Home ring setup, and cross exercises

Hi everyone,

Firstly ...I don't mean that I get angry while training on rings at home!

Following a post I made earlier (click here to see it), I was wondering about the training effect of changing the spacing of the rings, in respect to training for elements such as the cross?

Due to the shorter length of most people's straps at home, the angle of the straps can become pretty steep when the rings are out at arms length. This will exert larger inward/sideways forces than when performing on an Olympic standard setup.

I wondered if anyone had any thoughts on whether this makes it easier or harder, and therefore what the training effect might be (possibly for progression's sake) if one were to move the anchor points further in or out?

My guess would be that it gets easier the closer in they get? I'd run out and give it a go, except I'm a) at work, b) too weak and c) too fat to be messing around with any kind of Cross exercises!

Cheers,

George.

Shorter straps make it a lot easier. Not sure about the width apart as I can't test that. Mine are hanging from the rafters in my garage and the straps are around 5ft long. I have them hanging at a height where the rings are at shoulder height when I'm stood on the ground. I can do cross pulls to support from a standing position for sets of around 10-12 at 150lbs bodyweight and around 3 reps with an extra 30lbs on the weight belt. I've also made a homemade pulley set up which helped a lot in the past with the cross pulls/static holds.

I've had a chance to use the Olympic standard setup where my son does his gymnastics and they are way, way harder at the full length.

Paul.

Thanks for your feedback, Paul.

I might have a play with attaching my rings to a single point and see what that does for my (albeit pitiful) attempts at a cross support ...I can at least compare the degrees of failure!

I wonder if I'll ever get around to building the pulley system I have all planned out...

Cheers,

George.

my advice is that you're probably not ready for crosses yet

shorter straps does make it easier, we actually messed aroudn with this by using a nylon loop to constrict the wiriing about half way up form going outward to make it easier

if you're worried about being too weak/ fat i'd suggest you build some basic strength before trying or you might damage your elbows

Don't worry, I know I'm not ready for crosses yet! ...probably next year, realistically! I'm working on GPP right now, and then Planche, Front-lever, HSPUs etc. when I'm ready for it.

I'm in it for the long haul, so I'll be going through all the progressions with a realistic timeframe in mind. Joking aside, I'm not that fat or weak ...just seems that way sometimes, when I see what trained gymnasts are capable of. One day...

Thanks for your feedback, too. I hadn't thought of doing it that way.

Cheers,

George.