Advanced

Korean Dip

Placing the bar behind you and dipping with the hands at your sides forces the arms into deep shoulder extension, loading the triceps long head and front delts through a stretched range most dips never reach. The behind-the-body position also demands real balance and shoulder mobility to control. Reserve it for advanced athletes with healthy shoulders who already own strong straight-bar and parallel-bar dips, and ease into the depth carefully.

Equipment
Pull-Up Bar
Body part
Chest, Triceps
Type
Balance, Strength
Browse by movement
Vertical Press
Muscles worked
Target
Triceps Brachii Long Head, Triceps Brachii Lateral Head, Triceps Brachii Medial Head
Secondary
Pectoralis Major Sternocostal, Deltoid Anterior
Tertiary
Pectoralis Major Clavicular, Abdominal External Oblique

How to do it

  1. 1

    Stand with a waist-height straight bar behind you and grip it with both hands, palms down.

  2. 2

    Press up to support with straight arms and the bar tucked close behind your hips.

  3. 3

    Brace the core and let the legs hang or tuck slightly to control the swing.

  4. 4

    Lower by bending the elbows and letting the shoulders extend back until you feel a firm stretch.

  5. 5

    Press through the hands to return to a locked-out support, keeping the bar close throughout.

Tips

  • Enter the bottom range slowly over several sessions; the deep shoulder extension is demanding on the joint.
  • Keep the bar riding close to your body rather than drifting away to protect the shoulders.
  • Stop the descent short if you feel any pinch in the front of the shoulder rather than forcing depth.

Variations

Common mistakes

  • The bar drifts away from the hips as the arms bend, stretching the shoulder into a longer, less supported range than intended.
  • The legs swing freely instead of staying controlled, so momentum carries the body through the dip instead of the shoulders and triceps.
  • The hands grip too narrow on the bar, cramming the shoulders into an unnaturally tight base for a movement that already asks a lot of the front shoulder.
  • The hips sag forward as the body dips, changing the bar's path along the torso and adding a rocking motion that is harder to control.

Frequently asked

What is a sensible starting dose for the Korean dip, and what should you own first?
Start with 3-4 sets of 4-6 reps at a shallow depth, resting 2 minutes, and add depth in small increments across several weeks rather than chasing a deep stretch right away. You should already own strong, pain-free parallel-bar dips and comfortable, pain-free shoulder extension (reaching the arms well behind the body) before attempting it.
What can you use instead of a straight bar for the Korean dip?
A pair of dip bars set close together, or sturdy parallel bars gripped with palms facing each other behind the hips, can approximate the same behind-the-body shoulder extension. Without any bar at all, a standard parallel-bar dip trains the chest and triceps without the deep behind-body stretch.
What is the Korean dip good for, and who should skip it?
It targets the triceps and front delts through an unusually deep, stretched range, and it suits advanced athletes with healthy, mobile shoulders who already handle standard dips well. Skip it if you feel any pinch or sharp sensation in the front of the shoulder, or if your shoulders are still recovering from a previous injury.

Related exercises

Other movements among FitRay's 2,000+ exercises that load the same target muscle — same equipment and level first.

All Chest exercises