Where to begin (with rings)

So I just bought a pair of rings and it is very exciting.

I bought the rings mainly because I need them for the F1 program.

But I would also like to play a little bit. What is the most basic stuff to try out?

What would be some recommended beginner things, like prerequisites for the different static holds and stuff?

main focus: F1 progressions

things you can play with: anything within your capabilities of not getting hurt

i know you can do a few things but since ive never been around you, know your "limit" of wrecklessness (mines pretty high, i mean i was trying muscle ups and shoulderstands a few months into training and my shoulders were thrashed) or your current strength level, etc.

get a feel for the rings, hang from them, skin the cat, planks, pushups, but remember to not do it daily or for a lot of reps. the rings have a way of beating you up slowly, if you're not used to it and boom three weeks later, your shoulders will feel funky. so be careful, be sensible and have fun

Simple dead hang, inverted hang, inverted pike, German hang, support hold.

Support and German hang, but definitely only play time. Foundation will get you on through rings safely and faster than doing it yourself

I'd recommend starting with pushups and rows.  Make sure you turn your rings out at the top of the pushups.  Use a false grip on rows if you want to get a better feel for muscle ups.

Feet supported german hangs are a great mobility / shoulder prep exercise that's hard to replicate without rings.

Actually I really miss doing skin the cats / 360 pulls on my rings.  Give them a go if your shoulders feel up to it.

Thanks for your replies.

I will start slowly to just try out some of these things, just feel them out and play a little when I'm done with the regular training.

Before I really started doing specific training, I'd do lots of skin the cats, dips and negative muscle ups. Also nothing stopped me from trying crosses over and over, even if I could barely do 20 degrees without dropping. lol

These things can bite!

Start by hanging a towel on them in between F1 sessions, so you are not tempted to "try things out", overdo it and get injured.

However, because you won't listen, you might as well start with finding out about elbow rehab...

PeterSweden, please do not try advanced ring elements at this stage. Just please do not. Advice to do so is extremely irresponsible to suggest to new members. There are plenty of threads on here illustrating what can happen with premature straight arm element exposure, the time to rehab injuries from them, and the recurring issues asociated with them after healing.

That's a lot of risk for very little reward.

There is a reason that work above the rings doesn't appear in F1! Experience showed, people weren't ready for it, and consequently, were getting injuries.

Coach long ago posted his basic elbow prep routine for rings, and it's a sticky in the rings forum.

All GB trainees are STRONGLY advised not to play with iron cross work before passing the appropriate milestones! 

As Fred says they realy can bite when you least expect it. Just so you have something to look forward to, there will be work above the rings in F2. This is a nice incentive to complete F1.

I also believe that if rings are not used in F1 there is a reason. The only thing I added, and do it only every once in a while, is RTO support. Nothing else, give time to time.

I hurt myself by working on ring support. The way I got into GST was my interest in the rings. I got myself a pair, but I had a hard time finding any instructions on how to use them. Somewhere on the net I found that the support hold is one of the most basic exercises, so I started training it. The first workout felt good. But after the second workout my shoulders hurt and I had to rest several weeks for it to go away.

I tried to persist, trying again, and trying to train less intensenly, but the pain came back, even doing other exercises, like L-sits. Eventually, it took many months for it to go away completely. Actually it did not get completely well until I started doing F1. With F1 I got a better program than what I had been doing on my own which makes me stronger, not hurt myself.

I'm now doing F1 and I feel great, I am making progress and gettings stronger and gaining lean mass. That's much better than hurting myself on the rings, and then having to take a break for several weeks, and then hurting myself again, and so on. With F1 I get consistent progress.

If you have a look in the community forum and read the recent thread about the dynamic physique, you will see there that Coach is planning on a bunch more courses, including a ring series. I think F2 was a requirement for it. He also stated that 5-7 years would be a typical timeframe for completing all the series. So, just a bit of patience and spend the time to prepare for the rings doing the F series as Coach tells us to do. Then you will be ready and do cool ring stuff productively and safely. I think in the end you will be much better off and get your ring skills sooner.

I started using rings straight out of the gate (back in the WOD days) and never had any issues with injuries.  I did however experience the odd "twinge" when working tuck BL or PL movements, and having read others' stories on the forum (along several instances of feeling "Woah, that was close" during my own training), I'm convinced that I was close to injury on several occasions and only avoided problems due to luck and a decent safety/backoff reflex.

Recently I began working some BL training into my Foundation warmup, and I was surprised to find that my skill had improved significantly (flat tuck from tuck) from following a Foundation only program.  I think this is due to the safe/gradual introduction to straight arm work with planche leans and, perhaps even more so, the fastidiousness with which proper scapular positioning is emphasized from even the very early stages of the program.  Depression and protraction really seems to make or break a good BL, and I've gotten better at that with the Foundation basics that with directly training elements like the BL for which I am not entirely prepared.

In summary:  If you want to learn the basics, stick with Foundation work.  If you want to avoid injury, do Foundation work.  And if you're interested in mastering ring elements as quickly as possible, do Foundation first.  This is the one approach I've found that actually warrants the "Shut up and do it like I said" attitude that virtually every program assumes.  

Steve Sisk said:

... This is the one approach I've found that actually warrants the "Shut up and do it like I said" attitude that virtually every program assumes ...

Thanks, Steve.  That is very gratifying to hear.  

It continues to surprise me how many people assume that their uninformed opinion is just as good and forget that I am not just some self-designated guru, keyboard viking or someone who once played on a set of rings; but an actual, long time, real live US National Team Coach.  As such, I do indeed expect them to sit down, pay attention and faithfully implement the training before beginning to tell me how such a program cannot possibly work because it contradicts something that they read in Reader's Digest or on reddit.  

As I tell my own athletes on the rare occasions when their own ratio of questions vs working begins to slide the wrong way; "Gentlemen, quiet down.  For the next few minutes the only sounds I want to hear are occasional grunts of effort and drops of sweat hitting the floor."

Perhaps in a fitness world filled with countless unwarranted claims and hyperbole, many people are simply jaded and are not used to working with the real thing in terms of GST expertise.  I realize that the directness of a true coach's attitude sometimes rubs a few people the wrong way in this age of political correctness, however in the end I am far more concerned with my students obtaining results than I am about whether they are feeling warm and fuzzy in the process.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Yet another reason why I like it here Coach.

I can only speak for myself, but the "directness of a true coach's attitude" is refreshing and appreciated.

The only thing I use my rings for since starting F1 (besides hinge rows), is letting my kids swing around on them.