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Ring Training For Hypertrophy:
By Geoffrey Verity Schofield
First things first: I appreciate your support! I’m doing something a bit different for the fitness industry,
with minimal sponsorships or even advertisements on my channel. Thus, the biggest part of what
keeps the channel going is...YOU!
Secondly, I am not a calisthenics athlete nor a gymnast. So, if you
are looking to master those skills, this isn’t the book for you!
However, I do know me some hypertrophy, baby! This book is not
about doing some cool stuff on the rings. This is about utilizing the
rings as a tool to develop larger muscles. That’s it. Just a tool. So,
this book will be laid out in a more muscle-focused way rather than
a skill-focused way, though it will of course have scaled and clear
progressions for you to use.
Additionally, it will not include extremely
Evidence of hypertrophy
advanced variations like planchers, front
levers, Maltesers, iron crossers, etc. This is definitely not because I can’t do
those. Oh no. I, uh, totally can. It’s because these aren’t a particularly efficient
way to go about getting bigger muscles. They are isometric movements,
meaning, well, that there’s no
movement at all. They do require very
impressive levels of shoulder, lats,
Maltese. Not to be confused with...
chest, biceps and triceps strength as
well as the ability to maintain a very rigid core, but they aren’t
going to be a very efficient path towards getting you jacked.
If you want to do them, do them. But realize that you are now
going from utilizing rings for hypertrophy to doing cool shit on
Maltesers
rings. Big difference. I will include a bit on them at the end of
the book, in case someone wants to progress towards them,
and because I find what is possible at the highest levels to be fascinating, but this isn’t a book to learn
those skills.
“Expert creep” is when an expert in one field gradually starts to talk about things that they are not
qualified to. Perhaps they are a biologist or neurologist or lawyer that grows a large social media
following and suddenly becomes an authority on everything. I’ve actually asked myself, is writing a
book on ring training “expert creep”?
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No, for a few reasons. First, I’m not an expert in anything. I’ve made that pretty clear! Joke is on you;
I don’t have any qualifications for anything. Second, I’m just sharing knowledge that I’ve gained that
has helped me and can maybe help you. Third, I’m certainly not positioning myself as an authority on
ring training; many people know way more about it than me. Fourth, maybe I can approach this topic
in a way that is rarely done. I don’t do rings for rings, I do them purely for the gainz. Observationally,
that’s somewhat rare in the calisthenics world, but something I think a lot of people might be
interested in.
I certainly do expect some criticism for writing a book on something that I have not studied or learned
about for a long time. But perhaps there are benefits of that as well. Sometimes those that are many
years into their journey forget how things were when they started, and so maybe there’s some unique
value in sharing my thoughts somewhat early on.
No one remembers what it’s like to learn how to walk.
With all those mental gymnastics out of the way...onward!
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TABLE OF CONTENTMENT
Ring Training For Hypertrophy ............................................................................................................. 2
Benefits Of Ring Training Over Weights ............................................................................................. 7
Drawbacks Of Ring Training ................................................................................................................ 10
Setting Up Your Rings ........................................................................................................................... 10
Scaling Movements ................................................................................................................................ 11
Option #1: Moving Feet Closer or Further Away .....................................................................................11
Option #2: Ring Height ....................................................................................................................................13
Option #3: Elevating Feet ................................................................................................................................13
Option #4: Altering Mechanics/Joint Angles.............................................................................................14
Option #5: Range Of Motion .........................................................................................................................16
Option #6: Momentum/Cheat Reps ............................................................................................................17
Option #7: Tempo..............................................................................................................................................17
Option #8: Weighted Vest...............................................................................................................................18
Mechanical Drop Sets .......................................................................................................................................18
Progression ...........................................................................................................................................................19
Exercises .................................................................................................................................................... 21
Chest........................................................................................................................................................... 21
Ring Pushups .......................................................................................................................................................21
Ring Power Flys ...................................................................................................................................................22
Ring Flys.................................................................................................................................................................23
Ring “Cable” Crossovers ...................................................................................................................................24
RTO Pushups ........................................................................................................................................................25
Ring Dips ...............................................................................................................................................................25
RTO Dips................................................................................................................................................................26
Bulgarian Dips......................................................................................................................................................27
Shoulders .................................................................................................................................................. 27
Ring Rear Delt Raises ........................................................................................................................................28
Ring Y-Raises .......................................................................................................................................................29
Ring Face Pulls .....................................................................................................................................................29
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Ring Skiers.............................................................................................................................................................30
Incline Ring Pike Pushups ................................................................................................................................31
Ring Pike Pushups ..............................................................................................................................................31
Ring Feet Elevated Pike Pushups ...................................................................................................................32
Ring Handstand Pushups .................................................................................................................................33
Triceps ........................................................................................................................................................ 33
Ring Triceps Pushups ........................................................................................................................................33
Ring Overhead Extensions ...............................................................................................................................34
Biceps ......................................................................................................................................................... 35
Ring Curls ..............................................................................................................................................................35
Ring Reverse Curls..............................................................................................................................................36
Pelican Curls .........................................................................................................................................................37
Lats.............................................................................................................................................................. 38
Inverted Rows ......................................................................................................................................................38
Rack Chins .............................................................................................................................................................39
Ring Pullups ..........................................................................................................................................................39
L-Sit Pullups .........................................................................................................................................................40
Wide Grip Pullups ...............................................................................................................................................40
1 Arm Ring Rows ................................................................................................................................................41
Ring Pull-Ins .........................................................................................................................................................41
Ring Pullovers ......................................................................................................................................................42
Mantel Pullups .....................................................................................................................................................43
1-Arm Chinups ....................................................................................................................................................43
Traps ........................................................................................................................................................... 44
Ring Inverted Shrugs .........................................................................................................................................44
Glutes ......................................................................................................................................................... 45
Ring Glute Bridge ...............................................................................................................................................45
Quads ......................................................................................................................................................... 45
Pendulum Squats................................................................................................................................................45
Assisted Pistol Squats ........................................................................................................................................46
Sissy Squats ..........................................................................................................................................................46
Hamstrings................................................................................................................................................ 47
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Ring Hamstring Curls ........................................................................................................................................47
Calves ......................................................................................................................................................... 47
Abs .............................................................................................................................................................. 48
Ring Hanging Leg Raises .................................................................................................................................48
Ab “Wheel” Rollouts ..........................................................................................................................................48
Ring Crunches......................................................................................................................................................49
Ring Pike-Ups ......................................................................................................................................................49
Ring Oblique Crunches ..................................................................................................................................49
Ring Side Plank....................................................................................................................................................50
HIGH LEVEL SHIT ..................................................................................................................................... 51
Planche...................................................................................................................................................................52
Front Lever ............................................................................................................................................................52
Back Lever .............................................................................................................................................................52
Maltese...................................................................................................................................................................53
Iron Cross ..............................................................................................................................................................53
Inverted Iron Cross .............................................................................................................................................53
Azarian ...................................................................................................................................................................54
Nakayama .............................................................................................................................................................54
Programming ........................................................................................................................................... 55
General Programming Advice ........................................................................................................................55
Finding Your Split ...............................................................................................................................................56
Exercises By Movement Pattern+Difficulty ...................................................................................... 57
Hinge ......................................................................................................................................................................57
Squat.......................................................................................................................................................................57
Push ........................................................................................................................................................................57
Row .........................................................................................................................................................................57
Press ........................................................................................................................................................................57
Pull ...........................................................................................................................................................................57
Shoulder ................................................................................................................................................................57
Curl ..........................................................................................................................................................................58
Extend.....................................................................................................................................................................58
Abs...........................................................................................................................................................................58
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Templates.................................................................................................................................................. 58
Upper Body Day Template ..............................................................................................................................58
Upper Body Day Example ................................................................................................................................59
Pull Day Template ..............................................................................................................................................59
Push Day Template ............................................................................................................................................60
Full Body Day Template ...................................................................................................................................60
Arm Day Example ...............................................................................................................................................61
Ring Height By Exercise......................................................................................................................... 61
High.........................................................................................................................................................................61
Medium..................................................................................................................................................................61
Low ..........................................................................................................................................................................62
Progressions List ..................................................................................................................................... 62
PULLING AND ROWING PROGRESSIONS ..................................................................................................64
PUSHING AND PRESSING PROGRESSIONS...............................................................................................65
YouTube Channels I Recommend: ...................................................................................................... 68
Benefits Of Ring Training Over Weights
Yes, heresy. Might as well get it out of the way.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by rings, and I do think they offer a number of advantages over
traditional weight training.
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First, they require a good deal more stability. Some (including
myself just a few years ago) might count this as a drawback, and
indeed, if a surface is too unstable, it will absolutely limit force
production output. Your body doesn’t like firing a cannon out of a
canoe, so it’ll simply...stop you.
However, you can create your own stability. Performance can
increase fairly quickly as your body learns how to recruit the
muscles needed to keep everything locked in place. Over time,
you’ll feel more comfortable and confident on the rings, and they
should be just as good as traditional weight training for
hypertrophy in many cases, despite the less stable surface. As an
added bonus, when you go back to training with weights, since all
those small stabilizer muscles are much stronger now, it’s possible
that your risk of injury will be lower. You might even get a nice bump in performance.
Is ring training the key to a big bench press? No. Bench pressing is. Specificity is still important. You
won’t see many, if any, powerlifters incorporating rings into their training. But this may be a useful
tool in your toolbox if you are interested in hypertrophy.
Second, you can get a fantastic range of motion on many movements. Very few people are actually
training their chest through a full range of motion on a dumbbell bench press, and none are with a
barbell bench press. The fact that you are lying on a bench means that it’s very stable, yes...but getting
a full stretch at the bottom is a lot harder. The scapula is more restricted so the body will cut range
of motion short.
Third, you’ll be able to train with more freedom of movement. The rings can rotate and move in an
arc, and thus are fairly easy on the body, particularly compared to
a barbell.
Fourth, you can use a variety of angles. When I wrote my first
book, SWEAT, I broke things up into vertical and horizonal presses
(press, push) and pulls (pull, row). In reality, there’s a continuum
between these. Some rows can look like pulls, and vice versa, while
some pushing movements look suspiciously like presses. There’s a
lot of middle ground that many bodybuilders aren’t training, and
perhaps are missing out on some sweet-ass gains. Yes, that is the
official terminology: sweet, ass, gains.
Ring-focused gymnasts typically have extremely developed
shoulders, lats, chests, and biceps, so it’s no surprise that these are
the muscle groups for which ring training is fantastic for.
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“Yiggity yiggity yakked” is the terminology you’re looking for.
Fifth, many movements require core activation that most bodybuilding training does not. Again, like
the stability requirements, you can paint a pretty portrait of this being a negative, but I would say
overall this is a good thing. If it’s one area that I despise training in the gym, it’s my “core”. Planks,
hanging leg raises, cable crunches, you name it, I hate it.
But during ring training, you’re spending a lot of time in plank positions. Pushups, flys, overhead
extensions, etc. are all going to be working the rectus abdominis in a way that dumbbell bench
presses/flys and cable extensions just won’t. I’ve already noticed the difference in my midsection in
just a few weeks or so, and it’s not just fat loss but muscle growth. Observationally, most ring-focused
gymnasts also have very developed abdominals.
Sixth, your body is your resistance. This incentivizes better body composition. At 12% bodyfat you’ll
find ring training easier than 32%. But with a bench press, you’ll probably find the opposite is true
because the leverages are more favorable. That padding around the joints and reduced range of
motion means if you want a big bench and nothing else, gain weight. I’m not saying that ring training
is great for fat loss, but it certainly nudges you in that direction which is probably a good thing for
most people.
Seventh, cost and convenience. Even high-end expensive rings are cheap compared to the cost of
a gym membership or building your own home gym with a power rack, barbell, dumbbells, plates,
etc. They’re also very portable. Good luck taking your home gym on vacation with you.
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Drawbacks Of Ring Training
There are, however, limitations to ring training that are important to realize. Whether it’s a barbell or
dumbbells or bands, no single implement is enough to maximize hypertrophy! Rings are no exception.
They’re a great option for the reasons listed above, but imperfect.
