the dip bar at the Philip S. Moris park here in Castle Rock CO. I think it's from a commercial outdoor equipment company
Rogue 3x3 strip with rouge matador
Shalom.
Anyone who has done both knows that rings take way more strength and build way more strength. Not even close.
I’m a big fan of the basics... so if could only pick one it would the bars.