Ring dips are really a very simple gymnastic movement…

start from a support above the ring, bend your elbow and descend so the top of your shoulder passes below your elbow or touches the ring and press back to support. Performed strict they also fatigue quickly (like all gymnastics!) so we want to incorporate a kip. Before you look at a kipping ring dip you want to have mastered a strict, you will need to be able to support your weight well at the bottom of the dip to be able to kip.

Of all the gymnastic kipping movements ring dips seem to be one a lot of people find hard to master and I think that’s because if you watch someone proficient in the movement its not easy to tell what they are doing and most people’s instinct is to do the opposite of what they need to do. Take a look at this video of Emily Bridges explaining what we commonly see people do when performing a kipping ring dip vs what will generate the best kip.

At the start you can see she shows the tucking of the knees on the decent of the dip and then driving the feet down during the press, this is the opposite of what is going to give you the best kip! What we want to see is straight legs on the descent and then aggressively pulling the knees to the chest as you press out of the dip and open the hip again. If you aggressively tuck your knees you will force your mass to move up which will assist with pressing out of the dip.

There are a few drills you can incorporate to help learn this movement as shown in the video below.

Practising first on boxes or dip bars to take the stability element of rings away (in the video below she can’t fully extend her legs at the bottom ideally you would have a set up that you can). Then moving to the rings and first using a single leg support to practice the movement. The most important thing to remember is descend with straight legs and like most other kips aggressively close the hip!

Jess Limbrick
Senior Coach – CrossFit Central Wellington