Mastering strict dips can be challenging for a lot of adult gymnastic skill seekers. Strict dip requires significant upper body strength, particularly in the triceps, chest, and shoulders. They also require flexibility in the chest and triceps—adults with limited shoulder flexibility struggle to perform dips without pain.
Mastering the correct form for strict dips involves understanding the body
positioning, proper muscle engagement, and coordinated movement.
A lot of adults want to do strict pull-ups, but they lack strength and don't know where to start.
Unlocking your first strict pull-up can be tricky. It can feel like you'll never have the strength to do strict pull-ups.
It's frustrating.
Over the last three weeks, I've shared the 3 key milestones that I like to use for helping adults unlock their first strict pull-up. In this post, I will recap these milestones so you can hopefully see the method to my madness.
Both ring rows and supine rows are great exercises for working out the muscles in the upper back, shoulders, and arms, including the latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, and biceps. However, they have distinct mechanics and benefits.
If you're new to working out, starting with supine rows on a bar is generally a better option. Here's why:
I used to be terrible at push-ups.
My upper body horizontal pushing strength was one of my biggest weaknesses.
I grew up playing sports like Aussie Rules Footy, Soccer, Tennis and Cricket. None of which require significant horizontal pushing strength.
I also competed in endurance sports for a number of years with the focus of swimming, cycling and running. My leg strength and upper body pulling strength has always been stronger than my pressing strength.
But that all changed when I started training in the gym, lifting weights, building strength and getting ripped.
It wasn't until I started training in the gym that I realised how weak my bench press, push-ups, and dips were.
I sucked.
So, I went to work.
I recently did a GST Junkies podcast with Erdi (@lerningtohuiman) on levelling up your chin-ups. In it, we talked about how to level up your chin-ups and pull-ups. Specifically, we spoke about how we help our online students build the strength to get their first chin-up.
You might be surprised to find out that we don't use bands. You can listen to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, YouTube or Google Play.
This podcast got me thinking more about banded chin-ups, so I decided to do a post on when we should use bands for chin-ups.
If you’re working towards your first strict muscle-up, looking to increase your unbroken muscle-up reps, or searching for more advanced gymnastics rings training, this blog is for you.
In this blog, I'm gonna share some ideas around false grip training for gymnastics rings muscle-ups and more.
I also cover these checks in this YouTube video:
Bodyweight rows, also known as an "Australian Pull-up” (your down-under the bar/rings), are an exercise that is often overlooked. Chin-ups and pull-ups often take centre stage when it comes to bent arm pulling strength. Gym rookies are on a mission to get their first pull-up, while the intermediate and advanced strength athletes are looking to increase their total number of repetitions and their weighted chin-up numbers.
The chin-up requires a solid foundation of upper body pulling strength, and those who try to rush the process often end up with shoulder injuries and very little progress. At TSTM, we refuse to use banded chin-up as they are a waste of valuable training time. Using bands for a movement like chin-ups is more about entertaining a client, not training them.
If you're aiming to get your first chin-up, you would be wise to invest in the following six steps to build strength and avoid injury.
The push-up is one of the most common bodyweight exercises in the gym, but are you doing them properly? How many strict gymnastics push-ups can you do? How many should you be aiming for? When you're ready to stop being weedy and start being strong, you can begin by accomplishing a strict gymnastics push-up.
In bodyweight training and gymnastics, the push-up is viewed as an entry-level upper body pushing exercise. The strict push-up is used to build strength and movement awareness for more advanced pushing movements such as dips, ring dips, handstand push-ups, planche push-ups, and more. Mastering the strict push-up with perfect technique is an essential step in the journey of bodyweight training. Although the push-up is often seen as a foundation movement, there are push-up variations that can challenge even the strongest athletes - we'll save that for another post.
