Ring girls

Jamila Bey · 10-28-2006, 10:25 PM

Hey folks!

I hoped to get some interest and response with that header! ;P

Anyhow, I'm a big strong girl who was designed to deadlift, so my rings do nothing but make me feel inadequate. Aside from ring bridges and pushups, I have a hard time with everything else. I can get 1/2 a pull up and I can lower into a dip, but getting back up to a support is not happening!

Are there any other women who have no traditional gymnastics background who have been able to get some proficiency on ring training stuff?

Eva Claire Synkowski · 10-29-2006, 08:00 AM

even with minimal upper body strength, you can still work on just inversions on the rings. first in a tuck position, then extended legs, then a pike, then skin the cat, etc. also, try l-sits on the rings. you can modify by staying in a tuck in support, or extending one leg at a time.

as for ring dips – ive been able to work from zero to sets of 3 in about 6 months. keep working your negatives. once youre muscles are spent on those in a set, add one of those assistance bands. they can take 30 lbs+ off your weight, which should allow you to do sets with multiple reps. tailor workouts to have rings dips, and do them as negatives, assisted, etc.

you mentioned pull-ups: was this to indicate upper body strength? or are you doing these on the rings? getting pu's on rings doesnt translate well to the bar - learn pu’s on a bar. eva t has a great video on the crossfit site of how to learn the kipping pu. if you have good hip power and decent upper body strength, then you should be able to do them. i found two things helped me learn the hip power: doing some overhead soccer throw-ins and crossing your legs during the kip. sounds a bit odd, but helped me learn to fire the hip (once you have it, you can go back to frog kipping, etc.). same thing here, progression will be slow. i had zero kipping pu’s in jan (although could do several dead hang) and now have sets in the 15 range. until you get them, you can also work body rows.

[to qualify the response: im 6 ft tall, ~185 lbs, zero gymnastics background. im a remedial gymnast, but improving (albeit, slowly)]

Robb Wolf · 10-29-2006, 12:01 PM

Jamila-
You work in marketing, right?

Nice work on the Sub-line!

I can not add much to Ev'a awesome suggestions. Pick a movement or two and work them DAILY. I like the dip and the various pulls to inversion working towards skin-the-cat. Careful with the STC!!! Nicki really hurt her AC joint about a year ago by going to far on this movement too quickly.

You will be able to get a muscle-up, back roll to support, shoulde rstands, STC and some other goodies. it will just take time and diligence. If you want to keep us posted on your progress in this thread that would be awesome.

Jamila Bey · 10-30-2006, 09:27 AM

I wish I worked in marketing! That sure pays better than the life of a lowly freelancer! But the freedom is amazing!

Anyhow, I'm happy to keep y'all posted on my slow but steady progress with my rings.

Hah- I just got this note from Tyler's site that there's a new ring guide.
http://www.ringtraining.com/ringtrainingguide.pdf

Jeremy Jones · 10-31-2006, 12:05 PM

I would say the title worked. It got 125 views in less than 24 hrs.

You might try setting the rings about head height and just playing around with them (feet on the floor). See if you can come up with some interesting positions (like doing a ring row with one arm out to the side in a mock iron cross).

I think a big hurdle for many people is to get used to hanging on to the damn things, and how squirly they can be. Just letting your legs stay on the floor, but in a 'jello' type state should start preparing you to do some of the more advanced moves while building up your confidence.