First and foremost, they’re very limited in the loading for the lower body in particular. You can
absolutely get jacked in the upper body from rings, but the quads, glutes and adductors are just so
large and powerful that they really do need external stimulus beyond that of your bodyweight. Sissy
squats and single leg glute bridges are great and all, but they aren’t going to terrorize those thighs
or bake that cake to the same degree. That’s just the reality of it. Anyone saying that rings are great
for lower body is...full of it?
Second, progression can be a bit tricky to measure and thus manage. For most movements, you can
make it either easier or more challenging by manipulating how you do the movement. This means
going by feel and training slightly more instinctively is important, something that many people will
need to learn how to do.
Third, there’s less of a community aspect to ring training. Certainly, there are some gymnastics training
centers or calisthenics communities but overall it’s less social than the gym.
Setting Up Your Rings
You’ll want to find something extremely secure to attach your rings to. The ideal situation would be
a playground swing set or something similar. Toss one end of the strap
over whatever it is, and then loop it through the ring. You’ll want to
make sure that the strap is straight. Don’t get it twisted. That can cause
rotational forces through the ring, and also makes it doubly as much
of a pain in the ass to adjust.
There should be instructions with your rings on how to loop it through
the pulley system-make sure you follow them closely and that the
strap is going through the rings the right way. If not, it’ll pull against
the clasp and you might snap it, which totally did NOT happen to me
because I’m a fucking pro who never does dumb stuff. You’ll also want
to always test the rings before you use them, by pushing down with a
bit of bodyweight. The clasps “dig” in one direction only, so if you set
them up improperly, they just won’t support any weight at all, and
suddenly that set of dips you just jumped up to do...well, it’s a REAL
set of dips.
Snap City, baby!
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Damn, 9.8m/s acceleration on that eccentric, he flew.
With practice, you should be able to set up your rings in a minute or so. Make sure that the rings are
the same height for most movements. Unless you are doing mantel pullups or something that
specifically requires uneven rings, you’ll want them to be as symmetrical as possible. You also might
want to modify how far apart the rings are. Some movements do better with a narrower set up, whilst
others are better giving your body a bit of room to fit between them.
Scaling Movements
One of the main benefits of rings is that they are very easy to scale up or down in difficulty. Anyone
from a total beginner to an advanced lifter can find some movement or variation that will be
sufficiently challenging to build muscle. It’s vital to understand how to make progress on ring training,
because it’s not quite as straightforward as with traditional weight training.
It’s also worth noting that there’s not necessarily a completely fixed progression. It’s not like there’s
one day where you master the ring pushup and now immediately move on to ring dips and ring flys.
You can still use the ring pushup for higher repetition training as well as warming up before doing
more challenging movements. In fact, you can probably keep the “easiest” movements in your training
for a very long time, even when you are a lot stronger, just to get in more volume as well as increased
blood flow. Never underestimate higher rep training, it keeps your work capacity high, joints healthy
and everything moving well.
Option #1: Moving Feet Closer or Further Away
This won’t be possible for movements where your feet aren’t on the ground like dips and pullups, but
for many movements just moving your feet a few inches can modify the effective resistance that your
muscles encounter. Experiment till you find the position that hits the spot just right.
You might not have heard this before, but gravity actually pulls straight down. This means that if you
do a movement when you are totally horizontal, it’s typically going to be the most challenging, while
if you are totally vertical with your torso, it’ll be fairly minimal resistance. There’s a whole range in
between to work with.
For example, when doing inverted rows, it’ll be most challenging in the more horizontal position, like
this:
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In a more vertical position, as shown below, it’ll be much easier:
The same holds true for pushups, ring flys, face pulls, triceps extensions and curls.
Horizontal=Hard
Vertical=Very Easy
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One thing to keep in mind is that if the ground is slippery, it might be tough to do movements at a
~30–60-degree angle because there will be a lack of friction on the ground to keep you stable. If you
are exercising in a park or something, perhaps you can bring a rubber mat or something similar to
increase friction and thus stability. Newer shoes with better grip might also help.
Usually totally horizontal movements won’t have an issue with this, nor will very vertical ones, it’s just
that mid-range. Usually it’s not unsafe, as you’ll just slide into a more horizontal position.
Option #2: Ring Height
This is like foot position, but slightly different. In general, for movements where your feet are on the
ground, higher rings are easier whilst lower rings are more challenging. For movements where you
are not touching the ground, this doesn’t really matter. If you are doing dips, you might be just off
the ground, or in the stratosphere, it’s the same movement. Maybe there’s a bit less gravity if you get
high enough. Instructions unclear, currently doing dips in outer space.
Adjusting ring height takes a considerable amount more time than moving your feet or altering your
lever arm, making this a bit less suitable for drop sets, though I suppose it’s possible.
It’s also worth noting that you can maybe progress towards one-arm variations like pullups or rows
by setting one ring higher than the other. You’ll have to do twice as many sets though, and also keep
in mind that both sides are still working, thus you can’t just switch sides immediately after doing the
first side, as you’ll be fatigued. I do not recommend this for pushups, dips or flys.
Option #3: Elevating Feet
Another way to add to the resistance is to elevate your feet on something,
like a box or a random bucket that you grabbed from inside the house
without telling your wife. Again, this adds to the resistance that you’ll
encounter because you’re lifting more of your bodyweight. This also slightly
changes the angle of pulling or pressing. It’ll make pushups into more of an
incline press or flys into more of an incline fly. This generally also increases
the difficulty as well in an independent way. In the gym, pretty much
everyone is stronger on flat bench press compared to incline.
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Option #4: Altering Mechanics/Joint Angles
Many movements can be made more challenging by changing exactly how you do them. There’s
often a continuum between movements that allows you to either target different
muscles or to place more mechanical tension on a specific muscle group.
Tension is what we are training for in the first place. Tension is the name of the
game.
For example, a pushup works the triceps, front deltoids and chest muscles. It’s
a movement that many people can do, even when totally horizontal.
A power fly is where you bring the rings outward and thus take the triceps
mostly out of the movement, but you increase the lever arm at the shoulder and
thus place more stress on the front deltoid and chest muscles.
There’s still a slight bend at the elbow, however, which is what differentiates it from...
...a full fly, where the arms are totally or almost
totally straight. This takes the triceps
completely out of it, and indeed actually it’s much more biceps
compared to triceps! The biceps do aid in bringing the upper arm
across the body especially when the arms are straight.
Additionally, because the arms are effectively longer, the lever
arm is very challenging at the shoulder, and thus the demands on
the front delt and chest are phenomenally high.
Note that unlike the power fly, I performed a full fly while not
totally horizontal. I scaled down the foot placement because I am
not strong enough to a full fly while truly horizontal. Not many
people are! If you have long arms (me), are on the heavier side
(also me), and haven’t worked straight arm strength before (definitely me), don’t expect to be able to
do a full fly in a horizontal position.
This is a continuum of difficulty that is, essentially, infinite. Where does a pushup end, and a power fly
begin? It’s one of life’s ultimate mysteries.
Many movements can be thought of this way.
A row with elbows tucked (mostly lats)...
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...becomes a row with elbows slightly flared (some lats, some rear delts)...
...which becomes a row with elbows almost totally flared (mostly rear delts)...
which becomes a power rear delt raise with arms slightly more open (mostly rear delts and quite
challenging!)...
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...which becomes a full rear delt raise with arms totally or nearly totally straight (almost all rear delts
and extremely challenging!).
You can, of course, do the same thing with a dumbbell row. It’s just that most people tend to keep
their form static, then progress in load. With rings, your bodyweight is more or less fixed (but see
option#8 below), so it makes more sense to overload mechanically through more challenging
positions.
This does mean that perhaps your overall volume might need to go up as you get stronger compared
to a weight trainee. A beginner doing a pushup works the triceps and chest/front delt at the same
time. A more advanced athlete might need to do power flys to isolate the shoulder adduction aspect
of things (chest/front delt) then extensions to work the elbow extension (triceps).
A gym hypertrophy enthusiast might just add load to their bench press and keep the overall program
structure and number of exercises more or less the same because there’s no need to alter their
mechanics to keep the movement challenging and progressing in tension.
Option #5: Range Of Motion
Speaking very generally, using full range of motion is a good idea. However, it’s definitely viable to
progress in range of motion. Like Paul Anderson digging out his backyard to gradually squat deeper
and deeper, you can perhaps attempt to use more and more range of motion over time.
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This works best with pulling movements like
rows, face pulls and rear delt flys. I don’t
really suggest them for pushups or ring flys
as these tend to potentially be harder on the
shoulders and you’d be better off just
reducing the resistance by moving your feet
in closer so you have a more vertical body
position.
If you do rows without full range of motion,
though, that’s totally viable and very safe,
plus you are working the lengthened
position more, which is often excellent for
growth. So, you can perhaps train beyond
failure on those movements by doing sets where you use full range of motion for the first few reps,
then keep pulling even when you can’t quite get full range of motion. I’ve done this on movements
like chest supported dumbbell rows before and it’s also possible for inverted rows as there’s minimal
spinal loading, thus the lower back is in a very safe position.
Option #6: Momentum/Cheat Reps
Another option for scaling a movement in real time is using a slight cheat or kip. I don’t suggest this
on flys or pushups. However, for rows or maybe face pulls, this can work well. If you are about to fail,
a slight hip “oof” can get you that last little bit of range of motion. Just be sure to control the eccentric
afterwards.
This isn’t my preferred way of doing things and is not as effective as the other ways of altering difficulty
so keep in mind this probably shouldn’t be your “go to”. But it’s certainly a possibility on pulling type
of movements.
Option #7: Tempo
You can also change the speed of your reps. Usually a slower eccentric is more difficult as it requires
more control. If you count 5 seconds on the way down of your ring power flys, you won’t be able to
get as many reps as with a more natural 2 second eccentric. I wouldn’t use this often, though, not
because of excess muscle damage or risk of injury but since it’s more difficult, it might not be any
better. You’re better off using techniques that increase tension/loading.
You can also do an explosive concentric, though with rings balance and stability are often the limiting
factor when trying to do this so it’s not as viable as with traditional stable-surface lifting. In general, I
prefer just sticking with a smooth, natural tempo, keeping under control at all times.
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So, either way, these aren’t best options in my opinion. Foot position, lever arm and weighted vest
are sufficient for most people.
Option #8: Weighted Vest
Eventually, you might get strong enough to feel the need to use a weighted vest. I don’t own one so
I’m not as familiar with them, but this makes sense because at a certain point your bodyweight just
might not be enough, even with advanced variations.
A little bit goes a long way here. For most people, a twenty or thirty-pound vest is plenty to make
basic variations challenging again. You can use this in combination with the above variations and
modifications to keep everything sufficiently difficult.
Mechanical Drop Sets
Due to the ability to freely alter your mechanics, rings really do lend themselves to what are known
as “mechanical drop sets”. A typical drop set in the gym is where you are reducing the amount of
weight that you are lifting. So, you might do curls with 20kg/44lb dumbbells until you reach failure or
close to it, then you immediately reduce the weight to 15kg/33lb and keep going. You may then
reduce the weight again upon failure, depending on how you want to set things up.
With rings, it makes a lot more sense to reduce the difficulty of a movement by slightly altering your
positioning, rather than the total load. Taking off a weighted vest is viable I suppose, but it of course
forces you to take your hands off of the rings (unless your name is Houdini) and you can really only
do one drop. Instead, you can just change the lever arm of the
movement itself slightly.
For example, you can do a ring fly until you can’t do any more reps,
then shorten the lever arm by immediately switching to a power fly and
do those until you can’t do any more reps, then finish up with pushups.
There’s an infinite continuum of lever arms between fly and pushup, so
you could even just gradually transition from ring flys to ring pushups.
Unlike a traditional drop set where you are dropping the weight at fixed
points to stay close to failure, you can always be close to failure by changing the mechanics of the lift
each rep. This does take practice and you have to be brutally honest with yourself here. If you are
altering the mechanics too early, you’re no longer doing that to maintain close proximity to failure,
you are doing it to avoid failure instead. Train for the difficult.
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You can also alter foot position (and thus torso position) during
the set instead. So, do ring face pulls in a horizontal position, until
you fail.
Then you walk your feet back a few steps and go to failure again.
Due to the more vertical position, you are pulling against less
resistance. You can repeat this as much as you want to maintain a
close proximity to failure.
