3 Overlooked Gymnastic Rings Exercises
99% of the time, the exercises you’ll see associated with gymnastics rings are dips and muscle ups. Those movements are both great, but the reason rings are so beneficial is because of their versatility - The ability to pull, push, and have body awareness are all essential for a well rounded athlete and they can all be trained with a single pair of gymnastic rings. Mixing in these three movements to your WOD’s and accessory work will take you to the next level of gymnastics prowess and athleticism.
Ring Pull Ups
- Sounds easy enough, but the neutral grip and instability of the rings takes a whole new level of pulling strength and core stability. At first try it with just your body weight while maintaining a hollow arch - if those are easy for you throw on a weight vest!
Rows
- Great for training the pull through on a muscle up as well as developing core strength - Drop your rings down so they are about level or slightly lower than your hips. Set yourself up underneath the rings and then pull yourself to them to complete a rep. Make sure that you maintain a hollow body through the entirety of the set and that you reach full lockout of your arms at the bottom of each rep.
Hips To Rings
- Probably the best drill for developing the body awareness needed for achieving a muscle up. With your rings set at a normal muscle up height, start by kipping back and forth on the rings going from hollow to superman. Build momentum and try to reach your hips to the rings while maintaining hollow with arms locked - at the top of the movement you should be parallel to the ground.
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