Ring Workout

Pre-reqs are static positions that you should work to develop the foundational strength necessary for more advanced Gymnastic Strength Training™. While you might already be physically capable of performing some more advanced strength elements, it is important to master these prerequisites first because they will help to prevent injury. They will also help you to progress further, faster.

Hernandez C said:

 

3x60 of:

• Hollow hold
• Arch hold
• Plank (with straight arms and scapular protracion)
• Reverse plank (In arched position)
• PB support
• Dead hang

Then the "next level" would be

3x30 of:

• L hang (helps FL)
• German hang (for BL)
• L-sit (for PL)
• Rings support (shoulder and biceps prehab)

After mastering this very basics you can expect to actually progress in the traditional FSPs such as PL, BL, FL V sit, straddle L and so on

Glute ham raise (GHR) and Slingle Leg Squat (SLS) - a pistol though not necessarily ATG. 

There's an acronym thread in getting started section I believe.

So today was my first real Upper Body WOrkout on the rings, here what I did.  Any advice or suggestions are encouraged and greatly appreciated

.UPPER (Rings/Ex)

.UPPER/LOWER (Rings/Weights)

History: Thu, Jan 17, 2013   1:26 (5:02 - 6:28)

Exercise

Weight
(lb)

Reps

1 .BARS, Back-2-Wall HSPU  (done on small paralettes, ie close to the ground)

1× 3

2× 2

3× 1

2 .BARS, Chest-2-Wall HSPU

1× 3

2× 2

3× 1

3 .RINGS, Pull-Ups

1× 9

2× 8

3 Ã— 6

4 .Rings L-Sit Chins (Didnt get the L sit part of it, a couple of lame leg raises)

1× 7

2× 6

3× 7

5 .BARS, Tucked Planche Pushups (paralettes with arms close to waist and feet on the wall)

1× 7

2× 4

3× 4

4× 2

6 .RINGS, Inverted Tucked Rows

1× 11

2× 9

3× 8

7 .RINGS, 1-Arm Pushups

1× 3

2× 2

8 .RINGS, Upside Down Shrug

1× 10

2× 9

3× 8

9 .RINGS, Pushups

1 25× 11

2 25× 6

3 25 Ã— 5

10 .Angled Side Bridge

1 Ã— 3

2 Ã— 2

11 .RINGS, Ring Flies

1 10× 3

2 Ã— 6

12 .Reverse Fly (TRX)

1 Ã— 4

2 Ã— 5

3 Ã— 6

13 .Push-Ups (Tiger Bend)

1 Ã— 7

2 Ã— 4

3 Ã— 4

14 .RINGS Bicep Curls (Supinated)

1 Ã— 8

2 Ã— 4

3 Ã— 6

15 .RINGS, Kettleball Dips

1 Ã— 6

2 Ã— 4

3 Ã— 2

16 .RINGS Skull Crusher

1 Ã— 7

2 Ã— 2

17 .RINGS, Rollouts

1 Ã— 3

2 Ã— 3

18 .RINGS, Leg Raises

1 Ã— 4

2 Ã— 3

19 .RINGS, Iron Cross Pull-Outs

1 Ã— 2

2 Ã— 3

Practiced Front and Back levers but I was shot at the end.  So this was a basic start, I already made a few changed in the order of exercises. But this is an outline of what I did.  I did these sets with about a minute of rest between some more some less.  The skills at the end of this were a killer, perhaps I should do them first.   thoughts?    Also not what beginning skills I should even be doing in the first place, if anyone has any youtube links for suggestions, that would be great.

This workout took a little long approx 1hr 20min but some of that was wasted setting up the rings etc.  I need to cut some stuff out to get it down to about an hour.  My Form was terrible in the skills but the basic exercises I felt pretty good.

 I am hooked on these RIngs.  Its soo dofficult yet so fun and rewarding - and am considering strongly dropping free weights altogether.  I just have this hang up that I dont want to lose my strength and size I have gained so far.  Then on the other hand, I know theoretically I wouldnt lose my strength.  Especially when I look at examples like dips on a Bar with weight I can do 70lbs for reps.  I struggled today to get 5 or 6 with no weight, just myself on the rings.  Chinups/Pullups, I can do 50+ lbs hanging from me but on rings I am lucky to get 10 with no weight.  The only example that confuses me is Military press, free weights I can do 130-140 for low reps but HSP I can get about 3 with my weight which is 170 - this is the only example where I can do more with Body-weight and rings then free weights.  Every other exercise, I can do more with weights than this stuff.