This gets you a lot of “effective reps” in a set. This says that the last
five reps in a set are the most useful
because only they are sufficiently
challenging. So normally in a thirty-rep
set, only roughly the last five reps or so
are actually useful. This isn’t a perfect
model of hypertrophy, mind you, but I do think it’s a decent way of thinking
about it. Thus, if you do thirty inverted rows to failure in the same position,
you’re really only getting 16% (5/30) efficiency here. You’ve wasted a good
deal of time.
But let’s say you start with your five-rep max by being in a more challenging
position and do five reps with it. That’s five juicily effective reps. Then, upon
failure, you step back a bit. Now it’s easier, so you can keep going. You then
do five more reps. Five more hard reps. Again, we’re not looking for easy,
just possible. That’s five more effective reps. You can then keep going until
you’ve done thirty reps.
You’ve essentially done six sets of five with zero rest, and it’s entirely possible
that all of those reps were effective. That is what I call time efficient! Even if you
misjudged some of the drops by stepping back slightly too much or not
enough, you are absolutely going to be getting a ton of effective reps, and with
more practice you should be able to remain sufficiently close to failure for most
of the reps. You can even toss in some partials if you want.
It’s worth noting, however, that this is by necessity brutal and is MUCH HARDER
than just doing a set of thirty to failure. Thus, you almost certainly won’t be able
to do as many sets. But it also probably doesn’t matter because you’re getting
so much more stimulus that it’s worth it, especially from a time efficiency standpoint.
Progression
All the above techniques...
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⚫
⚫
⚫
⚫
⚫
Manipulating Range of Motion
Altering Foot/Torso Position
Modifying Ring Height
Changing Lever Arm Length
Oomph
...are part of what makes tracking your progress on rings difficult.
In the gym, you keep technique constant, then add an obvious, numerical amount of weight to keep
the exercise challenging.
With calisthenics you keep weight constant, then you change the technique to keep the exercise
challenging.
They’re the exact opposite.
Could you measure and manage every aspect of progression here by dutifully taking a ruler to the
height of the rings as well as a protractor to your elbow angle and chalking up the ground to let you
know where to stand each set?
Eh, I guess. But even if you chalk up the ground, if you are doing multiple exercises, you’ll eventually
just be standing in a fucking pile of chalk dust, wondering which line was your pushups and which
were your biceps curls. If you exercise outside, rain tends to wash it away. Security guards come and
tell you to “please stop this crude graffiti before you give these little Chinese kids any ideas, it’s bad
enough that you grunt so loudly and are shirtless when working out, we don’t need the local dyel
population being mogged any harder”.
Ahem. #relateable? Anyway....really not viable.
Maybe it’s just better to stick with challenging sets and not micromanage the progressions too much.
You’ll have to add tension to keep growing, but since it’s so much more challenging to fully control
the progression compared with weights, I really don’t see the value in trying to quantify every detail.
I’m not saying it’s impossible, I’m just saying it’s extremely impractical and likely counterproductive to
getting results. That’s what you care about, right? Right?
Where’d everyone go?
It’s like trying to diet to lose fat. You can track all your calories exactly, but if you aren’t losing fat, you
aren’t losing fat, and thus that tracking isn’t particularly useful. Whereas if you track the outcome you
are trying to achieve, you can see if the process is working or not.
However, muscle growth is a very slow process, and therefore you do want some measure of progress
other than the outcome. Reps. Do more of them. Technique. Improve it, be more controlled. Positions.
Use more mechanically challenging styles of training. This is where filming yourself is quite useful.
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If your power flys are going from looking more like a pushup to more like a full fly...that’s progress if
everything else is equal.
If you used to do face pulls with your torso around 45 degrees with the floor, and now you are almost
parallel, that’s progress.
If you used to do inverted rows at parallel and now you’re plopping your feet on a box (or something
else), that’s progress.
It’s tougher to see session to session progress compared to weights as they are less quantifiable, but
you should still be noticing improvements over the moderate and long term. Just as with weights, if
everything is the same in a year from now, you probably won’t be growing.
Exercises
This section will be organized by muscle group; again, this is not looking to train any particular skill
but targeting muscles. However, because the majority of exercises work multiple muscle groups, there
will also be a short note at the end of each movement noting (as notes tend to do) which other areas
are targeted. Sometimes what gets targeted might surprise you!
Again, there won’t be a huge number of extremely advanced exercises. Often, you’ll get better
hypertrophy results from loading up the basics. A ring pushup might be an “easy exercise” but if you
load it up heavy enough or do enough reps, suddenly it’s still very, very effective for muscle growth.
Chest
Ring Pushups
These are an excellent introductory movement to work the chest as
well as a bit of front delts and triceps. Because the rings are fairly
close together and you are only moving a lower percentage of your
bodyweight compared to some other movements, it’s quite stable
and thus a good starting point for ring training.
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Pushups on rings do hit different compared to pushups on flat ground, however. Your hands won’t
be completely fixed, as they would be on the ground, meaning that there may be a
slight arc when you are pressing. This is a good thing, as you can completely adduct
your upper arm, bringing it across to the midline of your body. While this is one of
the more stable ring movements, there’s still a much greater stability aspect
compared to normal pushups. Be careful when first starting out! The stabilizers of
the wrists and shoulders will be much more active than usual!
Ring Pushups are most similar to a Dumbbell Bench Press in the gym.
Muscles worked: Chest, Triceps, Front Deltoid
Scale Down: More Vertical Position
Scale Up: More Horizontal Position, Weighted Vest, Feet Elevated
Ring Power Flys
Over time, as you get comfortable with ring pushups, you can experiment with
opening the elbow position a little bit, so that you are placing relatively more tension
on the chest. This doesn’t have to be right away and can be gradual. As noted in the
progression section, there’s an infinite continuum between pushups, power flys and
full flys. You don’t have to immediately get your protractor
out and see if your elbow is at a certain angle at a certain
time.
It’s also important to note that typically a power fly will get
you more range of motion at the shoulder joint in the bottom position, so
it’s very important to go down relatively slowly and progress gradually. The
eccentric is good for muscle growth anyway, so this is also good for your
gains.
You can choose a variety of rep ranges here, but
typically I’d stick to five and upwards if you can. Maxing out on power flys by
opening the elbow angle as far as you can for a single rep is probably not worth
it from a risk to reward standpoint, nor a stimulus to fatigue perspective if the
goal is hypertrophy.
If the elbow angle is closer to a pushup, it’ll be more triceps than biceps. If it’s
quite open and closer to a full fly (see below) it’ll be more biceps than triceps.
Ring Power Flys are most similar to a Dumbbell Power Fly in the gym.
Muscles worked: Chest, Biceps or Triceps, Front Deltoid
Scale Down: More Vertical Position, Less Open Elbows
Scale Up: More Horizontal Position, Weighted Vest, Feet Elevated, More Open Elbows
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Ring Flys
Moving further along the continuum of this progression, you
have the full ring fly. This is where your elbows are totally
locked or very close to it. Especially if you have longer arms,
this will be extremely challenging if the rings are low and the
body is horizontal.
It’s also worth noting that the closer to totally straight arms
you get, the more the biceps are involved. Yes, biceps. They
are under a huge amount of tension in the bottom position
in particular, especially the short head which crosses the
shoulder and thus can aid in shoulder adduction.
In fact, it’s possible that
the biceps are actually
Source: Wikipedia
the limiting factor
when you get fully straight arms. This is one of the reasons why
many gymnasts have stupidly large biceps: straight arm
isometric holds place an enormous amount of tension on the
biceps in that near fully stretched position.
Great for big biceps, but if you are purely interested in chest
hypertrophy, you might be better off sticking with power flys and
elevating the feet or adding a weighted vest, so that the chest is
still the limiting factor. I actually considered putting the full ring
fly in the biceps section so keep in mind that it might have
limitations as a chest exercise.
Ring Flys are most similar to a dumbbell fly with straight arms in the gym.
Muscles worked: Chest, Biceps, Front Deltoid
Scale Down: More Vertical Position
Scale Up: More Horizontal Position, Weighted Vest, Feet Elevated
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Ring “Cable” Crossovers
I’m not sure if these have a formal calisthenics name, but these are usually
used as part of a progression on the way to a planche, it seems. I just look
at them as an upper chest and front delt builder. The biceps will also get
targeted a bit.
Keep your arms by your sides and somewhat
straight, and descend your torso till you feel a
stretch on your chest. The rings should be turned
out, with palms up. Don’t let your shoulder elevate,
keep them depressed, matching your mental state if you don’t have access to
a gym. You can bend your arms slightly. Flexing your chest, return to the
starting position. Push down as you do, in order to lengthen the arms and
make it more challenging. Merely pushing forward will involve more triceps
and less chest.
One benefit of these is that you can load the eccentric a bit more than the
concentric; using a staggered stance, as you go down, lean into it, then ease
off the gas a bit as you press yourself back to the starting position.
Eventually these will just transition to RTO pushups or RTO dips; these are good to prepare for those
movements and/or for higher reps as a warmup or finisher.
Ring Cable Crossovers are most similar to a Low To High Cable Crossover in the gym.
Muscles worked: Chest (especially upper)z, Front Delt
Scale Down: More Vertical Position
Scale Up: More Horizontal Position, Weighted Vest
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RTO Pushups
These are a great overall chest and front delt
builder. They do require a good deal more
stability than a typical ring pushup and are
more challenging as well. You can progress
either by moving the hands closer to the center
of gravity with straighter arms OR by elevating
the feet.
These are extremely underrated and one of the
best exercises for the upper chest that you can
do. They’re also quite shoulder-friendly for
most people, due to the externally rotated,
elbows tucked in position. These are a real
winner and alone worth the price of rings in my opinion.
RTO Pushups are most similar to a Reverse Grip Bench Press in the gym.
Muscles worked: Chest (especially upper), Biceps, Front Delt
Scale Down: More Vertical Position, Rings Turned Further In
Scale Up: More Horizontal Position, Weighted Vest, Feet Elevated, Rings Turned Further Out
Ring Dips
These are just dips done in a normal style, in a way that is easiest. You aren’t emphasizing
any part of the range of motion, or any particular muscle involved, you are just
optimizing the form to try to do as many as you can.
Compared to a normal dip on bars, this will be slightly more chest compared
to triceps. When you are doing a bar dip, the bars can’t move. Hopefully. But
on rings, the need to actively keep the rings close as well as the arc that they
naturally move in means it’ll be more chesticles.
It’s a bit like why barbell bench press has more triceps activation compared to
dumbbells: your hands are fixed on the bar and cannot move; therefore you
can push out along the bar in order to extend the bar to lockout. Whereas if
you cue “push out” for a dumbbell bench press, you are screwed because the
dumbbells will just fall to the sides. Just something to keep in mind. The triceps of course ARE working
during a ring dip, but it’s proportionately more chest involvement.
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Rings are also just generally harder to stabilize (see pic on right). So don’t be surprised
if your normal dip reps get cut in half or even less. Start slowly and conservatively, and
probably don’t even bother till you can do 10+ normal dips in a row. RTO pushups
are a good way to practice in preparation for this movement, as are ring “cable”
crossovers. Warm up well for dips using those movements!
Ring Dips are most similar to a Normal Fuckin’ Dips in the gym.
Muscles worked: Chest (especially lower), triceps, front deltoid
Scale Down: Band Assistance
Scale Up: Weighted Vest, Added Plates via Dip Belt
RTO Dips
Just like in RTO pushups, RTO stands for “rings turned out”. It’s also called the “Korean dip”. It’s a dip
that is a bit more upper chest focused. Any time you externally rotate the upper arms when doing a
pushing movement, it’ll be more upper chest. So, a reverse grip bench, for example, is a good deal
more upper chest than a “normal” bench press because of that external rotation with the arms tucked
closer to the body. It’s also a lot more biceps, to the point where it’s also been referred to as the
“biceps dip”.
It’s also more difficult. Some people seem to do a normal dip, then just
turn the rings out at the top. To me, that doesn’t seem like a true RTO dip.
It seems like it’s just...turning the rings out at the top. Whoopee.
You’ll likely lean forward more with an RTO dip. It’s
also significantly inherently less stable compared to a
normal dip. You’ll want to spend some time just doing
holds at the top of the movement to feel that position,
especially if you are a bit heavier and are new to rings.
You can progress on the movement by leaning forward even more. This will
naturally be a bit tougher to measure compared to progressing in the gym. Again,
don’t get your protractor out or anything, just realize that it’s a way to stay within
the correct intensity that you want to be targeting. The more you lean forwards,
the more biceps it is.
