HS on rings

I can maintain a freestanding HS of 1 minute, do 10 HeSPUs (with the help of a wall, I can't do HeSPUs without a wall).

But there's no way I can perform the HS on the rings. From L-sit or from when sitting on my knees (rings are lowered).

Any suggestions/ideas?

Practice.

If you're working on pressing go up as far as possible without straps and then use them.. and progressively use them less. Control the negative back downto L-sit.

Work the HS on parallettes, of course.

You could also employ using parallettes that rock back and forth. These have an elliptical base so they rock back and forth.

Get into a HS on a set of rings set low and focus on pushing as tall as possible. Then put your legs on the inside. Keep pushing tall [uP] and bring your feet together and slowly try to lower to L-sit or shoulderstand.

HS on parallets is easier for me than floor HS.

On the rings, it's not just the balance that I'm lacking ( I can't balance my body without having my feet at the straps).

I feel I also lack strength because I am forced to arch my back in order to complete the pushup. I'm doing a wrong pike press here, I don't have my arms straight. See my other thread for more: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3796

I haven't tried it in a long time, I will try again and report back.

Thank you for the answers.

Well serotonin and I have been making some practice spoting each other. Setting the rings really low and one of us holding the rings, the other one kicks up and takes the straps wigh his legs. Once you are up the spoter can realease the rings. From there you can work for time and gain confidence. ( Im really behind your level of handstand so I only do it for testing how it feels, not as a training for myself. Serotonin is at another level he doesn't need spoting)

Handstands on the still rings are much more biceps tendon specific than a HS performed anywhere else. In fact so much so, that I personally consider them a completely different skill than regular handstands on either the floor or bars.

It may be instructive to note that the still rings HS is actually included in this list of elbow/biceps tendon strengthening progressions for an iron cross.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I've added ring handstand into my circle of off-day work on improving skills. Coach's comment about it being different from regular handstand also prompted this. I'm at the point where I can do 5x15s with relative ease. I wrap my feet initially just to gain stability but now I move them inside the straps. I find it easier to really push against the rings this way. I have been experimenting a bit with taking my feet away from the straps but I'm not really able to balance well yet. I certainly think I'm still getting the "feel" of ring HS so perhaps I need more time on them. Are there any pointers out there that I might incorporate into my practice that will help guide me towards freestanding ring HS?

I will mention that since I've added the ring HS into my practice that my regular floor freestanding HS ability increased. So much so that one arm HS is definately within reach. I think it must be the active pushing required on the rings that leads to this.

I can't really figure out how to get into a HS on the rings. I keep fixating on faceplanting into my rather hard gym floor when I go to kick up ( :oops: ), and when I get into a HeS between the rings and attempt to climb up with the straps I can never fully extend (though this is the closest I can get). Would it be beneficial to have someone hold the rings for me when I kick up, wait until I'm back home and have a pull up bar that I can actually fully extend on, or some combination of the above?

My rings are setup out the back over the concrete floor, so I feel your (potential) pain!

I think it helps to have a certain amount of pressing strength, so that you're only marginally kicking up and predominantly pressing.

Apart from that; yes a spotter would help, but ultimately it takes a bit of courage to kinda "go for it" the first few times. I know it did for me. My first few tries were very shaky despite my having been able to do XR strap HS in the past. But once I got over the face-planting fear, I've been able to remain quite stable and my handstand strength is still in its infancy.

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Try to press out as much as possible so you minimize the amount your arms will bend as you jump into the HS. If you start out in the HeS, you will need to almost be able to do a ring HeSPU this way even if you are using the legs to assist.

CrossFitJournal has a much better video of how to get into a ring handstand, handstand pushups part 3 by Carl Paoli.

I had the same exact problem and traced it to 2 things.

1. Just holding the HS still isn't enough, walking on hands, being able to sharply change direction while walking in HS, shifting balance and being in general very comfortable in HS is needed too, the mind has to get used to the fact that HS is something very normal, very easy. If this ease isn't there, then when on the rings, the mind will need to deal with the fragile balance of the HS and the peculiarities of rings at the same time, so odds aren't in our favour. If the ease in HS is there, it's mentally much easier.

2. Fear. Even after I sorted out 1., it took a while to let go of supports when trying HS on rings. I eventually caught myself being simply afraid, and that was solved by hanging rings low, putting thick mat underneath and concentrating on balancing without using any props. Here again the reflexes of 1. come useful.