To use rings, or NOT to use rings...

Hey fellow gymnastics enthusiasts!

So I've been training my straight arm strength for a while and have passed some pretty monumental benchmarks in my training, strength, muscularity, and so on.  Not long ago I decided to take it up a notch by ordering the Foundations series 1-4 and have been working my way back through the progressions from the most basic on up, putting in the  necessary time to each one to make sure I REALLY own them.  I know that Coach Summer has put in a few solid decades of coaching and I trust what's laid out.
 
With that in mind, I have a few questions:

 

1) Given the choice between rings and a straight bar for someone working his way to a more solid front lever, is it better to use the rings or the straight bar?  I prefer rings as they're much friendlier on my elbows, though I've noticed that the progressions for the front lever (for example) all use the straight bar or parallel bars.  

2) Also, in terms of straight-arm ring training, is it better to use easier variations held for a longer duration (10+ seconds) for a total given amount of time (say, 1-2 minutes) and mix it up on certain days with harder variations held for 5+ seconds, or stick to one or the other?  So far I've found that doing easier variations on certain days and harder ones on others has been working pretty well for me, but I'd like to know what others' insights are.  

Thanks in advance for your time and training wisdom!

 

Aleks
 

 

is this your third post? are you absolutely sure that you have mastered every foundation exercise there is?

1. It makes no real difference whether you use rings or a bar when training front/back lever. 

 

2. If you have Foundation, finish working your way through that. Additional straight arm work on top of Foundation will just give you overuse injuries. 

Korija, I have definitely NOT mastered everything.  I am going back through from the start to work my way through each and every progression so that I CAN master it all.  Just want to know that I'm following the right track over the next few weeks and months in my training.

Joshua, thank you for that insight!  I appreciate it.