RTO Dips are most similar to a Reverse Grip Decline Bench in the gym.
Muscles worked: Chest (especially upper), biceps, front deltoid
Scale Down: Band Assistance
Scale Up: Greater Forward Lean, Weighted Vest, Added Plates via Dip Belt
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Bulgarian Dips
With these, you’re sort of going the opposite direction in terms of rotation at the
shoulder. You’re going to be internally rotating, rather than externally rotating. While
there’s a generation of young men and women who have been bullied into fearing
the term “internal rotation”, a lot of it depends on your technique, shoulder
mobility/stability and conditioning of the supporting
muscles.
Compared to a normal dip, you are bringing the hands
away from the body rather than keeping them close. This
increases the lever arm at the shoulder and places more
juicy tension on the pectoral muscles. Eventually, with
totally straight elbows, this ends up in an “iron cross”, an exceptionally
challenging gymnastics movement.
It’s much more lower chest compared to the RTO dip, and a good deal
less biceps. Overall, the RTO dip seems to be more challenging. I wouldn’t recommend trying this
movement until you can do 10+ “normal” ring dips with good form.
Bulgarian Dips are most similar to a High To Low Cable Crossover or Gironda Dips in the gym.
Muscles worked: Chest (especially lower), triceps, front deltoids
Scale Down: Band Assistance
Scale Up: Weighted Vest, Added Plates via Dip Belt, More Open Elbow Position
Shoulders
Gymnasts have almost comically (or comic-bookally) developed
shoulders for a reason: their sport both requires and develops this
area to a very large degree. Many of the holds that they do either tax
the front or rear delts fantastically, and the side delts get hammered
as well.
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The front delts will be hit by almost every chest movement listed above. In fact, this type of work is
usually better than the gym exercises that they correspond to, because of the
increased stability requirements and larger range of motion. While soreness isn’t
everything, if you go from a diet of barbell bench press, dumbbell incline press,
machine press and pec dec to Bulgarian dips, RTO dips and power flys, you’ll
probably get pretty damn sore front delts. Thus, there’s really no need for front
delt isolation work. Heck, there wasn’t even a need for it in the gym. It’s very rare
to see anyone with lagging front delts, anyway.
The rear delts are also very much targeted by many lat movements (see below).
Pullups, inverted rows, pull-ins and such definitely slap around this area quite a
bit. However, unlike front delts, most people can benefit from some targeted
rear delt isolation work, so it’s worth including.
Ring Rear Delt Raises
This is quite a tough exercise, with fairly poor leverages, so you’ll probably
have to set up with quite a vertical torso. If you are very strong, however,
you might be able to set up fairly horizontally. It’s extremely unlikely that
you’ll ever need a weighted vest for this one.
With straight or almost straight arms, pull the rings
outward and apart from each other, lifting your
body upwards. Contract at the top, then lower under
control. You can protract your scapula in the bottom
position (letting your shoulders come forward,
rounding your upper back) and retract at the top (squeezing your shoulder
blades together) if you want to get the traps involved, or you can keep them
protracted the entire time for pure rear delt isolation. Both are viable.
Keep your palms down to target the rear delts; if you externally rotate to a
neutral grip (palms facing each other) it’ll be more side delts and is called a “T-raise” below.
Ring Rear Delt Raises are most similar to Dumbbell Rear Delt Raises in the gym.
Muscles worked: Rear Deltoids, Traps, Side Delts
Scale Down: More Vertical Position
Scale Up: More Horizontal Position
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Ring Y-Raises
These are similar to a rear delt raise, except you are pulling more upwards, with more external rotation,
getting a bit of rotator cuff involved. It’s a VERY challenging exercise due to
the straight arms, especially for lankybois. Be prepared to be humbled!
You can also play around with different amounts of internal or external
rotation, as well as pulling anywhere from straight out to the sides (making it
more of a “T-Raise) to straight above (an “IRaise”, I guess?). All will work the shoulders as
well as the upper back a bit differently.
Due to rings being very difficult to track anyway,
I personally take the “fuck it” approach and just do a variety of pulls each
set. Do a few straight above, a few out to the side, a few in the middle,
and call it a day. You can even do a T-raise concentric, move your arms
overhead, then do an “I raise” eccentric. Or a face pull concentric, then a
Y-raise eccentric. All good.
Ring Y-Raises are most similar to a Prone Dumbbell or Standing Cable Y-Raise in the gym.
Muscles worked: Traps, Rear Deltoids, Rotator Cuff, Side Deltoids
Scale Down: More Vertical Position
Scale Up: More Horizontal Position
Ring Face Pulls
I love me some cable face pulls, but I’ll be honest: the ring face pull mogs it
pretty badly. When you are pulling with a cable, you have a balance issue when
you develop any kind of decent amount of strength. You are pulling the cable,
and the cable is pulling you, meaning that there’s a sort of seesaw action during
each rep. Not great. You can mitigate this by putting your foot on something,
but this often impacts range of motion because your leg isn’t sufficiently long
in most cases to really get a full stretch on the upper back and rear delts.
Additionally, face pulls are most challenging in the top, contracted position.
You just aren’t as strong there. Finally, if using a rope, you are somewhat locked
into that position, you have to pull the rope apart slightly. You can use two handles to solve this issue,
though.
Rings solve a lot of these problems. Because you are pulling your body and the ring length isn’t
changing (HOPEFULLY!), it’s more stable. It’s also more freedom of movement compared to a rope,
and easier to grip the rings. Finally, and most importantly, because you are moving in an arc, it’s
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effectively the most resistance at the bottom, and the least at the top. In other
words, the amount of resistance matches your strength much more closely.
You’re actually overloading the stretched position, which is dank for muscle
growth! Let the THICKNESS begin!
You can do ring face pulls in a variety of ways. You can pull
straight back, focusing mostly on the mid traps and rear
delts. You can pull upwards slightly, contracting the upper
traps and side delts. Or you can focus on external rotation,
leading with the hands “Athlean-X” style. All are viable, the
upper back is quite complex so you can pull in a variety of
different ways. Anyone who claims there’s one way to do
this movement is missing the big picture here.
Ring Face Pulls are most similar to a Cable Face Pull in the gym.
Muscles worked: Traps, Rear Deltoids, Side Deltoids
Scale Down: More Vertical Position
Scale Up: More Horizontal Position, Feet Elevated, Weighted Vest
Ring Skiers
I’ve never seen this movement before, but wow does it bend over the
rear delts hard. Great stretch, great contraction.
To do the movement, set up like you are about to do a ring row (left),
but likely with the feet a bit further back as it’s more challenging. Instead
of bending the arms and rowing,
keep the arms fairly straight and
pull them downwards by
contracting the rear delts. The
lats will also be somewhat
involved. Finish fairly vertically (right).
You’ll probably be tempted to bend the arms a bit to get
through the sticking point. That’s totally OK, if it’s as little as
needed. Don’t turn it into a row, however.
Control the eccentric each rep. A very humbling movement! The nice thing about this movement is
that like face pulls, the bottom part has the most tension and the top has very little, which matches
the effective strength of the muscles involved perfectly.
Ring Skiers are most similar to a Dumbbell Skiers in the gym.
Muscles worked: Rear Deltoids, Lats
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Scale Down: More Vertical Position
Scale Up: More Horizontal Position, Feet Elevated, Weighted Vest
Incline Ring Pike Pushups
These are done to prepare the body for the normal pike pushup below.
Instead of having the rings down low, you can walk them forward and
thus into a more horizontal position. Unlike a normal incline pushup,
however, you are also leaning forward at the
waist and keeping the head down to turn it into
more of a vertical angle of pressing. The
resistance should be quite a bit lower
compared to a normal pike pushup, and
because there’s no rush of blood to the head,
it’s a lot more comfortable and beginner friendly as well.
Makes for a nice warmup even for stronger folks as well.
Ring Lateral Raises are most similar to an Incline Dumbbell Bench Press in the gym.
Muscles worked: Front Deltoids, Side Deltoids, Upper Chest, Triceps, Traps
Scale Down: Feet Further Away
Scale Up: Feet Closer, Ass Higher In Air, Weighted Vest
Ring Pike Pushups
These are essentially a pushup with your ass in the air. Normally that
constitutes poor form, but in this case, the high hips leads to a more
vertical angle of pressing, which is generally more challenging. Thus, it’ll
work less chest and more shoulders compared to normal pushups.
Hamstring mobility can sometimes be a limiting factor for some people
(like me). The good news is the more you do pike pushups, the better
you’ll get at doing them as the hammies will generally naturally loosen
up, thus you’ll eventually be able to do the movement with straight legs.
Like dumbbells, you can rotate and move the rings are you prefer. A neutral or RTO position is going
to be more upper chest involvement due to greater external rotation at the shoulder, while an
“overhand” position is going to be more front delt. You can also rotate down to neutral or RTO as
you descend, then as you press upwards rotate back and finish with an overhand position.
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One cool difference about this movement compared to barbells or
dumbbells is that it effectively increases in load as you go down,
because more weight is shifting from your feet to your hands. We do
have
data
to
suggest
that
emphasizing the stretched or
“lengthened” position of an exercise is
a good idea for hypertrophy, so that’s
a nice bonus.
The balance can take some getting
used to, as well as the feeling of half the blood that used to be in your
body now residing in your face.
Ring Lateral Raises are most similar to an Incline Dumbbell Bench Press in the gym.
Muscles worked: Front Deltoids, Side Deltoids, Upper Chest, Triceps, Traps
Scale Down: Feet Further Away
Scale Up: Feet Closer, Ass Higher In Air, Weighted Vest
Ring Feet Elevated Pike Pushups
Pretty similar to the above, just with feet elevated on something. This
actually requires slightly less hamstring mobility, which is good, but of
course a greater percentage of your weight is now on your hands (and thus
shoulders) compared to your feet. If you have a variety of objects, you can
increase the height of the box (or whatever) until you are ready for
handstand pushups.
Depending on the height of the box and
how close it is, you’ll be lifting anywhere
from around 60% of your weight to near 100%, making this viable for
a very long-term progression as well as a huge number of rep
ranges. Don’t be afraid to use a high box for lower reps (4-6 or so)
then a lower box for moderate rep stuff (6-15), and no box for 1530 rep finishers or warmups. A variety of loading and rep ranges is
probably best for hypertrophy.
Ring Lateral Raises are most similar to a (High) Incline Dumbbell Bench Press in the gym.
Muscles worked: Front Deltoids, Side Deltoids, Triceps, Upper Chest, Traps
Scale Down: Lower Box
Scale Up: Higher Box, Weighted Vest
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Ring Handstand Pushups
Eventually, you can progress towards just using your entire bodyweight. I wouldn’t be too aggressive
with attempting this movement, however, as it’s not just an increase in loading, but an increase in
stability requirements as well. Plus, it’s much more inherently unstable on the rings compared to just
having your hands on the floor-which you probably want to start with before trying it on rings.
Ultimately, this might not be ideal for hypertrophy training as it’s more skill based than muscular
based, though of course being able to do a ring handstand pushup is certainly an indicator of an
incredible strength to body weight ratio. You might just want to skip the rings altogether for this one
and do wall-assisted handstand pushups.
You can start by putting your feet against the straps that hold the rings for extra stability. Keep your
core braced and don’t arch back to try to cheat the movement. I’d also suggest not “kipping” with the
feet. Again, we’re interested in hypertrophy primarily, not just flopping around. Be careful and make
sure the rings are secure!
You can scale the movement down slightly by doing partial range of motion, putting something on
the ground under you to restrict full ROM. Probably best to have it be something soft, though, for
obvious reasons.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYSQf6JhLro
Ring Handstand Pushups are most similar to an Standing Overhead
Dumbbell Press in the gym.
Muscles worked: Front Deltoids, Side Deltoids, Triceps, Traps, Upper
Chest, Abs
Scale Down: Partial ROM
Scale Up: Oh, Deeper ROM, Weighted Vest (YOU BEAST)
Triceps
Ring Triceps Pushups
To do this movement, set up the same as a
normal pushup. Instead of bringing your elbows
down towards your body (shoulder extension)
to engage the front delt and chest, keep your
elbows fairly fixed out in front of you and bend
mostly at the elbows to load the triceps.
