Ring Dip

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Just like standard dips that are performed on stable bars, ring dips are great for building your pushing strength. However, since they are done on less stable rings, they are quite a bit harder. The extra stabilization required makes it even more important to maintain proper form and progress slowly. Long term, the extra stabilization challenge can lead to strong, healthy shoulders.

The Basics

The ring dip is primarily used as a strength exercise. It is classified as a horizontal upper push movement. It is more generally classified as a upper push movement. Since it involves significant activation of multiple muscle groups, it is considered a compound exercise.

Form

Set Up

• Grasp both rings and support yourself above them with your arms
• Keep your hands close to your sides
• Keep your shoulder blades down and slightly protracted
• Engage your core, keeping a neutral spine and legs slightly in front of you
• Lean forward slightly

Execution

• Bend your arms at the elbows to lower yourself under control
• Keep your hands and elbows close to your sides
• Maintain a natural forward lean
• As you near the bottom, you can let your shoulders rise slightly if you have the mobility
• Your upper arms should be parallel to the floor at the bottom of the rep
• Push your self back up, pushing your shoulder blades back down and extending your arms
• Fully straighten your arms and protract your shoulder blades at the top

Common Mistakes

Not Finishing the Rep

To fully finish a rep, your arms should be straight and your shoulder blades should be down and protracted. Stopping short of this is a much less stable position.

Torso Angle

Try to keep a natural forward lean. Leaning more forward or backwards shifts what muscles are emphasized and can put your shoulders in a more compromised position.

Letting the Shoulders Rise

At the bottom of the rep, if it's comfortable for you, the shoulders can be allowed to rise. However, as you push back up, the shoulders should be brought down again. Keeping the shoulders down puts them in a much stronger and safer pushing position.

Legs Behind You/Arching Your Back

Keeping your legs behind you puts undue stress and arching for your back. Keep them slightly in front of you so that your abs are engaged through the whole movement.

Additional Info

Shoulder Health

As long as they're done with proper form, ring dips are a safe and effective exercise. However, if done with poor form, they have a high chance of leading to shoulder issues. So take it slow and be careful, especially if you're just trying out ring dips for the first time.

Progression

Unlike some other calisthenics exercises, ring dips are fairly simple to do with extra weight. There are a lot of options, such as: putting weight in a backpack, holding a dumbbell between your legs, using a weight vest, and using a dip belt and plates. Using a dip belt is the recommended method since the other methods get difficult to load at higher weights.

Before adding weight, however, you must be able to do unweighted ring dips with proper form. Adding weight to an inherently unstable exercise that you're performing with poor form is a recipe for shoulder injuries.

Vertical or Horizontal?

Ring dips are technically a vertical push, but are better classified and programmed as a horizontal push. Unlike most vertical pushes, you're pushing down rather than overhead, which makes the muscles used more similar to the bench press rather than the overhead press.

Related Exercises

Reviews

Performance Standard Ranks

The ranks assume that you are generally healthy, with no underlying health conditions or injuries and have the mobility to perform the exercise correctly. You can determine your rank by comparing your numbers to the tables below. Your rank is also tracked automatically when using our Workout Log feature.

Strength Standards

The tables show the one rep max* in pounds needed to reach each rank at different body weights (also in lbs). The 1RMs on the table are based on world records, balanced ratios, and the average time needed to attain each rank. To see personalized strength standards for every exercise, check out the Strength Standards page. You can also find your Strength Score to see how you rank as part of our Fitness Score System.

*Added weight if positive, assistance if negative. The planche and levers are also notable exceptions as they show the moment at the shoulder, not weight. For more info, check out the Moment Calculator page.