Can anyone tell me how much harder it is to do exercises in regards to lenth of straps with rings? For example I had started off with the length only at 80com, but now they are 200cm and I find that stability is much harder (which I expected). Just want to know just how much harder it is to do exercises with the length of strap (ratio or % wise). if that makes sense. Thanks.
Length Of Rings
Started by mattdaly, December 21, 2012 · 8 Replies · 11,359 Views
The math isn't complicated to find the difference in forces, though I don't really care to do it for you. If you look up pendulum physics you can probably figure it out. It will be more like a ratio of moments since the change is the longer moment arm.
It also depends on the type of strap. Competition rings are much more unstable than, for example XRs at their maximum length. The strap and the type of attachment, that is.
In your example, the counterbalancing force from the same horizontal ring deflection will be 2.5 (200/80) times smaller for the long ring straps (assuming same type of straps and attachment). Whether you will experience that as 2.5 times harder will depend on how strong your balancing muscles are relative to the specific increase in balancing load. If the increase in load (going from short to long straps) is well within your maximum balancing strength, then it probably will not feel 2.5 times harder. So, understanding the physics will not help you much in deciding what length of straps to use. Just play around and decide what length fits with your current strength level.
All I can say is, it makes a big difference. Things that I can do on a pair of low rings with the straps close together, I need strap assistance on my forearms for more competition style rings setup.
alec_ar said:All I can say is, it makes a big difference. Things that I can do on a pair of low rings with the straps close together, I need strap assistance on my forearms for more competition style rings setup.
How far apart are your straps? The official distance between the straps in regulation rings are 50 cm apart (which isn't really that wide IMO), but it's true that the farther apart they are, the harder.
I would measure them but they're about 12 or 13 feet up on my tree branch. You should have seen me climb the tree to get those things up haha. What an ordeal I almost died. They're probably 40-50 cm apart.
That's great to have that length of straps. Be careful climbing that tree though or you can use a ladder. I thought you had your straps much closer than 50 cm apart for your rings when you said low rings with straps close together in your previous post.
Yea so I have a pair of rings at my mothers house, which are the low rings and the straps are literally touching. At my dads house I have another pair which hangs on a huge tree in our backyard and it is high up on a branch. Not quite like having a ring tower but kind of resembles one haha.
I can do a full cross on my low rings but need to use the straps on my wrists on the higher ones. Most things are way harder! But the strength gains from practicing on high rings are greater for sure (when I workout on the high rings, it certainly breaks plateaus I've developed on the lower ones)
Interestingly, some things feel easier on the higher pair, like when I train the inverted butterfly. The horizontal tension of my low pair seems to actually make that harder...