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I suggest going down quite slowly on this movement and keeping a good deal of control especially
the first time that you try these. Also try not to shrug the shoulders upwards, as that can place stress
on the shoulder joint especially with heavier effective loading. Keep the elbows fairly tucked; some
slight flaring outwards is OK but they should be less than 45 degrees outward, with closer to 30
degrees being better. Press back to the starting position.
I’d stick with more moderate reps on this one if you can. You can
walk the rings forward to do them in a more vertical position if
needed.
Ring Triceps Pushups are most similar to a JM Press in the gym.
Muscles worked: Triceps (especially the medial head)
Scale Down: More Vertical Position
Scale Up: More Horizontal Position, Feet Elevated, Weighted Vest
Ring Overhead Extensions
The cable overhead extension is one of my favorite overall triceps builders, because it fucking works.
The long head of the triceps are an area that is often underdeveloped,
but when fleshed out to its potential can truly change a physique.
While I still prefer the cable version to the ring
version, the ring version is pretty good. To
perform the movement, set up like you would
with a ring pushup, but with the rings a bit
higher because your elbows will be going
under the rings. Bend your elbows and move the torso forwards, under
control, feeling the resistance on your triceps. Control that eccentric!
You can either stop with the rings around head height (middle pic, below), or you can continue on,
pushing your elbows forward and bringing the rings beyond your head (right pic, below). I prefer the
latter but not everyone has the shoulder mobility to do that. Then return smoothly to the starting
position. You can flex your triceps at the end but there’s minimal resistance at the top, so it’s not really
needed. It does look cool, though.
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Ring Overhead Extensions are
most similar to a Cable
Overhead Extension in the gym.
Muscles
worked:
Triceps
(especially the long head)
Scale Down: More Vertical
Position
Scale Up: More Horizontal
Position, Feet Elevated, Weighted
Vest
Biceps
Ring Curls
These are a pretty decent biceps builder. It’s certainly not the reason that
gymnasts have balloons for biceps, but it’s a movement that brings value
nevertheless.
To perform the movement, set up similar to a row. Instead of driving the
elbows down towards you to move the body, keep the elbows fixed and
forward, only moving the forearm and hands by flexing the biceps. Of
course, everyone is weaker on curls compared to rows, so you’ll likely have to set up more
horizontally to accommodate that.
You can also consider raising your elbows at the end of the
rep-the biceps are also responsible for shoulder flexion, so
perhaps you can get a bit of extra contraction by doing that.
You can also visualize pulling with your pinky (smallest)
finger. This will encourage extra biceps activation via
supination of the hand during the rep. Return to the starting
position under control.
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You could even go beyond failure by rowing yourself up, then doing
an eccentric curl on the way down. I’d start with the basic movement
first, though!
Ring Curls are most similar to a Dumbbell Curl in the gym.
Muscles worked: Biceps, Forearms
Scale Down: More Vertical Position
Scale Up: More Horizontal Position, Feet Elevated, Weighted Vest
Ring Reverse Curls
Very similar to the above ring curl, except it’s with an “overhand” pronated grip
rather than an underhand supinated one. It’ll be less biceps but a really good
option for the brachialis and forearms!
A nice benefit of this movement compared to a normal
reverse curl with a bar is that there’s tension at pretty much
all points in the movement. At the start, middle and end,
there’s still resistance that’s needed to contract the muscles
against. With a bar, the bottom and top positions have
minimal tension, with only the middle being truly
challenging.
Again, you can go beyond failure, rowing the weight on the concentric and then
reverse curling it normally on the eccentric.
Ring Reverse Curls are most similar to an EZ-bar Reverse Curl in the gym.
Muscles worked: Forearms, Brachialis, Biceps,
Scale Down: More Vertical Position
Scale Up: More Horizontal Position, Feet Elevated, Weighted Vest
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Pelican Curls
By turning away from the rings and curling with the arms behind the body, you
can get an incredible stretch on the biceps. There are
two ways to do this movement.
The first is where you are curling straight back. You’ll
need excellent shoulder mobility to do this one. If
you have tight front delts or pecs, it’ll probably just
not be possible, as they’ll take the tension, especially
in that all-important bottom position. Start very
“light” for this, anything where you put muscle in a
highly stretched position requires a good deal of
time to adapt to. Don’t get greedy!
The second style is where you are curling more out to the side. This requires a bit less
mobility. Try both and see which you prefer.
You can do eccentric-only reps, where you aren’t actually curling
yourself up, you are just lowering yourself slowly and under control
over the course of about 4-8 seconds or so, then standing up,
resetting, and going again. Again, start with less resistance than you
think you’ll need. These put a stretch on your biceps short head like
nothing else. In particular, control the last few inches of the range of
motion. That’s what gets the job done.
Because the vast majority of people aren’t used to this range of motion on the biceps, I urge caution
here. The body can adapt to a remarkable variety of positions and is insanely durable, but injury IS
possible with new movements, stressors and ranges of motion. Start very light, with an extremely
vertical torso position that doesn’t provide very much resistance. Also, best to do
higher reps at first. You wouldn’t max out on preacher curls the first time you did
them, would you?*
Pelican Curls are most similar to a Bayesian Cable Curl
(Menno Henselman’s style) in the gym.
Muscles worked: Biceps (especially short head)
Scale Down: More Vertical Position
Scale Up: More Horizontal Position, Feet Elevated,
Weighted Vest
*If the answer is yes, rethink some things in your life.
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Lats
Inverted Rows
One of the more varied and versatile movements on this list, the inverted row is very
underrated and can target just about any area of the back that you want to develop.
First, get a grip. An overhand grip will facilitate pulling a bit higher with the elbows a
little bit more flared out. This will work a bit more rear delts and traps.
An underhand grip will naturally lead to pulling a bit
lower with the elbows tucked, meaning more lats. It’ll
also be a bit more biceps.
A neutral grip will be somewhere in the middle
of those two but tending more towards lats for
most people. It mostly depends on the elbow
position. More tucked=more lats. More
flared=more traps/rear delts.
It’s also worth noting that you don’t have to
keep the same grip position during each rep.
You can take an overhand grip in the bottom
position, and rotate as you pull, until you have
an underhand grip in the top position. Or vice
versa, though that doesn’t feel as natural for
most people. There are no laws against changing your grip as far as
I’m aware, in most jurisdictions.
You can also take one ring and row just holding onto that, aiming
for the crotch. Pull right to that babymaker! It’s a bit tougher on
the wrists, but the very narrow grip and emphasis on shoulder
extension absolutely smashes the lats.
All of these rowing variations are extremely safe due to the lack of
spinal loading. The erectors are working a bit to keep your spine
stable and hips in line with your shoulders and feet, of course, but
the risk of injury is much lower than something like a barbell row.
In terms of stimulus to fatigue ratio, this is about as good as it gets.
As such, it’s very failure friendly, and you can even take a lot of sets beyond failure, pulling with full
range of motion until you can’t, then pulling some more. Rings are already tough to track progress
on, so the lack of quantifiable reps and load isn’t an issue anyway.
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Inverted Rows are most similar to a Seal Row, Helms Row or Chest Supported Row in the gym.
Muscles worked: Lats, traps, biceps, forearms
Scale Down: More Vertical Position
Scale Up: More Horizontal Position, Weighted Vest
Rack Chins
These are basically just an inverted row with feet elevation. They’ve
been around basically forever. With a very high box, they’re closer to
a vertical pull than a horizontal one, though they’re still a hybrid. Thus,
they’re potentially more lats and
less traps. The more elevated your
feet are, the more lats it is. Most
people seem to elevate the legs
about 3-4 feet in the air; I just didn’t
have anything that tall to use.
Some people don’t elevate the feet at all, making this...exactly the
same as an inverted row. Exercise names, eh?
Rack Chins are most similar to a Pulldown (to the Chest) in the gym.
Muscles worked: Lats, traps, biceps, forearms
Scale Down: Feet Less Elevated,
Scale Up: Feet More Elevated, Weighted Vest
Ring Pullups
Pullups are a tried-and-true mass builder, and rings only make them
better. Often the limiting factor in the long term for chin-ups or overhand
pullups are wrist, elbow or shoulder durability. You don’t want Joint
Command taking over your training.
With rings, you can use a neutral, underhand, or overhand grip. Or all of
them, at various points in the set. Most people, as with inverted rows, find
that overhand in the bottom position and underhand in the top position
with a gradual transition between the two is best. I wouldn’t overthink this,
though. Most people will self-correct into the best positions by just doing
what is comfortable.
If you genuinely feel like overhand in the top position and underhand in
the bottom is more comfortable, well then first, you’re a fuckin weirdo, and
second, go for it.
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Ring Pullups are most similar to a Neutral Grip Pullup in the gym.
Muscles worked: Lats, traps, biceps, forearms
Scale Down: Band Assistance
Scale Up: Weighted Vest
L-Sit Pullups
These are a bit like rack chins, except you are now elevating your legs yourself and
pulling your entire bodyweight. This makes the movement slightly different from
a normal pullup. The most challenging part of the range of motion is actually at
the start. Because your center of gravity is in front of you due to your legs being
in front, it shifts your torso back, and it makes the lats work harder. Don’t be
surprised if your normal rep count gets cut in half or less.
Additionally, due to the “there’s no free lunch” effect, your
rectus abdominis also gets worked quite heavily to keep your
spine from going into extension.
You also can’t kip with the legs or lean back to try to get around the sticking
point as you can with a normal pullup. That’s a win in my book.
L-Sit Pullups are most similar to a Chinup in the gym.
Muscles worked: Lats, traps, biceps, forearms
Scale Down: Band Assistance
Scale Up: Weighted Vest
Wide Grip Pullups
By placing the rings wider, you’ll make the movement considerably
more challenging. It’ll shift the tension towards a bit less biceps, and
a bit more teres major, the upper outer back. Keep in mind that if
you are attaching the rings to a swing set or something, the rings
might slide inward. To counteract this, drive the elbows out and
down, rather than pulling in.
I’m doing them with a bit of an L-sit here, but you can let the legs
hang down if you have the space.
Wide Grip Pullups are most similar to a Wide Grip Pulldown in the
gym.
Muscles worked: Lats, traps, biceps, forearms
Scale Down: Band Assistance
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Scale Up: Weighted Vest
1 Arm Ring Rows
I’ve been following Coach Kassem Hanson of N1 education for the past half a year, particularly his
content on lat training. It’s excellent and it’s
one of the reasons why I’ve seen better back
gains this year than any year since my
newbie gains.
So, I’ve tried to keep up with this on the
rings, and thus, the 1 arm ring row. As with a
basic inverted row, you can emphasize
anything from the rear delt with elbow flared
to the lats with elbow totally tucked. It’s up
to you. I prefer to use it as a lat-focused
movement, because that’s what I personally
need more of.
One nice thing about the rings in this case is that they match the strength curve of the back fairly well.
So, as you pull, you get weaker, but it gets easier because you are more upright. Then as you go back
down, you get stronger the more lengthened the lat is, but the resistance effectively increases because
you are lifting more of yourself.
A major downside, however, is stability. If you can find something to brace against, that can help a lot
with this, otherwise you might have to just suck it up and get stronger obliques. A wider stance can
help as well. Some people are strong enough to do these with a totally vertical torso, perpendicular
to the ground, but that’s pretty rare!
1 Arm Ring Rows are most similar to a 1 Arm Dumbbell Row in the gym.
Muscles worked: Lats, traps, biceps, forearms
Scale Down: More Vertical Position
Scale Up: More Horizontal Position, Weighted Vest, Feet Elevated
Ring Pull-Ins
I first saw these from Doug Brignole. While I’m not a fan of the
guy, I always try to give credit where it’s due. I don’t actually
like the cable version all that much, however. The strength
curve is a bit uneven, where it’s most challenging in the
contracted position and everywhere else is pretty much a joke.
Rings are nicer in that when you are leaning away from the ring,
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in the bottom position, you get the most resistance, exactly where you are strongest. It’s still toughest
in the contracted position, but there’s reduced resistance there. Basically, it’s more “evenly difficult”
and thus you can get both a good stretch and a good contraction. Balance/stability is less of a factor
compared to the 1 arm ring row, as there’s no twisting.
