Overtraining on the rings?!

Morning all,

this is my first post so be gentle I am literally just starting out on the rings, using this fantastic website i have constructed a relatively easy program to start on, anywho my question is...... I completed my first session on Sunday and was going to complete my second session today (tuesday) i have a very slight ache in my right shoulder muscle and was wondering if i should give it another days rest or soilder on, i must emphasise its only a slight ache. Also just for info im stopping training 1/2 reps before failure.

Go through your warmup and see how you feel afterwards. Either modify or call it done.

You might only be able to workout 2-3x a week when starting out on rings even at cautious, low volume programming.

Ok thanks for your advice, i only planned on training Mon(rings),Tues(Squats),Wed(rings), Thurs(off),Fri(Rings), sat and sun off.

What is your training background?

if you are starting out, you really shouldn't do anything besides some support work, and not much of that, until you are able to hold yourself steadily(no shaking) on the rings. That'll take two weeks or so. If you don't have any strength training background at all, and pushups don't count unless they are part of a complete training program including dips and pullups at the very least. So if all you've done is pushups here and there and pullups here and there, consider yourself a complete beginner. It's going to take some time to build the strength you need to do stuff on the rings.

Start with your support work, focus the rest of your upper body strength work mainly on wall handstand work, dips, pullups, and the front lever progressions.

Handstand work should be wall handstands and cast wall walks. They work differently, so do both, but I'd suggest not each workout at first. 2-3 times a week total will work fine. When you can do a few HeSPU with your head touching the floor I'd say it's all right to start working cast wall walks into your handstand workouts, like use them to go up into and come down out of your wall holds.

Notice that this is all focused on training your shoulders. You must have, more than anything else, strong and stable shoulders to work on the rings. Once you're doing sets of 20-30s ring supports with the thumbs turned out a bit(called Rings Turned Out, or RTO), then IF you have build some dipping strength, which you will if you do what I outlined, you will be ready to start on the ring dip progressions. What I described is specifically to help you on ring work, and is by no means a complete training program. To complete it you'll need core work and legs, as well as starting to work on pushups and planche. I would personally suggest that you not try ring pushups until you have a solid support on the rings. Once you can hold RTO for a few seconds properly, start the pushups. Before that just do them on the ground, it'll take you less than 2 months to be ready to safely do them on the rings so you're not missing out on anything.

Since you're new I'll go ahead and tell you that Coach Sommer and many of the experienced guys here have said over and over and over that working on your handstand strength is by far the most important thing you can do as a beginner, and it's true So, focus on that a little more than the rest. Do your handstand work first, so that your handstand ability develops as fast as possible. Don't ignore the rest of it, just focus more on the handstand/cast wall walk stuff. If you don't know what those are, search for them on here, you will find videos from youtube linked in the posts. You can go to youtube directly and search for the gymnasticbodies username, which has videos for everything mentioned here.

Sorry for the late reply, thanks again for your advice, i have been weight training for 5 years so i have a pretty good all round strength for my weight im 180lbs about 15-20% bf i can do 13 full pull ups to failure on rings full dips about 8 to failure, bench 3x5 110kg, half squat 3 x5 175kg. My shoulders are the weakess part typically enough.. i tried doing handstand holds up against the wall and managed about 20-30 seconds 3 sets, my shoulders are a little bit sore today and i was going to do another session today last one of the week any suggestion to if i should of not???? Thanks again

When it comes to gymnastics, it's not necessarily the gross strength but the finite strength of the smaller musculature besides tendons and ligaments that makes one strong. You end up finding you get sore from all sorts of weird places. It's very common when switching from a BB program to a BW program (happens a lot in yoga or other MA focusing on muscular control).

I am sorry for the late reply!

You're doing great with the handstands for first starting out, believe me. You're going to see huge gains over the next month. Not necessarily in overall handstand length, but in work capacity. At first I'd just do 2 days of the wall handstands, your second or third week I'd do 3. Have the middle day be a little lower volume, but same set times. With your first set of the last workout for the week, do a max hold. Once you're getting 45+ seconds and you're able to slowly lower down, start doing one day of just the wall handstands, one day of just wall HeSPU, and one day with cast wall walks. That will take a little while, and we can help you further modify for better gains once you get there. Thinking too far ahead won't really be helpful right now.

an easy way to monator over training is to keep track of your resting heart rate... if it goes up 5+ bpm then i would back off until it drops back down...

to get your resting heart rate... take your heart rate after you "naturally" wake up and before getting out of bed... average it over three consecutive rest days (make sure you aren't over trained at the time)

also remember that there is a difference between over reaching and over training... and that injuries can occur without over training...

Brilliant help! I will continue with my program for a few more weeks then to get a good base then modify it further to keep the progression, its amazing i have done Rings this week on Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday according to how my muscles felt and i have already notice a strength increase, i will post my routine up soon to see what you think!!

Cheers Guys:)

Jonny,

If you feel you are overtrained first cut back on volume not intensity. Stay 1-2 reps from failure otherwise you are likely to overtax the nervous system.

Best of luck,

Rob.

Definitely take Gymrob's advice and stay away from failure Congratulations on your progress so far! I'm glad to see the excitement in your words