Full lay biceps ring curl

Started by Warrior'sSuite, August 6, 2011 · 9 Replies · 6,590 Views

Warrior'sSuite

I don't even know if this would be a correct name for this, or if it's even close, but i couldn't think of anything else.

Basically, this exercise is the ring curl which slizzardman shows here:

But what you do is get into a full FL (or full lay) position, and THEN do the ring curl. It's not a full FL pullup. The arms are in a supinated/chin-up grip for this.

Is this even possible? Has any gymnast/anyone ever done this before?

Michael Miskelly

I think it is not possible, if you are doing your ring curls properly you will know why. If you watch slizz' video you will see he twists his grip around to allow for the top portion of the curl, you need a pivot point for this as in your feet, be they on the ground or on an elevated surface like a box. If you remove the pivot you wont be able to twist your grip around to complete the curl and get your hands to your ears. The closest you will get to what you are describing is doing a bodyweight bicep curl with your feet supported at the same level as your head, I think anything higher than that would be geared towards reverse muscle up stuff.

Larry Roseman
mic_skelly said:
I think it is not possible, if you are doing your ring curls properly you will know why. If you watch slizz' video you will see he twists his grip around to allow for the top portion of the curl, you need a pivot point for this as in your feet, be they on the ground or on an elevated surface like a box. If you remove the pivot you wont be able to twist your grip around to complete the curl and get your hands to your ears. The closest you will get to what you are describing is doing a bodyweight bicep curl with your feet supported at the same level as your head, I think anything higher than that would be geared towards reverse muscle up stuff.

I never saw that exercise before, and will give it a go. The higher the legs are the easier it is, would you say?

It also looks like triceps could be invovled towards the end. It is almost a pushing of the arms towards the ears,

rather than a pulling, or perhaps combined?

Michael Miskelly
The higher the legs are the easier it is, would you say?

No, the opposite. If you are doing the curls as Slizz does in the video then the you will notice the closer you are to standing up vertically then the easier the curl is. By lowering the rings and subsequently increasing the distance of your lever then the more of your bodyweight you are curling. When you get to the point where you are raising your feet to being level with your head you are increasing the leverage even more. It is the same principle as making a bodyweight row harder, or push ups for that matter.

It is almost a pushing of the arms towards the ears, rather than a pulling, or perhaps combined?

I think slizz has said before these are effective because you are putting the most amount of effort into the curl at the very top of the movement whereas when you do dumbell curls you put the most effort into the beginning. When you try it you will see what he means, the top portion of a dumbell curl is nothing compared to the top portion i.e that bit when you twist your grip to get your hands by your ears, of the bodyweight bicep curl.

Hopefully im being clear in my descriptions here rather than just confusing matters.

Warrior'sSuite
mic_skelly said:
I think it is not possible, if you are doing your ring curls properly you will know why. If you watch slizz' video you will see he twists his grip around to allow for the top portion of the curl, you need a pivot point for this as in your feet, be they on the ground or on an elevated surface like a box. If you remove the pivot you wont be able to twist your grip around to complete the curl and get your hands to your ears. The closest you will get to what you are describing is doing a bodyweight bicep curl with your feet supported at the same level as your head, I think anything higher than that would be geared towards reverse muscle up stuff.

So that twist would make it extreme huh.

Warrior'sSuite
FutureisNow said:
I never saw that exercise before, and will give it a go. The higher the legs are the easier it is, would you say?

No. The more horizontal you are, the harder it is. The easiest version is almost standing. Try doing it with the rings around hip-height, grab the rings and put your head directly below where the straps hang from (for me this would be directly under the bar i hang my rings from), and then straighten out your legs so your whole body is straight. I can't even go halfway up like this, and this is just floor-level.

Larry Roseman
Warrior said:
FutureisNow said:
I never saw that exercise before, and will give it a go. The higher the legs are the easier it is, would you say?

No. The more horizontal you are, the harder it is. The easiest version is almost standing. Try doing it with the rings around hip-height, grab the rings and put your head directly below where the straps hang from (for me this would be directly under the bar i hang my rings from), and then straighten out your legs so your whole body is straight. I can't even go halfway up like this, and this is just floor-level.

It seems odd to me because I'd thing you are pulling more against gravity doing it while standing or at 45deg.

But obviously you have less concerns supporting the rest of your body as you do when horizontal.

I will give it a try for sure.

Larry Roseman
mic_skelly said:
The higher the legs are the easier it is, would you say?

No, the opposite. If you are doing the curls as Slizz does in the video then the you will notice the closer you are to standing up vertically then the easier the curl is. By lowering the rings and subsequently increasing the distance of your lever then the more of your bodyweight you are curling. When you get to the point where you are raising your feet to being level with your head you are increasing the leverage even more. It is the same principle as making a bodyweight row harder, or push ups for that matter.

It is almost a pushing of the arms towards the ears, rather than a pulling, or perhaps combined?

I think slizz has said before these are effective because you are putting the most amount of effort into the curl at the very top of the movement whereas when you do dumbell curls you put the most effort into the beginning. When you try it you will see what he means, the top portion of a dumbell curl is nothing compared to the top portion i.e that bit when you twist your grip to get your hands by your ears, of the bodyweight bicep curl.

Hopefully im being clear in my descriptions here rather than just confusing matters.

Nope clear. Thanks much for that.

Warrior'sSuite

If you're going to try it make sure you don't use your bare hands. You'll tear them up for sure. Some soft gloves without grip work for me. I don't actually put them on, i just put them over the rings. If i put them on i tend to slip and lose my grip at the bottom.

Ralph Palutke

Do you think it would be possible to do the biceps curl shown above from an inverted hang? so the ellbows stay next to

the sides during the whole movement. What do you think?

Would it be easier or harder than the horizontal version?

EDIT:

Do you prefer to execute the movement with a false grip or normal grip?