This isn’t a pure latissimus dorsi movement by any means. I consider
it to be mostly teres major, but also a good amount of lower trap and
rear delt. Those muscles need love too though, and since the Teres
Major is most similar to the lats anyway in function and location, this
is the best section to put this in. Focus on driving the elbow towards
your hip, perhaps slightly behind the body.
Ring Pull-Ins are most similar to a Cable Pull-In in the gym.
Muscles worked: Lats, traps, biceps, forearms
Scale Down: More Vertical Position
Scale Up: More Horizontal Position, Weighted Vest, Feet Elevated
Ring Pullovers
To perform this movement, grab one
or two rings, and set up like you’re
about to do an overhead triceps
extension. Instead of bending at the
elbows to use the triceps, however,
keep the elbows straight and move
only at the shoulder. Slowly move into
the lengthened position of the lats,
keeping under control at all times,
then return to the starting position. It’ll also work a good deal of abdominals as well to keep the spine
from going into extension.
You can use an overhand or underhand grip. Underhand is a bit more lats, whilst overhand shifts the
tension slightly to the teres major. If you are grabbing both hands on one ring,
you can use a neutral grip, which is somewhat in between in terms of activation.
Pullovers work the stretched position of the lats. After a set, you can flip around
and do a set of narrow grip rows to work the contracted position more (right).
Ring Pullovers are most similar to a Dumbbell Pullover in the gym.
Muscles worked: Lats
Scale Down: More Vertical Position
Scale Up: More Horizontal Position, Weighted Vest, Feet Elevated
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Mantel Pullups
These are pullups where the rings are uneven. Normally, I highly suggest that you check the height
of the two rings to make sure that they are perfectly even. However, in this case you are intentionally
moving one ring down a bit so that you are forced to rely on one arm and lat a bit more.
You can alter the difficulty adjusting the height of the
assisting ring; lower is going to provide less help.
Eventually, you can progress to not using the
secondary ring at all,
I’m not sure why I feel the need to state the obvious,
but make sure to do both sides.
I have no idea what Mantel Pullups are most similar
to in the gym. Maybe some fucked up pulldown
variation or something that you’d see on TikTok.
Muscles worked: Lats, traps, biceps, forearms
Scale Down: Raising the Assisting Ring
Scale Up: Lowering the Assisting Ring
1-Arm Chinups
One of the ultimate displays of pulling strength, the 1-arm chinup (using a ring or bar) is a surefire
sign that you’ve made it in the calisthenics world. You’ll obviously need an impressive strength to
bodyweight ratio, and there’s a good deal of technique to it as well. You’ll likely have to practice this
specific skill quite a bit before you get it, as it requires a lot of scapular control and balance. There’s
also a rotational component to it that bilateral pullups just don’t have.
As a muscle builder, however, you’re probably better off just loading up normal pullups or doing
other variations that increase the difficulty, adding in higher reps or sets.
1-Arm Chinups are most similar to a Dumbbell Pullover in the gym.
Muscles worked: Lats, traps, biceps, forearms
Scale Down: Band Assistance
Scale Up: Weighted Vest
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Traps
Traps are mostly hit through shoulder and lat focused movements that I’ve already
mentioned in previous sections. Face pulls, Y-raises, inverted rows will all smash
various sections of the traps pretty well.
Ring Inverted Shrugs
One nice isolation movement for the traps is the inverted
shrug. Instead of standing upright and using a barbell,
machine or dumbbells as resistance, you grab some rings, flip upside down and
use your own body as resistance.
I prefer using a moderate amount of arm bend at the
elbows, as that gets me a better contraction. This is
something that I do with dumbbell shrugs as well so isn’t
any different, but I realize it’s somewhat unique and isn’t,
strictly speaking, textbook form. Thus, you might want to
keep your arms straighter. Go by feel.
Make sure the rings are secure before trying this
movement for obvious reasons, as well as even in height.
Ring Inverted Shrugs are most similar to a Dumbbell
Shrugs in the gym.
Muscles worked: Traps, forearms
Scale Down: Band Assistance (careful!)
Scale Up: Weighted Vest
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Glutes
Ring Glute Bridge
Rings are an underwhelming modality for lower body training, and glutes are no
exception. You can do a glute bridge by placing your feet in the rings and
thrusting upwards. I suggest quickly graduating to doing them one leg at a time,
but even then it’s not a lot of resistance. The honey buns are such a large and
powerful muscle that bodyweight alone is just not enough.
You can also try to elevate your upper back on a bench or something else to try
to get more range of motion, turning it into a hip thrust, but even that is going
to be lackluster.
Ring Glute Bridges are most similar to a Barbell Glute Bridge in the gym. Just worse.
Muscles worked: Glutes
Scale Down: Hopefully not needed.
Scale Up: 1 legged
Quads
Pendulum Squats
Holding onto the rings whilst squatting down allows the body to move
in an arc, similar to a pendulum squat machine. Loading is obviously
going to be very much limited, however, making this a C-tier
movement for the quadriceps, at best.
One nice advantage is that you can allow the knees to go a bit more
forward compared to a normal squat, making it a good deal more
quad dominant. However, the loading is still very much limited, so don’t expect to
get huge legs from this movement.
Pendulum Squats are most similar to a Pendulum Machine Squat in the gym.
Muscles worked: Quads
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Assisted Pistol Squats
The pistol squat, on paper, is a good option for lower body training
if you don’t have access to the gym. In practice, it’s difficult to fully
replace barbell, dumbbell and machine movements because often
the limiting factors for pistol squats are stability and mobility.
This ring-assisted option solves both. First, holding onto the rings
provides inherent stability.
Second, mobility demands are lower. You can stand backwards from the rings a bit,
which allows the non-working leg to move forward more freely, without having to keep it as high. If
you have tight hamstrings or weaker hip flexors (most people have both) then this will be much more
comfortable, allowing you to focus on the muscles that you actually want to work.
Sissy Squats
These aren’t a ring movement but considering all you need is something to hold onto, I’m assuming
you’ll have the equipment you need.
Rings, admittedly, aren’t great for the quads; when a bodyweight only
movement is better than anything your modality brings to the table, you
know it’s unideal.
Keep in mind that these do place a good deal of stress on the knees. They
can certainly adapt, but it takes time and patience. I’ve also experimented
with single leg sissy squats, but balance becomes an issue and that’s a bit
more twisting than I feel comfortable with. You’re probably better off just
doing Bulgarian split squats, pistol squats, lunges and jump squats.
Sissy Squats are most similar to a Hack Squat in the gym. Just worse. In
every way.
Muscles worked: Quads
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Hamstrings
Ring Hamstring Curls
As mentioned above, rings aren’t a style of
training that lend themselves towards lower body
hypertrophy. That being said, these are actually
one of the better hamstring movements that I’ve
come across. They work both functions of the
hamstrings: hip extension is happening mostly
isometrically, in order to hold your hips off of the
ground, while the knees are flexed to move the
rings back towards you.
These are freaking brutal. They’re most
challenging at a full contraction, which means that you can very easily and safely go
beyond failure. OK, maybe not easily. But it’s doable. Be sure to flex your hamstrings at the top of
each rep. You can perhaps posteriorly tilt your pelvis (crotch
towards head) to enhance the contraction. In the bottom position,
you can anteriorly tilt your pelvis (ass towards head) for a better
stretch.
Go to failure with controlled reps, then just keep going, trying to
get full range of motion but failing. Won’t take many sets of these
to get the hammies growing. A particularly useful movement for
runners and sprinters, who have to combine hip extension and
knee flexion during their stride.
You can either put your Achilles tendon area (just above the heel) in the ring or the bottom
of the foot; I prefer and suggest the latter. It might depend on your footwear, though.
Do them on one leg at a time if you’re a total fucking stud.
Ring Hamstring Curls are most similar to a Seated Machine Hamstrings Curl in the gym.
Muscles worked: Hamstrings
Calves
If you are trying to use rings to train calves there’s something seriously fucking wrong with
you.
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Abs
Ring Hanging Leg Raises
This exercise is going to work the hip flexors as
well as the rectus abdominis (the “six pack”
muscles). You can hang from the rings like you
are going to do a pullup, but I find that instead of hanging,
setting up in a dip position allows for
more stability and less swinging. You
want to feel stable and let the muscles
that you want to work...work. Try to curl
your pelvis towards your face each rep.
Even if you fail, that intention will help
activate the abdominals more.
You can bend the knees at first, progressing towards straight legs as you get
stronger, though if you have tight hamstrings that might be difficult!
Ab “Wheel” Rollouts
These are also going to work the rectus, but
the exercise feels totally different. The
abdominal contraction is totally isometric.
Instead of flexing the spine, this is an “antiextension” exercise. In other words, you are
using the abdominal muscles to prevent
yourself from extending at the spine.
You can make the movement easier by elevating the rings and not quite extending the arms out as
far, or you can make it more challenging by lowering them. You can maybe also scale them down by
putting your knees on the ground. These are less stable than a traditional “ab wheel” and also feel
slightly different because the rings move in an arc. I personally think I prefer the ab wheel, but if you
don’t have one it’s probably not worth buying, as this movement is still pretty darn good and
extremely scaleable.
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Ring Crunches
Toss your feet into the rings (keep them
attached to the rest of you, ideally), then assume
a plank position. Using your hip flexors and
abdominals, curl your knees towards your face.
This will get more challenging as you go, so you
don’t be afraid about hitting yourself. To be
clear, however, DO NOT KNEE YOURSELF IN THE FACE. From my
extensive experimentation, this doesn’t seem to provide any additional
benefit and done excessively causes bruising and pain of the jawline, chin and cheekbones. Either way,
control the eccentric and return to the starting position. Keep your lower back from arching
excessively or hyperextending at any point. Flexing the spine is fine, that’s the main function of the
rectus abdominus after all.
Ring Pike-Ups
These are pretty similar to ring crunches, but you keep your knee angle
more open and legs straight. This increases the difficulty considerably,
so you might not be able to get as much range of motion into the
contracted position, especially if you have tight hamstrings (guilty!).
Still, the added difficulty makes it an obvious and natural progression
from ring crunches, and if you do have tight hammies, just look at them
as added resistance.
Ring Oblique Crunches
Another alternative crunching movement, this involves twisting slightly, using
the obliques to move the rings sideways a bit as you bring them up. This is
quite a bit more challenging, you’ll likely find that you can’t hold the
contraction at the top for any considerably amount of time. Just do your best,
really focusing on getting as much range of motion into the oblique as you
can.
You can alternate left and right each rep, or do all of one side then do the
other. I prefer alternating rep by rep as it feels a bit more natural and the
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rectus abdominis is working as well as the obliques so to get equal
stimulus you’ll want to alternate. Plus, a rep on one side potentiates the
next one as you get a bit of momentum into the next rep. Winning.
Oblique Crunches are most similar to a Hanging Leg Raise With Twist
in the gym.
Ring Side Plank
Put one foot into the ring, in a plank position. Then hold it. You may
have to experiment a bit with the exact foot position as a significant amount of your bodyweight is
resting on the side of one foot.
You can also do ring crunches this way as well, but keep in mind
they’re considerably more difficult than “ring oblique crunches”. You
can, however, do all of one side
before doing the other, as due to
the sideways body position you
aren’t really working the rectus
abdominis much. Plus, switching
sides is “kind of a thing” so you’re
best off just smash out one side
then flipping over.
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HIGH LEVEL SHIT
I can’t do any of these, but they’re pretty cool. Great respect for anyone that can!
However, I wouldn’t consider these movements to be
particularly efficient muscle builders for a few reasons.
First, they’re isometric. That typically means less muscle
growth compared to movements through a full (or at least
more full) range of motion.
Second, they often require a truly massively elite amount
of body control and core strength, which I don’t have and
you probably don’t either.
Third, they often also have a prerequisite level of mobility,
particularly in the shoulders, that most people won’t have.
Fourth, they’re notoriously tough on the joints. You can, of
course, build up to these, but it takes a long time in most
cases. Most gymnasts start young for a reason. These often
involve straight arm strength, which is something
traditional forms of lifting weights just don’t incorporate at
all.
Fifth, almost all elite level gymnasts are on the shorter side,
very lean and also not particularly heavy overall. On the
right, red diamonds are female all-round competitors,
while grey triangles are men. Dietary restriction sounds quite common, often intaking under 2000
calories per day despite several hours of training. Sacrifice to win, right?
