Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Ring Exercises, Variations, Progressions


I love the rings for variations on pretty much anything, they are a great tool for building upper body strength.  Male gymnasts possess an amazing amount of upper body strength and balance and the rings are predominantly an exercise of pure strength.  Recently, the use of rings and other suspension devices has come into vogue for the general population as well as athletes.  My driving force behind this post was the amount of horrible form and poor progressions being implemented in commercial gyms as well as my local climbing.  Shout out to Active Climbing!  Vids will be coming soon, but for now here are some stills and variation/progression ideas.

Ring Push-Ups

 

Adjust Difficulty by adjusting the height of the rings.  The higher the rings, the easier the push-up.  
3sets of 10-12reps

Ring Fall-Outs

 
Adjust Difficulty by adjusting the height of the rings.  The higher the rings, the easier the fall-out.  Keep Abs tight and do not let your low back sag towards the ground.  Cup your wrists to engage core and back musculature.

Can make harder by...
  Widening your hands as you fall out
  Falling out and making a wide heart shape with hands
  Extending one arm at a time
  Extending one arm and making a heart shape with the other

Depends on variation used, but 3 sets of 6-8 is usually good.

Inverted Rows

 
Start with perfectly straight body and row up to where your hands are even with your chest.

Can make harder by...
  Elevating feet on a box
  Holding the up position for time

3sets of 8-10reps 

Tucked Rows

 
Get into a tuck position, with back relatively parallel to the ground with arms straight and then maintaining the tuck position, row your body up.
3sets of 4-8reps depending on strength levels

Piked Rows

 
Get into a hanging piked position, with back relatively parallel to the ground with arms straight and then maintaining the piked position, row your body up.
3sets of 4-8reps depending on strength levels.

Horizontal Muscle Ups

Start with Rings at arms length while lying on the floor,  pull up and get one elbow over the ring and pause, then extend arm and muscle up.  Keep your body straight the whole time.

Can make harder by...
  Elevating feet on a chair/box.

3sets of 2-5 each side

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