Chest pain from ring supports

The last 3 days I have been doing ring supports after like 2 months of no supports at all, I've been doing 30 seconds with palms facing each other as wide as I can and the same time with the rings turned out, and the next day that I started doing them, this pain in the exact center of my chest came up again (I had felt it before but it wasn't that much). Well now it's bothering me more than before and I know it's from the supports because before I did them 3 days ago I was perfectly fine.

Has anyone else experienced this? Will this go away if I keep doing them or will it only get worse?

I forgot: it's actually the sternum, not just some random area in the chest.

Ring supports are currently too demanding for you. Discontinue training this element and increase your basic strength levels prior to returning to it.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

It's common when you haven't done ring supports in a long time. Too much, too soon.

Coach Sommer said:

Ring supports are currently too demanding for you. Discontinue training this element and increase your basic strength levels prior to returning to it.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I know this may be stupid but, what are cross pulls? Are there any pictures/videos of them? I searched for them and I only found some pretty small pictures in which you can't see jack squat, they were useless.

Lower to cross from support and press to support. Often done with a spotter or in a harness or by putting feet on a block in front of you.

There is also a version of them horizontally from a pushup position that is similar to maltese.

Blairbob said:

Lower to cross from support and press to support. Often done with a spotter or in a harness or by putting feet on a block in front of you.

There is also a version of them horizontally from a pushup position that is similar to maltese.

My bad, what I meant were assisted cross pulls, not the full cross pulls...

Coach Sommer said:

Ring supports are currently too demanding for you.

How can this be? I can do as-wide-as-i-can holds (which obviously isn't that wide, but it's something) for 35 seconds, which is obviously nothing compared to any gymnast but it's not like I get on the rings and I'm shaking all over the place, I can hold myself steady all the time I can.

Coach Sommer said:

Discontinue training this element and increase your basic strength levels prior to returning to it.

What do you recommend?

If you jump into wide progressions too fast without proper basic rings work you can get costochondritis.

You're going to have to back off and let yourself recover. Otherwise, it will become chronic and likely set back your training for a while.

Warm up, by doing way less intensity and duration. Use a set of PB if you have to and hold the bottom of the dip ( I generally do support on the 1st, hold 3-5s then jump down and get back up in the bottom of the dip ). Upper arm dips would work as well or even ring pushups.

This is the first time doing a certain exercise has actually messed me up, it had never happened to me before. I haven't done any supports again since I made this thread, and it's slowly going away but it's still there bothering me, what a load of !@#$.

Does this happen to everyone if they go "too hard" like I did on the wide progressions? Or is it just me?

It's because you took 2 months off doing them regularly.

Blairbob said:

It's because you took 2 months off doing them regularly.

Well what happens the first time ever that you do them? How should I go with them? Should I wait until the pain is completely gone?

http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=4086#p31113

You're going to have to back off and let yourself recover. Otherwise, it will become chronic and likely set back your training for a while.

To note it sounds like you did the same exercises, 3 days in a row. You stated you held them for 30s as wide as possible (15 or 30 degrees off vert or 60-75 off horizontal -which?) You did not state how much repetitions or sets (volume).

So, more than likely your body was not recovered before you did the exercise again...and again. And now here you are. I can't confirm this unless you state you did it just one time or more than one (we need to know the amount of volume).

Did you warmup prior or just hop on?

Blairbob said:

http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=4086#p31113

You're going to have to back off and let yourself recover. Otherwise, it will become chronic and likely set back your training for a while.

To note it sounds like you did the same exercises, 3 days in a row. You stated you held them for 30s as wide as possible (15 or 30 degrees off vert or 60-75 off horizontal -which?) You did not state how much repetitions or sets (volume).

So, more than likely your body was not recovered before you did the exercise again...and again. And now here you are. I can't confirm this unless you state you did it just one time or more than one (we need to know the amount of volume).

Did you warmup prior or just hop on?

Alright, let's see...

I made this thread sunday night, and I'm pretty sure I did no supports on sunday, at all, so I think the last day was saturday.

I think I started to make the supports again thursday, so I think it was thursday, friday and saturday, 3 days.

I said I had taken like 2 months off from getting on the rings, I think I was wrong. I think it's more like a month and a half, MAYBE, I just don't know but it may be.

So when I got on again thursday, no, I did not do any warmups and I hadn't made any exercise before during the day, I just hopped on like you said. I think I got on in the afternoon, it was still day. I think I did 30 seconds, which is the max that I could hold with correct form. And then I got on like 4 more times maybe, everytime I felt good to go again.

As for the width, right now I can probably hold it with 9-11 inches of space between my body and the rings, it's not much, I don't know how that is in degrees. And I don't know what you mean when you said if I held it vert or horizontal.

So that's basically it. I went maybe 5 times a day at most for 3 days, and after the first day I already slightly felt the pain coming back, but I didn't care because I thought it wasn't going to affect me.

9-11 inches away is about 30 degrees off vertical or 60 off horizontal.

4 max holds with no WU.

Blairbob said:

9-11 inches away is about 30 degrees off vertical or 60 off horizontal.

Looks like it.

Blairbob said:

4 max holds with no WU.

I pretty much like to go max effort on all my exercises, but in the ring supports, should you ever do max holds, or not?

braindx said:

If you jump into wide progressions too fast without proper basic rings work you can get costochondritis.

You're going to have to back off and let yourself recover. Otherwise, it will become chronic and likely set back your training for a while.