If you are fairly jacked (especially in the lower body), these skills will be extremely difficult, if not
impossible. As a ~90kg/200lb+ dude who is 1.83m/6ft tall,
it’s an uphill battle. As with any sport, the best are built for
it. Still, you can take certain aspects of ring training and
benefit from them.
Looking at things a different way, the heavier you are, the
more resistance you can enjoy doing easier variations.
You’ve got the benefits of a weighted vest all the time, bro.
Tell yourself that as you snarfle down another pizza. That’s
really sacrificing to win.
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Planche
The planche is often done on the floor or dip bars. The
main muscles used in this exercise are the shoulders and
chest to keep the upper arm from extending, as well as
the biceps to hold the straight-arm position, but the
abdominals, upper back, lower back, and glutes also
play important roles for stability and keeping the fully
elongated position.
A typical training progression seems to involve tucking
the legs to shorten the lever arm, or using bands or a
partner to help support the legs. RTO pushups and dips are a decent way to progress towards this as
well, though they aren’t as specific as a progression where you have to support your entire
bodyweight with fully straight arms.
Front Lever
In many ways the opposite of a planche, a front lever is roughly
classified as a “pulling” movement rather than pushing. Instead
of having to maintain your position by pushing the rings (or floor)
down, you are pulling the rings down, primarily with the lats and
rear delts. The long head of the triceps is also involved and
maintaining the fully lengthened position involves the traps and
abdominals extensively as well. Harder than it looks!
Inverted rows, skiers, pullups, L-sit pullups and as well as
isometric holds with the legs tucked in or brought out to the sides in a straddle position are all good
ways to develop the strength and skill needed to do this movement.
Back Lever
The back lever is similar to a planche, except instead of pushing the
ground away with the arms below/in front of you, they are now
behind you, pulling.
This means that the biceps are in a much more lengthened position,
as well as the pectorals and front deltoid muscles. I’d be careful with
this one. The body is very resilient and can adapt to a wide variety of
stimuli over time, but you have to give it time! Tendons and ligaments
in particular take years to adapt.
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Anecdotally, pec and biceps tears are two of the most commonly torn muscles, along with the
hamstrings. Quads, triceps, traps, glutes, lats, not so much. With a front lever, the odds of your lat
tearing are minimal because it’s not a muscle that often tears, nor is it in a fully lengthened position
with that movement.
With a back lever, both biceps and pecs are:
⚫ in a near fully lengthened position
⚫ exposed to a huge stretch
⚫ forced to stabilize the entire body
Thus, I recommend caution here.
Maltese
This is similar to a back lever, but with the arms in line with the
body and outstretched to the sides a bit. This is safer because
neither the pecs nor biceps are in that full stretch, but that also
makes it more challenging as you can’t rely on that same
stretch.
Thus, the Maltese is actually worth four times as many points as a back lever in formal gymnastics
competition.
Iron Cross
One of the most world-renowned ring movements, the iron cross involves
holding your body statically with your arms fully straightened out to the
sides. This requires significant amounts of lat, pec, shoulder, trapezius and
biceps strength.
You can bias the pecs through scapula protraction, while targeting the lats
more through retraction. Most people will be strongest somewhere in the
middle.
Elbow pain or discomfort is somewhat common due to the straight arms.
Biceps also can tear without the requisite straight arm strength. It will likely take a year or more to
develop the tendon strength to do this movement, even if you have the necessary strength to
bodyweight ratio, which most people don’t have anyway.
Inverted Iron Cross
Exactly what it sounds like: an iron cross, upside down. If that sounds more difficult, that’s because it
53
is. It’s very demanding on the shoulders, biceps and traps as well as the “core”. Not easy!
Azarian
This involves pulling yourself up from a hanging position, finalizing in an iron cross
position, making it significantly more difficult than just a static iron cross hold.
Nakayama
From the International Gymnastics Federation handbook: “From or through hanging
scale rearways, with straight arms pull to cross or L-cross”. In other words, from a back
lever, pull without bending your arms to an iron cross. Tough!
The International Gymnastics Federation (FONDÉE EN 1881, ohh la la, tres bien!) scoring handbook
can be found here, just in case you want to see some really high-level shit (it has diagrams). Rings
start on page 76.
To put things in perspective, scores range from A (.1 points) to H (.8 points).
Front and back levers are A.
Iron Cross is B.
Planche and Inverted Cross are C.
Maltese, Azarian and Nakayama are D.
So, as you can see, even quite advanced skills are just scratching the surface of what truly elite level
gymnasts can do. The vast majority of the movements in this book are not even an A. It’s safe to say
that if you want to build muscle using rings, it’s not necessary to go “full gymnast”.
One cool thing about gymnastics (of many) is that due to the wide variety of different skills, many are
named after people, even in the handbook. New skills are being invented on a semi-regular basis,
and the legends of the sport live on through the skills they pioneered. It’s like if powerlifting had
variations and someone did a particularly round upper-backed deadlift “OH SHIT he just pulled a
Konstantins Konstantinovs, EXTRA POINTS”.
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Programming
General Programming Advice
Programming for rings is slightly different from a training plan for the gym. With weights, a beginner
can do the same exact lifts as an extremely advanced athlete, the only thing that will change is the
loading, as well as perhaps some small to moderate changes in other details (volume, frequency,
recovery time, etc). But a beginner can deadlift, an intermediate can deadlift, an advanced athlete can
deadlift, and an elite athlete...they can deadlift, too.
For rings and other calisthenics movements, an advanced training plan in terms of exercise selection
will by necessity look wildly different from that of a beginner. As mentioned previously, the absolute
load (your bodyweight) is more or less static, and thus difficulty is modified by changing leverages.
That being said, programming for hypertrophy on rings and with traditional weights do have a lot of
similarities. You’re still going to want to target a similar rep range, probably somewhere in the 530ish area. Yes, that’s a huge range, so you’ll probably have to pick different exercises to target the
lower (5-10), moderate (~10-15) and higher (15-30) rep ranges. So maybe you’ll do normal pushups
in the 15-30 reps range as they are mechanically easier, power flys in the moderate rep range as
they’re a bit tougher, and RTO dips in the 5-10 range as they’re much more challenging. Obviously,
this is going to have to be tailored to the individual. You have to live it.
You can, of course, do some work in the 1-4 rep range, but this is certainly not needed for hypertrophy
and might even be counterproductive. It’ll get you used to new skills, but in terms of risk vs reward or
stimulus vs fatigue, it’s quite hard to justify very low reps for hypertrophy training. If you enjoy it, go
for it, but be aware it’s likely not optimal.
Frequency probably isn’t going to be very different from traditional hypertrophy training with weights.
There might be an argument that because rings are more skill-based, they could benefit from higher
frequency, though I’m not sure if this matters all that much.
Volume is likely fairly similar as well. Perhaps you can drive the volume up slightly because rings are
often more joint-friendly, but it likely won’t be massively higher.
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RPE (rating of perceived exertion) or RIR (reps in reserve) are likely also going to be fairly similar,
though on some movements it might make sense not to go as close to
failure due to the inherent instability of rings. This is particularly true if you
are new to the movement in question, as well as if it puts you into a position
that you’ve never trained in before. So, an inverted row, fine. Totally safe,
almost impossible to get injured. But something like a ring fly, Bulgarian dip
or pelican curl, you’d be best off being quite conservative with proximity to
failure for the first few weeks of doing them. If you end up with a face full
of ground, you fucked up (right).
Finding Your Split
Here lies Geoff, he trained to failure
one too many sets
There are three broad categories of people who are going to be using rings:
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those who are supplementing their normal weight training by occasionally swapping in an
exercise or two with rings
those who are moving an entire day or workout from normal weight training to rings
those who are only using rings to train.
In the first situation, it’s quite easy. Many pushing, pressing, pulling or rowing movements can be
swapped for rings, as well as some shoulder, curling and extending movements. If you own my first
book, SWEAT, you can swap exercises by movement pattern, with the section below. It’s quite simple
to just swap a Helms Row for an inverted row or an overhead press for a pike pushup. Just keep the
rep range/sets roughly the same and pick a technique that allows you to challenge yourself in a similar
way. Lower body does not work particularly well, with the possible except of swapping a hamstring
curl variation for one on the rings.
In the second situation, it’s also very much doable. If you are running an upper/lower split, for example,
you can very easily swap an entire upper workout for rings. There’s enough variety and scale-ability
in this book to challenge just about anyone. Lower body, again, is a different story. Two lower body
workouts a week combined with 2-3 upper body workouts on rings is totally viable. Same with two
lower body workouts and two pulls/two pushes, for a traditional “PPL” split. Just about any split is
easily transposed to partially use rings. Keep in mind that if you are interested in strength, you’ll want
your training to be quite specific. You’ll likely be underwhelmed if you think rings are the key to a
bigger bench.
The third situation is also doable, but don’t expect to get huge legs. Most lower body ring workouts
that I saw online were “meh”. A ring-assisted sissy squat or pistol squat isn’t going to get you huge.
Better than nothing, though. It’ll keep you “toned” or “athletic” or give you that “Hollywood” look,
though you’re still better off not using rings for lower body training in that case. The instability of the
rings is totally OK for upper body, but for lower body it’s a net negative. Go for hill sprints, weighted
lunges, split squats, pistol squats, etc.
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Exercises By Movement Pattern+Difficulty
Hinge
Almost nothing. Hinging really does require external loading once you develop any kind of decent
amount of strength at it. Only real options for anything close are the ring hamstring curl and glute
bridge. Realistically speaking, the gym is needed for this.
Squat
Pistol Squats, Pendulum Squats, Sissy Squats.
Again, get in the gym if you really want to develop leg strength and/or size.
Push
Incline Pushup, Pushup, Feet Elevated Pushup, Power Fly, Ring Crossover, Feet Elevated Power Fly,
RTO pushup, Dips, Incline Full Fly, Bulgarian Dips, RTO dips, Full Fly
Row
High Incline Inverted Row, Low Incline Inverted Row, Inverted Row, Feet Elevated Inverted Row, 1arm row
Press
Incline Pike Pushup, Pike Pushup, Feet Elevated Pike Pushup, Wall Assisted Handstand Pushup,
Handstand Pushup
Pull
Pull-Ins, Pullover, Pullups, L-Sit Pullups, Mantel Pullups, 1-Arm Chinups
Shoulder
Face Pulls, Rear Delt Raises, Y-Raises, Skiers
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Curl
Ring Curl, Reverse Curl, Pelican Curl
Extend
Triceps Dip, Triceps Pushup, Overhead Extensions
Abs
Ring Hanging Leg Raises, Ab “Wheel” Rollouts, Ring Crunches, Ring Pike-Ups, Ring Side Plank, Ring
Oblique Crunches, L-Sit, Ring Planks
Templates
As noted in the programming section, it’s very hard to write out templates because the exercises
themselves will change based on your ability. This is so individual that I cannot write “beginner
program”, “intermediate program”, “advanced program”, etc. That’s possible with weights (though I
still recommend customizing your program to yourself through writing your own program, coaching
yourself or working with a coach) but with calisthenics there’s such a wide swath of where people are
that it’s not really possible to just shit out a program and sell it.
But I’ll try. Be aware that you must take mental responsibility for things. These are just VERY general
structures to get you headed in the right direction. The movements themselves will vary based on
your ability level (check the progressions list below) and the exact sets and reps is also somewhat
individual.
There will be sample upper, pull, push and full body days. Fuck it, I’ll even toss in a sample arm day.
Upper Body Day Template
1a Warmup: Pull (2-3 sets 15-30 reps, not near failure, just to get blood flow)
1b Warmup: Push (2-3 sets 15-30 reps, not near failure, just to get blood flow)
1a/1b means alternate between the two movements. Do a set of pulls, then a set of pushes, then back
to pulls, then back to pushes. Rest times, go by feel. Do 2-3 sets here, if you feel good 2 is fine. If you
are a little achy or beaten up or older you might need 3 sets each, or even 4. Go by feel.
OPTIONAL: At this point you are warmed up and totally fresh, so this would be the ideal time to try
for a skill that is right on the edge of what you can do. As they are barely within your capabilities, by
definition the reps will be low and challenge will be very high. But this isn’t needed and probably
shouldn’t always be done. But you probably will anyway, so this is the best place to put it.
