subject: Gymnastic Rings For Body Weight Exercising [print this page] Once upon a time gymnastic rings played a fundamental part of most gyms, gyms where people had a real no frills strength as opposed to gym strength, a time where if someone looked strong they were strong. Sadly, as weight training machines became more and more hi-tech and widely available the gymnastic rings became something that only practising gymnasts could play with. But all that has changed. Olympus has for sale its Gymnastic Rings for Bodyweight Exercising. These affordable gymnastic rings can provide you with an unrivalled body workout that will bring with it the level of strength most people can only dream of.
I suppose one could speculate that their recent resurgence in popularity has something to do with the Olympics earlier this year. The power from the gymnasts is quite evident and I would be lying if I said I wanted a little bit envious about their phenomenal strength. The ability to hold your body in a fixed position without so much as a wobble is not something to be taken lightly.
These gymnastic rings can be anchored onto exposed beams, trees, pull-up bars or ceiling joists. They are provided with a 5m nylon strap with fasteners that allow for a quick height change making them extremely user friendly. These particular rings are designed for fitness and strength training and not for budding gymnasts so please take care when using them and make sure you only use them for their desired purpose.
Examples of Exercises:
The Bulgarian Pull Up and Chin Up: These are pull ups performed on the rings. They target the back, the biceps and the shoulders.
The Ring Dips: These are dips performed on the rings. It targets the triceps, the shoulders and the chest.
The Ring Fly: These are performed in the push up position targeting the chest, the shoulders, the biceps and the abdomen.
Anyone who has watched gymnastics will have seen that an element of it is holding a fixed position (such as the Iron Cross). These are more advanced exercises that require excellent levels of strength.
As with any exercise using the rings, you will engage your entire body constantly during all training as a means of stabilizing yourself. This will strengthen your core and your legs as well as the primary muscles used. The benefit of this is any exercise performed will be more difficult. It is similar to the age old argument of free weights versus fixed machines. A fixed machine will only target a specific muscle or group of muscles whereas free weights require you to engage additional muscles for the purpose of stability. Gymnastic rings follow the same principle as the free weights but at a considerably higher degree of difficulty because you are stabilizing your complete body weight as opposed to a dumbbell.
I chose to pick out 3 exercises out of a large number available to give an idea of what can be achieved with these gymnastic strength rings. There are numerous workout routines available online so it would be worth researching some based on your level of fitness and tailoring a routine to suit both your existing strength/fitness and goals. They offer a variety of movements that are extremely functional and, as proved for hundreds of years, can deliver incredible results.
Gymnastic rings are some of the best training tools available. They offer a basic, yet challenging exercise regime that will deliver amazing results. Think about this; have you ever seen a scrawny gymnast??? I thought not