I looked into costochondritis and it looks like I may have gotten that. Although, it only hurts when I move left or right while trying not to move my chest, I don't know how to explain this movement, and I don't have any swelling at all. It's like only rotating only one side of your body against the other, and that puts some pressure in the middle of your chest, that's the only time it hurts. If I don't do anything it doesn't bother me at all.

If I do exercises that involve the chest however, obviously it bothers me to some degree or another, depending on the exercise.

This has me a little worried. I don't know if I should wait until it goes away completely to start exercising at all, or if I can still exercise. Not the cross progressions of course, but HSPU's and regular ones and things like that. It's exactly 1 week today of not getting on the rings at all and it's obviously better but it's still there.

I pretty much like to go max effort on all my exercises, but in the ring supports, should you ever do max holds, or not?

Don't, STOP :!: Nay, Nein, Nyet; do you get the idea?

So, more than likely your body was not recovered before you did the exercise again...and again. And now here you are.

I was away for the weekend in Arizona for the seminar and didn't really have access to a computer besides the long travel time before and after the seminar. Hold your horses.

Blairbob said:

Don't, STOP :!: Nay, Nein, Nyet; do you get the idea?

Are you saying this about the ring holds, or about any (or every) single exercise?

Blairbob said:

I was away for the weekend in Arizona for the seminar and didn't really have access to a computer besides the long travel time before and after the seminar. Hold your horses.

You may proceed then.

Right now I just wanted to know if there is some cream I could be using, or if I just need to wait it out without doing any exercises at all. It's really bothering me when I put pressure on the chest by moving sideways and things like that.

I doubt any ointments will help.

just need to wait it out without doing any exercises at all.

Blairbob said:

I doubt any ointments will help.

Really?

Blairbob said:

just need to wait it out without doing any exercises at all.

Yes, exactly. And don't do maximal holds for long duration 3 days in a row without a warmup :!: :roll:

Now I'm worried! It was thursday 20 when I first got on the rings and saturday 22 the last day I got on them, so it's been a week and a half since I've done any exercise at all (well actually, I did a set of HSPU's and chinups monday, but that was just that day I think, and I played a tennis match last thursday and I got beaten because the chest pain was bothering me on almost every shot), and it doesn't seem like it will go away. The first time I got it it wasn't so pronounced and it went away rather quick and I was still doing other exercises (just not the ring holds obviously) while it was going away.

Is this thing really normal? When do you think it's going to be gone completely?

There could be some ointments out there like the ones kung fu practioners use.

http://www.plumdragonherbs.com/recipe.html

Last year I messed up my sternum on a day I think when I went dip crazy one day. Taking some time off helped but didn't really fix it as it would still hurt when I would try to hop in a support on PB or SR.

Getting frustrated I figured I would use a bit of poison as a cure. I did this by implementing short holds of ring supports. It wasn't comfortable but it worked over a month and a half.

That does not mean maximal, I'm sure they weren't even 50%. More like a few seconds. There was some work on just doing doing PB/dip stand supports. HS work wasn't really bothered by it if I remember correctly. Dips and some pushups were so I pretty much didn't do any.

I am talking about ultra low volume and intensity. Something that I'm not sure if you will understand and do correctly. Ramp it up slowly. I didn't really write down the volume or intensity because frankly it was very MINIMAL.

Hopefully you will understand this. Honestly, I'm not sure if you will.

Trying not to win a Darwin award is generally a good idea unless of course it's a good idea that you don't breed. Then, if, by all means.

I have some hope for you, but not a lot. Please prove me wrong. [Reverse psychiatry].

Blairbob said:

There could be some ointments out there like the ones kung fu practioners use.

http://www.plumdragonherbs.com/recipe.html

I was thinking more like the Icy/Hot creams they sell today and related things, things supposedly for this kinda stuff. Those creams don't do anything you say?

Blairbob said:

Last year I messed up my sternum on a day I think when I went dip crazy one day. Taking some time off helped but didn't really fix it as it would still hurt when I would try to hop in a support on PB or SR.

Getting frustrated I figured I would use a bit of poison as a cure. I did this by implementing short holds of ring supports. It wasn't comfortable but it worked over a month and a half.

That does not mean maximal, I'm sure they weren't even 50%. More like a few seconds. There was some work on just doing doing PB/dip stand supports. HS work wasn't really bothered by it if I remember correctly. Dips and some pushups were so I pretty much didn't do any.

I am talking about ultra low volume and intensity. Something that I'm not sure if you will understand and do correctly. Ramp it up slowly. I didn't really write down the volume or intensity because frankly it was very MINIMAL.

Hopefully you will understand this. Honestly, I'm not sure if you will.

Trying not to win a Darwin award is generally a good idea unless of course it's a good idea that you don't breed. Then, if, by all means.

I have some hope for you, but not a lot. Please prove me wrong. [Reverse psychiatry].

How much time off without doing any upper-body exercise at all (which would have bothered you of course, I doubt there were many that wouldn't) did you actually take? Now you are 100% cured from it?

Sure, I could try and take it easy like you said, but right now I don't feel like doing anything at all because I don't want to make it worse; everytime I move sideways and otherwise "trigger" the pain it still feels very fresh. I'll give it 3-4 more days, and if I still feel the same and see no improvements, maybe I'll have to go to a doctor or something.

Damn! This is messed up. Looks like this particular hold (cross progressions) must put an incredible amount of strain on the chest, and here I was thinking that it was very hard to highly unlikely to get injured with bodyweight exercises, like the Coach said in the PL and FL progressions article: "you just won't be able to do it but you're not going to get injured", that's how I thought it was with all the rest.