But anyway, Man what a pump I got from this.  A guy came over and started asking me questions.  I told him I dont know what Im doing yet all i know is this stuff is HARD and thats why I am doing it.  

So any suggestions?  

jwalker497 said:

So today was my first real Upper Body WOrkout on the rings, here what I did.  Any advice or suggestions are encouraged and greatly appreciated

The thing that stands out most is that you have a lot of exercises. I would trim that down to about 6 or 8 per workout. But I would do more sets: 4 or 5. 

Another thing is that the amount of repetitions you do varies a lot. You should shoot for doing the same number on each set, and doing each rep clean. That is, don't work until you can't do any more reps. Instead, choose a target amount of reps such that you know you'll be able to just barely do the last one without having to break form. 

jwalker497 said:

Practiced Front and Back levers but I was shot at the end.  So this was a basic start, I already made a few changed in the order of exercises. But this is an outline of what I did.  I did these sets with about a minute of rest between some more some less.  The skills at the end of this were a killer, perhaps I should do them first.   thoughts?    Also not what beginning skills I should even be doing in the first place, if anyone has any youtube links for suggestions, that would be great.

It's generally recommended that you work static holds before doing your strength routine. So FL/BL should come before your sets. Additionally, it takes 3-5 minutes of rest for your muscles to fully replenish. If you're only resting a minute in between sets, you'll be building more endurance and less strength. You can cut this time a little bit if you go between exercises that use different groups of muscles. For example, if you do a set of chin-ups, rest two minutes, do a set of handstand pushups and rest for another two minutes, you'll then be ready to do chin-ups again because you've given your chin-up muscles 4 minutes of rest. A good rule of thumb is to alternate push and pull exercises, with 2 minutes' rest in between. 

jwalker497 said:

My Form was terrible in the skills but the basic exercises I felt pretty good.

Don't be too hard on yourself. If you work hard on form, it will come with time. 

jwalker497 said:

I just have this hang up that I dont want to lose my strength and size I have gained so far.

I am 5'6, 170# lean, and I've never put any effort into bulking up. You can get as big as you want with body-weight training. 

jwalker497 said:

I agree witht he push pull theory.  That is basically how my workout is structured Overhead Press/HSPU then Pullups.  Pushup / Row, Tricep/Bicep, etc

I also agree with the point about rest, These sets were not enough rest.  Normally I rest 90s to 2 minutes, 2.5 min tops.  I dont feel like its practical or helpful to rest beyond 2.5 minutes for me.  I can recover from a set pretty quick so 2.5min is the longest I will go, but 60s is on the short side.  90 to 2.5min seems to be good for me.

I do plan on reducing the number of exercises. I just dont know what yet?   Since this was the first time, It was more of a learning test than anything.  I tried a number of things that I am not even ready and there were a number of things that were to easy.  

So What would you Add, Delete?

What are the beginner or basic Static holds I should be attempting?

The next time you train upper body strength, try to perform the prerequsites already listed above. Note which ones you can and can't do. Remember to attempt the basic prereqs before the advanced ones. I can't offer more advice about statics without knowing more about how good your prereqs are.  

I would also spend 10 minutes working on handstands, on both of your upper-body strength days (regardless of whether it is a free-weight or rings day). I say this because it will take frequent, consistent effort to learn a handstand. 

In terms of which exercises to start out with, it's really mostly a matter of personal preference. Just keep a reasonable push/pull balance. A reasonable split might be:

HSPU

Dips

Tucked planche pushups

Ring rows

Chin-ups

Inverted chin-ups

V-ups

I will do the Pre-Reqs soon.  Im pretty sure I can do most of them.  Assuming I can do all of them, What comes next?

So i did my rings workout today. I did all the pre-reqs - the german hang was hard and l sit, so i will be practicing those skills during my lower body workouts.

What comes after the Pre-Reqs?

