Ring Work with Longer Strap Length

Yesterday, I was down at my facility's climbing wall checking in on an employee there when we had the idea to put my rings up. Our wall is about 30 feet high so I tied in my rings in with double figure-8 knots and had a good 25 feet worth of rope. I had fun trying the same elements I've been working on lately on there, but the difficulty factor on turning out on support, hspu, etc. was insane. Even with a light spot and assist, the HSPU felt like pressing a train above my head.

Is it worth doing this kind of set up to train with, or does strap length stop mattering after a certain point? I'm not looking to try any swing work, just the strength elements and basic rolls from the ring series. It'd be very easy to set the top rope anchors to an appropriate width and reserve off a newer rope so fraying isn't a concern.

Core, we have a set of medium height rings that hang down and the rope is what I would estimate at 15 feet long, at most 20. These are quite a bit harder to do any support work on (though they are high enough that only a few of the boys can get up on them by muscling up or grabbing them and getting into support off a nearby kinder pit box).

Anyways, last Friday I decided to do a ring support hold test. I thought I could hit around 1 minute but topped off around 30s. That extra length did really muck with my estimation of how long I could hold. They are also harder to do any type of ring dips on but L press to HS is about the same though ring HS is probably harder.

While they are more difficult than our regulation rings, I'd rather have them and have to work harder than not have another pair up. They also make the other regulation rings or my GB rings easier.

The longer the straps, the stronger your stabilizers will be. Stabilizers are vastly important for any of the strength skills... so yes, working everything on super long cables is helpful.

I wish I could work on 25' cables all the time. That must be nice...

Are there any ways to mimic longer straps? i.e. making them less stable. My rings go over a chinup bar so are quite low, I used to have free moving PVC tubes on my bar for thick bar pullups, these moved around quite a bit. If the straps were resting on a movable support on a fixed bar then they would be less static/stable so could simulate longer straps to some degree. If they were on some sort of ball bearing system they could be even more unstable.

rubadub said:

Are there any ways to mimic longer straps? i.e. making them less stable. My rings go over a chinup bar so are quite low, I used to have free moving PVC tubes on my bar for thick bar pullups, these moved around quite a bit. If the straps were resting on a movable support on a fixed bar then they would be less static/stable so could simulate longer straps to some degree. If they were on some sort of ball bearing system they could be even more unstable.

Ball bearing with any exercise where your arms come out would probably slide the top away from you. So probably won't work well.

If you can figure out anything, tell me.

Another thing to remember is that for all strength holds that you would push your arms out to the sides: Cross, Invert cross, Maltese, you now have to work much harder to hold them. On shorter straps, there is more pressure pushing the rings inwards so the strength you are using is directed down and to the sides. Now that the straps are longer, a lot more downward pressure needs to be placed to hold the positions. I don't know if this makes any sense, but its true.

I've found that the best way to mimic longer straps is to set your straps up further apart. If you just increase the distance between them on your chinup bar, everything will be significantly more difficult because you won't have as much pressure pushing the rings inward like Wangtang explained. The problem is that this works well for certain positions, but poorly for others.

Liosis. We used to do that when hanging the rings from a high bar (8') so the straps weren't very long. Right now I typically don't do that for my boys as they are just getting their support ability there but I will for a few of them.

We would also do that when doing crosses off a spotting block using a piked body assist.

one simple thing you can do is walk backwards and jump into your exercises with a little extra umph so the rings are swinging. ever tried swinging planches before?

i'm not sure if it mimics the parameters of longer straps, but it sure makes things harder

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I thought I would resurrect this thread for the benefits of any newbies/novices like me who are trying to develop basic skills on the rings.

I've been training with my rings for a month or two now and am still learning the basic skills - pushups, pull ups, rows, dips, and supports being the main things I do. I weigh about 140 and can parallel bar dip with a 45 attached to me - nothing heroic I understand but it gives you some context.

My gym has a pullup bar with fairly wide neutral grip handles and these are the only place I can quickly mount my rings to. They are much wider than shoulder width apart. I've been barely able to hold a RTO support for more than 15-20sec at most, let alone even consider dipping. The only pushing work I've been doing is pushups (working up to sets of 10 with feet elevated). It's been a bit demoralising but I've persevered with a basic but balanced plan.

Anyway, I got a doorway pull up bar from a friend to Grease the Groove for pull ups, and I thought I'd try putting my rings on these. I set them up with the same strap length but put them shoulder width (ish, maybe a touch narrower) apart, and tried out a support. It turns out I could do 7 full range dips Not RTO but not excessively dependent on straps either.

So, if you are struggling/stalling with progress, give a thought to the strap length of your rings! I know that in the long run longer length is better, but in terms of learning the basics and trying out new skills, you may find it makes a big difference!

I was using this method as an easier means to develop the support in my boys as our working set of rings are actually much longer than regulation rings. Working on 5 foot straps made it a lot easier to work with at beginner stages than working on straps that were 15 feet, especially for dipping and MU.