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2a Pull (2-3 sets of a challenging pulling movement. Aim for ~5-10 reps, 1-2 RIR)
2b Push (2-3 sets of a challenging pushing movement. Aim for ~5-10 reps, 1-2 RIR)
3a Pull (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging pulling movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 0-2 RIR)
3b Push (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging pushing movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 0-2 RIR)
4a Curl (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging curling movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 0-1 RIR)
4b Extend (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging extending movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 0-1 RIR)
4c Shoulders (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging shoulder movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 0-1 RIR)
4d Ab (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging ab movement. 10-15 reps, 0-1 RIR)
Upper Body Day Example
This is one example of how I would implement the above example FOR ME. Assuming you are not
me, it’s best to realize that the “ideal” workout for you is either easier or more difficult than this.
1a Warmup: Inverted Row 2-3 sets 20-30 reps [Nice and easy, not even counting reps, barely an
inconvenience]
1b Warmup: Pushups 2-3 sets 20-30 reps [Nice and easy, not even counting reps, barely an
inconvenience]
OPTIONAL: RTO Dips 1-2 sets 2-4 reps and/or Mantel Chin-ups 1-2 sets 2-4 reps [these are skills
on the edge of my ability level that I want to get better at]
2a L-Sit Pullup 2-3 sets 8-10 reps
2b Bulgarian Dip 2-3 sets 8-10 reps
3a Feet Elevated Inverted Row 2-3 sets 12-15 reps
3b Power Fly 2-3 sets 10-12 reps
4a Pelican Curl 2-3 sets 10-12 reps
4b Overhead Extension 2-3 sets 10-12 reps
4c Face Pulls 2-3 sets 12-15 reps
4d Hanging Leg Raises 2-3 sets 12-15 reps
If I have multiple upper body days a week, I’ll swap out some movements. The L-sit pullup might be
a 1-arm row; the Bulgarian dip might be an RTO pushup; the feet elevated ring row might use different
grips; the power fly might get swapped for a normal ring dip. Maybe the face pull gets swapped for
a rear delt raise or Y-raise, and the hanging leg raises get replaced by a side plank. I autoregulate the
exact number of sets. I typically take sets near failure, but not to it, it’s rare that I actually fail a rep.
Pull Day Template
1 Warmup: Pull (2-3 sets 15-30 reps, not near failure, just to get blood flow)
OPTIONAL: at this point you are warmed up and totally fresh, so this would be the ideal time to try
for a skill that is right on the edge of what you can do. As it’s barely within your capabilities, by
definition the reps will be low and challenge will be very high. But this isn’t needed and probably
shouldn’t always be done.
2 Pull (2-3 sets of a challenging pulling movement. Aim for ~5-10 reps, 1-2 RIR)
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3 Pull (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging pulling movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 0-2 RIR)
4a Curl (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging curling movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 0-1 RIR)
4c Shoulders (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging rear/side delts movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 0-1
RIR)
4d Ab (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging ab movement. 10-15 reps, 0-1 RIR)
Push Day Template
1a Warmup: Pull (2-3 sets 15-30 reps, not near failure, just to get blood flow. Yes, even on a push
day it’s good to do a few sets of inverted rows to warm up the back/shoulders. Can toss in some face
pulls, too)
1b Warmup: Push (2-3 sets 15-30 reps, not near failure, just to get blood flow)
1a/1b means alternate between the two movements. So do a set of pulls, then a set of pushes, then
back to pulls, then back to pushes. Rest times, go by feel. Do 2-3 sets here, if you feel good 2 is fine.
If you are a little achy or beaten up or older you might need 3 sets each, or even 4. Go by feel. Err on
the side of warming up MORE rather than LESS!
OPTIONAL: at this point you are warmed up and totally fresh, so this would be the ideal time to try
for a skill that is right on the edge of what you can do. As they are barely within your capabilities, by
definition the reps will be low and challenge will be very high. But this isn’t needed and probably
shouldn’t always be done.
2 Push (2-3 sets of a challenging pushing movement. Aim for ~5-10 reps, 1-2 RIR)
3 Push (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging pushing movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 0-2 RIR)
4a Extend (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging triceps movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 0-1 RIR)
4b Shoulders (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging shoulder movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 0-1 RIR)
4c Ab (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging ab movement. 10-15 reps, 0-1 RIR)
Full Body Day Template
1a Warmup: Pull (2-3 sets 15-30 reps, not near failure, just to get blood flow)
1b Warmup: Push (2-3 sets 15-30 reps, not near failure, just to get blood flow)
1a/1b means alternate between the two movements. So do a set of pulls, then a set of pushes, then
back to pulls, then back to pushes. Rest times, go by feel. Do 2-3 sets here, if you feel good 2 is fine.
If you are a little achy or beaten up or older you might need 3 sets each, or even 4. Go by feel.
OPTIONAL: at this point you are warmed up and totally fresh, so this would be the ideal time to try
for a skill (or two) that is right on the edge of what you can do. As they are barely within your
capabilities, by definition the reps will be low and challenge will be very high. But this isn’t needed
and probably shouldn’t always be done.
2a Pull (2-3 sets of a challenging pulling movement. Aim for ~5-10 reps, 1-2 RIR)
2b Push (2-3 sets of a challenging pushing movement. Aim for ~5-10 reps, 1-2 RIR)
3 Quad Movement (2-3 sets of a challenging quad movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 1-2 RIR)
4a Pull (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging pulling movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 0-2 RIR)
4b Push (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging pushing movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 0-2 RIR)
5 Hamstring Movement (2-3 sets of a challenging hamstring movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 0-1
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RIR)
6a Curl (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging curling movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 0-1 RIR)
6b Extend (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging triceps movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 0-1 RIR)
6c Shoulders (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging shoulder movement. Aim for ~10-15 reps, 0-1 RIR)
6d Ab (2-3 sets of a fairly challenging ab movement. 10-15 reps, 0-1 RIR)
Arm Day Example
All of these movements scale to pretty much any level of strength, plus there aren’t that many arm
movements available, so it’ll be a fixed example rather than a template.
1a Curl 2-3 sets, ~10-15 reps, 0-1 RIR
1b Triceps Pushup 2-3 sets, ~10-15 reps, 0-1 RIR
2a Reverse Curls 2-3 sets, ~10-15 reps, 0-1 RIR
2b Dip 2-3 sets, ~10-12 reps, 0-1 RIR
3a Pelican Curls 2-3 sets, ~8-10reps, 0-1 RIR (slow ~3 second eccentric)
3b Overhead Extensions 2-3 sets, ~8-10 reps, 0-1 RIR (slow ~3 second eccentric)
Ring Height By Exercise
This section is just a rough approximation of what exercises use what height of rings. If you are doing
an upper body or full body workout and alternating movements, you may wish to choose exercises
that use the same height of rings. Switching between doing a pullup, which requires the rings to be
high, then doing a power fly, which requires the rings to be low, is what is commonly referred to in
the literature as “a fuckin’ pain in the ass”.
It’s not the end of the world to change the height of the rings, as you’ll be resting anyway, but
assuming you’re about as lazy as I am, it’s optimal to try to pick movements of roughly the same
height, when you can. Keep in mind these are just estimates, the exact height will depend on how
strong you are at a given movement.
High
High Incline Inverted Row, 1-arm row, Pull-Ins, Pullups, L-Sit Pullups, Mantel Pullups, 1-Arm Chinups,
Face Pulls, Rear Delt Raises, Y-Raises, Skiers, Ring Hanging Leg Raises
Medium
Pistol Squats, Pendulum Squats, Incline Pushup, Ring Crossover, Dips, Incline Full Fly, Bulgarian Dips,
RTO dips, Low Incline Inverted Row, Inverted Row, Feet Elevated Inverted Row, Incline Pike Pushup,
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Pullover, Ring Curl, Reverse Curl, Pelican Curl, Triceps Dip, Overhead Extensions, L-Sit
Low
Pushup, Feet Elevated Pushup, Power Fly, Feet Elevated Power Fly, RTO pushup, Pike Pushup, Feet
Elevated Pike Pushup, Wall Assisted Handstand Pushup, Handstand Pushup, Triceps Pushup, Ab
“Wheel” Rollouts, Ring Crunches, Ring Pike-Ups, Ring Side Plank, Ring Oblique Crunches, Ring Planks
Progressions List
Speaking very generally, you want to progress from easier variations to more difficult ones. This is
mainly in order to keep the difficulty sufficient to grow muscle. More challenging variations are usually
harder because they worsen your leverages, use a higher percentage of your bodyweight or more
fully isolate an area.
It’s worth noting that you don’t always have to do the most challenging movement that you can do,
and in fact you almost certainly should not.
First, easier variations might put you in a slightly higher rep range, which is perfectly acceptable for
muscle growth. Typically, anywhere from 5 reps up to around 30 reps per set is going to be equal on
a per-set basis. So, if you can barely do RTO dips, only getting 2-3 reps per set, it doesn’t particularly
make sense to do those if your goal is muscle growth.
Second, lower reps tend to beat you up a bit more, and you want to stay healthy and able to train
frequently. Just from a risk to reward perspective, a set of 5 or 10 or 20 is better than “maxing out”.
You also get the benefits of extra blood flow. While a pump isn’t everything, it’s certainly nice. Get a
pump before really testing yourself.
Third, often technique suffers with extremely challenging movements, especially considering the
inherent instability of the rings.
Fourth, joints take time to adapt. Perhaps your central nervous systems and muscles will be ready to
progress, but your tendons might not be. Hello, injury.
Fifth, you can always add weight to the easier variations. Presto, it’s no longer easy.
Sixth, ditto with modifying tempo by slowing down the eccentric or pausing. You can get a lot out
of the “easy” lifts by intentionally upping the challenge.
Seventh, realize that for many progressions, there’s a large gap between movements. For some,
there’s a very smooth progression that you can modify session by session to keep things sufficiently
challenging, but not too challenging. For others, there’s not much in the middle so that leap to the
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next movement is significant. I tried to show this in the charts below; if there’s a long line between
movements, it’s probably a progression that will take a good deal of time.
Unlike lifting weights, you’re lifting yourself, so you’ll have to modify your mechanics to progress. It’s
worth noting that many gymnasts lift weights. Getting strong solves a lot of problems, and ultimately
the limiting factor for many high-level movements is just how strong you are. Yes, there are specific
skills involved, as with powerlifting or weightlifting or literally anything you can do with your body,
but if your muscles are too small and weak to produce the required force you will just fail.
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PULLING AND ROWING PROGRESSIONS
FACE
PULLS
HIGH
INCLINE
INVERTED
ROW
SKIERS
REAR DELT
RAISES
LOW
INCLINE
INVERTED
ROW
PULL-INS
Y-RAISES
INVERTED
ROW
1-ARM
ROWS
PULLOVER
FEET ELEVATED
INVERTED ROW
(“RACK CHIN”)
PULLUPS
L-SIT
PULLUPS
MANTEL
PULLUP
S
1-ARM
CHINUPS
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PUSHING AND PRESSING PROGRESSIONS
INCLINE
PUSHUP
INCLINE PIKE
PUSHUP
PUSHUP
FEET
ELEVATED
PUSHUP
PIKE
PUSHUP
RING
CROSSOVER
DIPS
POWER
FLY
FEET ELEVATED
PIKE PUSHUP
RTO
PUSHUP
INCLINE
FULL FLY
FEET ELEVATED
POWER FLY
BULGARIAN
DIPS
WALL
ASSISTED
HANDSTAND
PUSHUP
FULL FLY
RTO
DIPS
HANDSTAND
PUSHUP
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Disclaimer: I’m not a medical professional, bother your doctor before starting any training plan,
always be safe, don’t sue me, yadda yadda yadda. If you’re not sure if something is stupid, it’s probably
stupid. Progress gradually. Don’t be a dumdum. Geoffrey Verity Schofield is not responsible for
anything that happens because of reading this book. Unless it’s good. In which case I wholeheartedly
take complete and full credit for your hard work. OK, think I’m covered.
YouTube Channels I Recommend:
AlphaDestiny
AlphaDestiny Rings Playlist
Brandon Wynn
Calisthenicmovement
Dominik Sky
FitnessFAQs
Gymnastics Method
Meckanimal
Bonus: Full Ring Workout!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9GQrEjOn-Q
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