Also, im doing psuedo planche pushups on large pushup bars with my feet on a bench. I try to keep my arms at my sides and as south as possible bu that i mean towarda to hips. I also tried dojng them with my feet on the wall and that was much harder. How or what exercise shoul i be dojng to get there

Also today i was able to lift my legs and body into a handstand but with arms not extended so that was a first. Its exciting to see progress albeit baby steps.

I would appreciate any suggestions or reccomended additiona or deletions thanks

1.1 .BARS, Back-2-Wall HSPU

① × 6

② × 4

③ × 3

④ × 2

1.2 .RINGS, Pull-Ups

① 10 × 13

② 25 × 5

③ 10 × 9

④ × 5

2.1 .BARS, Chest-2-Wall HSPU

① × 2

② × 2

③ × 2

2.2 .RINGS Chinups

① 10 × 6

② 10 × 5

③ × 7

3.1 .BARS, Tucked Planche Pushups

① × 3

② × 4

③ × 9

④ 10 × 6

3.2 .RINGS, Inverted Tucked Rows

① 10 × 8

② 10 × 6

③ × 8

④ × 7

4.1 .RINGS, Pushups

① 25 × 7

② 25 × 6

③ 10 × 8

4.2 .RINGS, Upside Shrug

① × 10

② × 9

③ × 8

5 .Inverted Rockers

1

2

3

6.1 .RINGS, Ring Flies

① 10 × 3

② × 6

③ × 4

6.2 .Reverse Fly (TRX)

① × 4

② × 6

③ × 6

7.1 .RINGS, Iron Cross Pull-Outs

① × 4

② × 3

â‘¢

7.2 .Angled Side Bridge

① × 3

② × 3

â‘¢

8.1 .RINGS, Kettleball Dips

① 10 × 4

② × 5

③ × 6

8.2 .RINGS Bicep Curls (Supinated)

① × 8

② × 8

③ × 6

9.1 .RINGS Skull Crusher

① × 6

② × 7

③ × 8

9.2 .Bicep Curls (TRX, Hammer)

① × 7

② × 6

③ × 8

10.1 .Push-Ups (Tiger Bend)

① × 8

② × 3

③ × 4

10.2 .RINGS, Rollouts

① × 6

② × 3

③ × 3

Any feedback?

jwalker497 said:

Any feedback?

Have patience!

jwalker497 said:

So i did my rings workout today. I did all the pre-reqs - the german hang was hard and l sit, so i will be practicing those skills during my lower body workouts.

Excellent! That means you're already in good shape.

jwalker497 said:

What comes after the Pre-Reqs?

You're ready to start working on some static holds. You should start on the progressions for front lever, back lever, floor/pb planche and manna. And handstand work is essential, too.

jwalker497 said:

Also, im doing psuedo planche pushups on large pushup bars with my feet on a bench. I try to keep my arms at my sides and as south as possible bu that i mean towarda to hips. I also tried dojng them with my feet on the wall and that was much harder. How or what exercise shoul i be dojng to get there

To transition into a feet on the wall PPP, let your hands come a little closer to your head, and gradually inch them towards your hips as you get stronger. 

jwalker497 said:

Also today i was able to lift my legs and body into a handstand but with arms not extended so that was a first. Its exciting to see progress albeit baby steps.

I would appreciate any suggestions or reccomended additiona or deletions thanks

You have too much volume in your workout. As I said before, stick to just 6-8 difficult exercises.  For each exercise, do 3-5 sets with 3-8 reps. If you can do more than 9 or 10 reps of an exercise, it's too easy and you should be progressing to something harder. If you can only do 1 or 2 reps, that's not enough to force your muscles to adapt, and you would be better served by selecting another skill you can do more of. 

However, make sure to begin your workout by doing work on the static strength holds. There is a wealth of knowledge on this forum about how to train those. Essentially, you want to hold for 6-16 seconds a set, in the most difficult position for which you can manage good form for the entire hold. 

Great feedback, thanks.

What should I cut out and what should I keep/change?

Try this workout and let me know how it goes:

- Warm up.

- Spend 10 minutes working on handstands.

- Perform 4 sets of strength holds:

Back lever

Front lever

Planche

Middle split hold

Rest 2 minutes between each hold. If you can't manage at least 6 seconds, perform an easier variation on the next set. If you can hold the current variation for 16 seconds without trouble, try the next harder one on the following set. 

