Ever seen a competent gymnast work a pair of rings? It is both an inspiring and humbling experience. On one hand, it shows what a human being can become capable of, given time and a vigorous exercise routine. On the other, it tends to instill some less than savory thoughts, most along the line of:
“I am never going to be able to do that.”
But that outlook—though common, should have no place in anyone’s mindset. A good gymnastic rings workout, despite being difficult, has so much to offer to the calisthenics enthusiast, that everyone in proper health should at least try it.
Worst case scenario, you’ll get stronger.
Why You Should Train With Gymnastic Rings
When it comes to exercise of any sort, these three words tend to get thrown around the most: persistence, resistance, and variety. Well, an Olympic ring workout covers all your variety-based needs, and then some!
To be more exact, these movements aren’t exactly something your body is used to doing. However, their tried-and-true nature lends them a relatively high degree of safety. In essence, they let you have your cake and eat it too, shocking your body into gains with comparatively little risk of injury (when done right).
Gymnastic ring exercises will hit the weakest parts of your shoulders and joints; the ones that might be giving you trouble with other, seemingly unrelated moves. Combine this with the straight-arm strength they lead into, and you will become a better across-the-board athlete, no matter what your goals might be!
As an added benefit, the “flowing” nature of the rings (since they aren’t a hard surface you can brace against) will also train stability and control. This will transfer into an easier time in daily life, and with many other advanced exercises, should you ever decide to pursue them.
All things considered, Olympic ring exercises might just be the most underrated set of exercises out there!
Beginner Gymnast Ring Positions
All of these are static holds, and none of them are exactly easy (even the most basic one). Holding any one of them while doing nothing else is an exercise on its own. With that out of the way, we can proceed on to:
- The Gymnast Ring Support. As the name suggests, you grasp both rings firmly and support yourself above ground, holding a vertical position. Admittedly, it looks much easier than it is, and keeping it up for extended amounts of time is no joke. Before proceeding over to the next move, you should be able to hold it for five—preferably ten seconds, at a time.
- The L-Sit. Now this one is an excellent all-rounder that not only hits your core, but also your arms and shoulders. In theory, all you need to do is raise your legs from the support position, and hold them out parallel to the ground, thus forming an L-shape with your body. In practice, this will tilt your balance, forcing you to compensate with strength and control. For starters, try doing it with bent legs (the so-called L-sit tuck), then extend them fully one at a time before finally reaching that full L-sit. Ideally, you should be able to hold 10 to 15-second intervals before graduating over to the big one.
- The Front Lever. The bogeyman itself! You can get into this position by either lowering your back down from the L-sit, or by hanging horizontally with tucked legs, then straightening them out. Either way, it’s going to be tough.
Performing the lever on a bar is difficult on its own, and (surprise, surprise!), the ring variant is even harder! Holding this will take you to hell and back, but at the end of the day, you’ll be glad you undertook that voyage.
What to do When You’re Having Trouble
Can’t pull off the front lever, L-sit, or even support yourself without your arms fleeing in both directions? No matter! Here are some more conventional exercises you can use in order to give yourself an easier time with rings!
- Bicep Curls
- Push-ups
- Dips
- Pull-ups
- Bodyweight Rows
- Squats
- Jumping Squats
- Hanging Leg Raises
- Crunches
All of these are good on their own and can be incorporated into any existing routine. Always remember to warm-up and stretch beforehand!
Going Beyond the Essentials
So you can support yourself vertically, and have mastered the L-sit and front lever? Great! Things are about to get serious!
As we all know, there’s more to gymnast rings than merely holding a certain position. It is an art of strength, balance, and controlled mobility, and in order for us to attain those, we will have to push even harder.
In no particular order, we will use:
- The Ring Dip. Think of your classical dip, but made that much harder by the rings’ instability.
- Reverse Row Sit-Back. Amazing all-rounder for the biceps, shoulders, and lats.
- Ring Chin-ups and Ring Pull-ups. Just as good as the regular variants, with the added stability and ring grip workout.
- Ring Push-ups. These beat the classic push-ups by a wide margin.
- Ring Leg Raises. Will make both the L-sit and front lever much, much easier.
Best Calisthenics Rings
When it comes to buying calisthenics rings, it is best to keep it simple.
Nice and sturdy wooden rings will do the job just fine. Here are our 3 favourite models on amazon:
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Olympic Ring Exercises
We will separate this program into three tiers. Test yourself and determine your tier, and work your way up from there.
These workout sessions should be done thrice per week, with at least a day’s worth of rest between sessions.
Tier One: Mortal
This one is for those who can maintain the three essential poses for the suggested amount of time. At this level, a workout session should include:
- Support Hold: 5 sets of 15 seconds, 30 second break between sets.
- L-sit: 5 sets of 15 seconds, 30 second rest.
- Front Lever: 3 sets of 5-10 seconds, 30 second rest.
Tier Two: Hero
For those who can pull off a full tier one session without fail.
- Support Hold: 5 sets of 15 seconds, 30 second break between sets.
- Ring Dips: 5 sets of 8 to 12 reps. Pause for one minute in-between.
- L-sit: 5 sets of 15 seconds, 30 second rest.
- Reverse Row Sit-back: 5 sets of 10 to 14 reps, one minute pause.
- Front Lever: 3 sets of 5-10 seconds, 30 second rest.
Tier Three: Olympian
For those with the strength and will to go beyond tier two, we offer this little slice of Tartarus.
- Support Hold: 5 sets of 15 seconds, 30 second break between sets.
- Ring Dips: 5 sets of 8 to 12 reps.
- Ring push-ups: 5 sets of 8 to 12 reps.
- L-sit: 5 sets of 15 seconds, 30 second rest.
- Ring Leg Raises: 5 sets of 8 to 12 reps.
- Ring Chin-ups or Pull-ups: 5 sets of 8 to 12 reps.
- Reverse Row Sit-back: 5 sets of 10 to 14 reps.
- Front Lever: 3 sets of 5-10 seconds, 30 second rest.
The name of the third tier is in no way pompous. Do all that in a single workout session, and few will doubt your claim to the title!
Final Thoughts
That’s all for now folks! We hope you got some inspiration from our workout suggestions and as always, we welcome any feedback or comments in the comment box below.
Chris is an experienced Calisthenics practitioner focused on isometric exercises and street workout. He founded thehybridathlete.com in 2017, which was subsequently acquired by theyhybridathlete.com
He is based in Portland and has been working out using solely his own body weight and bars for the past 6 years.
