Creating this YouTube video of the Rings One routine was super fun, but...
My long suffering spouse shot this on her iPhone 4, and I put it together using iMovie and its royalty-free music clips.
Doing the session was arm shaking but mindblowing: working through the Rings One progression from Gold Medal Bodies (affiliate link), doing things I couldn't remotely do before, and getting incrementally stronger from one week to the next.
Filming, editing, and sharing it? MasterCard priceless.
And the insights that came from the creating and sharing? More critical to the success of the program than the workout itself.
That iPhone 4 lens sure does add 15 lbs. Wide angle lenses will do that (as will needing to lose 15 lbs). Must ask for a Canon S95 or Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 for Christmas...
The 2nd month of this routine (section A2) calls for a step up in focus and daring. It's no longer about familiar bodyweight cals being made merely more challenging by unstable rings. After landing on my head during the Tuck To Tuck Shoulder Stand -- twice -- I've lowered the rings from waist height to hiking boot height, to practice holding the bottom position with inches to fall instead of a yard. Just in case.
I'm suddenly very attentive to to proper form and mastering preparatory moves. Working for the first time in your life with your torso pointed head down, clutching your full bodyweight on suspension gear, will do that.
It's impossible to phone these workouts in.
If you've ever wondered, "Man, that'd be cool to do, but, what's the point of doing, uh, circus tricks besides saying you can do them?" here are some answers:
- Gymnastic ring moves are seriously cool, flat out.
- See #1.
- The level of coordination demanded by these moves is -- there's no other word for it -- extreme, which leads to a serious acceleration of strength and functional hypertrophy development. Your muscular contraction over the entire body is total, the neural signal recruitment is maximal, and your mental focus maintaing balance and controlling movement is completely present. See Coach Christopher Sommer's website for some freakish examples of just how strong gymnasts are when tested against conventional standards.
- Most movements are done slowly, which seriously develops control and smoothness in your movements. If you've ever wanted a sense of mastery over moving your body through space, gymnastics work is totes about all that.
Bodyweight for strength and size development is often compared to weight training: you can get a comparable muscular challenge by lifting less than a fully loaded barbell (your bodyweight or a portion thereof) at a mechanical disadvantage, like doing a one-arm handstand press.
To me this seems like putting the cart before the horse, for gymnastics. It's not about being as good as lifting iron for strength/size, by using the "trick" of off-axis lifting to increase the difficulty. Most gymnastic ring movements are impossible to do without high levels of strength, control, focus, kinesthetic zanshin, and logistical prep. You develop all of these attributes, because you cannot perform the routines -- at all -- without them.
No program is all things to all people. Gymnastic rings
- Aren't for a low-to-moderate intensity aerobic workout
- Are dangerous if you tend to "jump right in" without following directions and progressions
- Are a bit binding -- you are clutching straps for dear life, after all
- Need prep work if you're in no way "athletic" to begin with (see "More pull-ups primer" under Products, here)
- Need constant attention to mastering one level before advancing to the next
But what they enable you to do and develop, they do with extreme and highly enjoyable efficiency.