- Do 4 sets of:

jfslocum said:

Try this workout and let me know how it goes:

- Warm up.

- Spend 10 minutes working on handstands.

- Perform 4 sets of strength holds:

Back lever

Front lever

Planche

Middle split hold

Rest 2 minutes between each hold. If you can't manage at least 6 seconds, perform an easier variation on the next set. If you can hold the current variation for 16 seconds without trouble, try the next harder one on the following set. 

- Do 4 sets of:

HSPU

Chin-ups

Dips

Inverted chin-ups

Tucked planche pushups

Ring rows

Front-lever pulls

Back-lever pulls

Rest 2 minutes between each exercise. On each exercise, perform 5 reps with good form. If 5 is too easy, try a more difficult exercise in the same progression on the next set. Remember that the greatest strength gains come when you perform 3-8 reps of the exercise in a controlled fashion with good form. If you are struggling so much that you break form or have to use momentum to perform any exercise in the set, switch to an easier variation. 

Thanks!

DO you have a video or illustrations of the exercises you listed?  When I google these words or phrases I get lots of variants.  

Also my major defect is a complete lack of flexibility in my hamstrings.  The hardest part of holding an L-sit is keeping my legs straight   I have never ever touched my toes, im just not flexible overall and especially in my hamis.  I haven't noticed any issues with upper body movements so far. 

jwalker497 said:

Thanks!

 

DO you have a video or illustrations of the exercises you listed?  When I google these words or phrases I get lots of variants.  

Tell me which ones you're unfamiliar with and I might be able to find some videos.

If you're unfamiliar with all of those exercises, my recommendation would be to purchase a book on bodyweight exercises. 'Building the Gymnastic Body' would be a good choice because it uses the same terminology found on this forum. 'Overcoming Gravity' is another good text.

jwalker497 said:

Also my major defect is a complete lack of flexibility in my hamstrings.  The hardest part of holding an L-sit is keeping my legs straight   I have never ever touched my toes, im just not flexible overall and especially in my hamis.  I haven't noticed any issues with upper body movements so far. 

Then do a lot of hamstring stretches. 

jwalker497 said:

Thanks!

 

DO you have a video or illustrations of the exercises you listed?  When I google these words or phrases I get lots of variants.  

 

Also my major defect is a complete lack of flexibility in my hamstrings.  The hardest part of holding an L-sit is keeping my legs straight   I have never ever touched my toes, im just not flexible overall and especially in my hamis.  I haven't noticed any issues with upper body movements so far. 

Hehehe... get the book, that will make your life and everyone else's easier.

It looks like you have flexibility goals cut out for you............

I bought Overcoming Gravity- I will be checking that out, sorry for all the questions, im just eager to get an effective program in place

Don't be sorry! Questions are good, and eagerness is good, too. 

Would it be a good idea to alternate between having a ring skill fay where i focus on skills like levers felges etc and movements then next ring workout would be an exercise day where i do rows pullups pushups etc

No. On each workout you should begin by working static positions: back/front lever, planche and manna. Then work on 6-8 skills or exercises. You will see the best improvements if you stick with the same 6-8 skills or exercises over the course of several weeks. You should choose the skills and exercises you want to work on based on what you see as your weaknesses, and what your goals are. 

I guess im having a hard time deciding what skills or exercises to work becuase im still stuck in the weight training midset where in thinking in terms if muscles and exercises.

For example ring flies i dont know if i need to fo them but at the same time i dont want to drop them becuase then i wont have a fly movement

I just dont lnow what to eliminate - below is anlist of all moves i wan to do - what can i remove?

1 .WARM-UP

2 Dead Hang

3 .L-Hang

4 . German Hang

5 Skin the cat

6 . Rings Support

7 . RINGS, L-Sit

8.1 .BARS, Back-2-Wall HSPU

8.2 .RINGS, Pull-Ups

9.1 .BARS, Chest-2-Wall HSPU

9.2 .RINGS Chinups

10.1 .BARS, Tucked Planche Pushups

10.2 .RINGS, Inverted Tucked Rows

11.1 .RTO Planche Pushup

11.2 .Front Lever Tuck Pullups

12.1 .RINGS, 1-Arm Pushups

12.2 .RINGS, 1-Arm Row

13.1 .RINGS, Pushups

13.2 .RINGS, Upside Shrug

14.1 .RINGS, Ring Flies

14.2 .RINGS Face-Pull

15.1 .RINGS, Iron Cross Pull-Outs

15.2 .Angled Side Bridge

16.1 .RINGS, Dips

16.2 .Rope Climb

17.1 .RINGS Skull Crusher

17.2 .RINGS Bicep Curls (Supinated)

18.1 .Push-Ups (Tiger Bend)

18.2 .Bicep Curls (TRX, Hammer)

19.1 .RINGS, Rollouts

19.2 .RINGS, Leg Raises

20 .SKILLS

21 .RINGS, shoulder Handstands

22 .RINGS, Neg Muscle-ups

23 .RINGS, Neg Front Levers

24 .RINGS, Neg Back Levers

25 .Fwd Felge

26 .Back Felge

For starters:

drop the L-sit on rings unless you've mastered it on the floor, and have a solid ring support.
I would do any HS work with chest to wall, and avoid back to wall altogether (unless you know your form is solid then perhaps...)
drop one arm pushups
drop one arm rows
drop negative front levers and back levers, and replace with BL and FL progressions
 

I'm sure there is more that needs to be adjusted, but a good portion of those exercises I don't even know what they are.

Honestly jfslocum has given you a tremendous amount of help and resources, so I would simply reread his posts.

That makes sense i will work on lsit floor and paralettes. I will also drop one arm pushups and rows

Im also thinkingnof dropping reverse flies since shoulder get hit hard

You said that you were able to manage all of the prereqs at the recommended times, which means that you are ready to begin static strength training. So after your warmup and handstand work, you should spend 30-45 minutes devoted to working on the static positions: front levers, back levers, planches and mannas. 

The progressions for front-lever, back-lever and planche are very straightforward. If you can do a tucked one for 60s, move on to the advanced tuck. When you can do the advanced tuck for 30s, move on to the straddled. When you can do straddled for 15s, try moving on to half-lay. When you can do half-lay for 15s, try to move on to full lay.

For the manna, you first need to learn a straddle-L. When you can hold a straddle-L for 30s, you can move on to the middle-split hold progressions. 

With regards to selecting exercises, your problem is that you're still constructing your workout from a weightlifter's perspective. You have a lot of exercises that each target a very small number of muscle groups. The bread-and-butter of bodyweight training is compound exercises that involve many muscle groups at once. My suggestion would be that you look in the Overcoming Gravity progressions and choose 6-8 skills that you want to work towards. Then find the hardest exercise in the progression that you can do 3-8 clean reps of, and use those for your workouts. For example, if you would like to learn to do full front-lever pull ups, you might include tucked front-lever pullups in your workout routine. If you want to learn to do an elevator, you might start by including backwards felges in your routine.

Thanks for the info.

As far as scheduling goes, which of these options would be best in terms of rest and gains and frequency.

Option 1: Upper Rings, Lower, Upper Free, Off, Repeat.  I hit the Rings every 4th day or after 3 full days rest.  

Option 2: Upper Rings, Lower, Upper Free, Lower, Off, Repeat.  I hit the Rings every 5th day or after 4 days of rest.

Option 3: Upper Rings, Lower, Off, Upper Free, Lower, Off, Repeat.  I hit the Rings every 6th day or after 5 days of rest.

Option 1: Concerns me that I wont have enough rest between upper rings and then upper free weights, one day off is not a lot.

Option 2: Concerns me that I dont have enough rest overall.  4 days until rest can 

Option 3: Concerns me that I am not hitting the rings often enough, basically once a week on rings seems like too long a wait.

Of these options, which would you choose and why?  I guess I'm leaning towards option 2 becuase I can always reduce volume or switch lower exercises up, plus and i prefer going to the gym most days.  Frequency on the rings seems to be pretty important for getting results, i guess "Syncronization" is the proper term.

Working out 4 days in a row is probably fine if you're doing an upper body/lower body split. 1 and 2 both look good: I would simply choose based on how much work you want to put into your legs.