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Happy Fat Rings - All you need to know about Gymnastic Rings

Updated: Apr 24

Get better results with wooden gymnastic rings, a simple tool for incredible workouts



Wooden gymnastic rings are simple yet powerful tools that can transform your workouts and help you achieve exceptional results. Regardless of your fitness level or experience, incorporating these rings into your training routine can unlock a world of benefits. From building strength and improving flexibility to enhancing overall fitness, wooden gymnastic rings offer a versatile and effective way to elevate your workout game.


1. Benefits of Wooden Gymnastic Rings:


2. The advantages of using wooden gymnastic rings are truly remarkable. These rings challenge your body in unique ways, promoting functional strength, improved stability, and enhanced muscle development. Unlike conventional gym equipment, the instability of the rings engages your stabilizing muscles, resulting in greater overall strength gains. Additionally, wooden rings provide a more natural grip, reducing the strain on your joints and preventing discomfort commonly associated with other equipment.


3. Versatile Exercises and Movements:


4. One of the greatest strengths of wooden gymnastic rings lies in their versatility. They open up a wide range of exercises and movements that target various muscle groups, allowing you to engage in a full-body workout. Push and pull routines are particularly effective for muscle building, and wooden rings excel in this area. Ring push-ups, where the rings are used as handles, intensify the activation of your chest, shoulders, and triceps. Meanwhile, ring rows engage your back, biceps, and core, providing a challenging pulling exercise.



Gym rings for muscles and weight
Gymnastics rings to loose weight and build muscles


Do Gymnastic Rings Build Muscle?


5. To optimize muscle growth, it's essential to establish a strong mind-muscle connection during your workouts. Wooden gymnastic rings facilitate this connection by requiring precise control and concentration throughout each movement. By focusing on the targeted muscles and maintaining proper form, you can increase the effectiveness of your training and stimulate hypertrophy. Engaging your mind in the process enhances muscle recruitment and helps you achieve better results.

Combine your rings with a well thought out training program centered on hypertrophy and you’ll begin to notice your muscular gains in no time flat. Maintain high levels of muscular tension across multiple sets and reps to optimize your results on the rings. For muscle building its critical to push the muscles to their limit. Center your efforts on exhausting each exercise during your training plan and you’ll see optimal results. Don’t forget the above mentioned “MIND-MUSCLE CONNECTION.”


What is the mind-muscle connection?


A person must look to their ability to contract and relax the muscles they intend to use in the movement. If we are going to work the legs, it is imperative that we feel the leg muscles contract and expect force. Many trainees begin exercising without any consciousness to whether the muscles they are intending to work are functioning in a meaningful way.


Spending time feeling and squeezing the muscles of the body will prime the organism for the work that will be done. Coaches around the world are constantly telling their clients, “Activate your glutes!” “Squeeze your obliques!” ... their clients have no idea where these muscles are or how to “activate “ them because they’ve never consciously done so.




This is a skill that’s must be learned and practiced regularly from the very beginning. I recommend being a little vain and spend some time in front of a mirror everyday flexing different parts of the body. When it comes time to exercise, visualise and try to stimulated the conscious contraction of those exact muscles being employed by the exercise.



Build muscles with ring workouts
Workouts to build muscles


Best Workouts to Build Muscle.


When it comes to building muscle there exist a plethora of options. The most important considerations when planning your routine are the constraints on volumen and recovery. First you must consider how often you want to or are capable of working out. You’ll want to dedicate at least 3 days a week to your routine, and conceivably train 5 to 6 days a week if you recover well and plan intelligently.

Next you’ll need to take into account the sets and reps; the combined total of which gives you an idea of your total volumen of training. You’re going to want to work between 3 and 10 sets per exercise and between 8 to 20 reps per set.

Beginners will need to limit their volume to the lower end of these spectrums. Their training experience and physical preparation can’t handle huge intense amounts of volumen at first and will have to slowly build up to more demanding training protocols. Remember that hard work is key, but proper recovery is also a must for building bicep busting workout routines. You must have a solid nutritional plan in place and also sleep and recover adequately to allow the body to heal and grow.


To learn more about techniques to help level up your muscle building goals read this: https://www.happy-fat-rings.com/post/rock-solid


Best Work outs for Fat Loss


6. Incorporating wooden gymnastic rings into your fat loss journey can accelerate your progress and add excitement to your workouts. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) circuits using the rings can effectively boost your heart rate, burn calories, and stimulate fat loss. Circuits that combine exercises like ring dips, ring rows, and ring mountain climbers create a challenging and dynamic workout experience. By engaging multiple muscle groups simultaneously, these workouts elevate your metabolism and promote efficient fat burning.


7. When it comes to workout equipment, safety and stability are paramount. Wooden gymnastic rings excel in both areas. Their sturdy construction, combined with a reliable grip, ensures stability during exercises. This reduces the risk of slips or accidents and allows you to focus on maximizing your performance. Moreover, the wooden surface is gentle on your skin, preventing discomfort or calluses that can occur with other types of rings. The reduced strain on your joints makes wooden rings an excellent choice for individuals with joint sensitivities or previous injuries.



8. Incorporating wooden gymnastic rings into your workout routine can take your fitness journey to new heights. The versatility, benefits, and safety features of these rings make them an invaluable tool for muscle building and fat loss. By leveraging push and pull routines, focusing on mind-muscle connection, and embracing the dynamic workouts they offer, you can unleash your potential and achieve extraordinary results. So why wait? Embrace the power of wooden gymnastic rings and transform your workouts today.


For an excellent run down on how to lose body fat while implementing a workout plan please follow this link and check out this article: https://www.elitefts.com/education/the-fat-loss-blueprint/


Workout rings at a glance


A great sample workout that promotes muscular hypertrophy:

Rest or active recovery is recommended on the off days during the week. Progress either the difficulty of the exercise itself by incorporating harder variants over time or add sets and reps as capacity increases. Rest between 90” up to 2 min. Between sets as needed and give your self 2-3 min rest between exercises.

Day 1: Pushups 5-8 series x 15-20 reps / Chin-up or Pull-up 5-8 series x 8-15 reps / Plank 30” (progress over time 45-60”)


Day 2: Squats 10 series x 20-30 reps / Walking Lunges 100m / Hangstring bridges 5-8 series x 15-20 reps / V-ups or tuck ups 4 series x 30” max reps


Day 3: Ring Dips 5- 8 x 8-15 reps / Ring Face Pulls 3-4 series x 10- 20 reps / Ring Row 5-8 series x 15-20 reps / Ring Roll outs 3 series 8-12 reps


Day 4: Ring Assisted Pistol squats 3series x 8-12 reps/ Step-ups 4 series x 1-20 reps / HIndu Squats 4 series x 30” max reps / Ring plank Support Hold 3 series x 30” (progress time 45-60”)


There are limitless possibilities in terms of exercise selection and organization. This is a basic workout that over time will aid in building athletic ability as well as muscular hypertrophy. When it comes time to train yourself, use this as a guide and adapt it to your specific needs and goals.


Here’s a sample workout that promotes fat burning and works as a powerful metabolic stimulator. Just as with the hypertrophy workout, this is a foundation that can be used to incorporate a whole host of different exercises to keep your workouts progressing.

Keep rest times short, between 30” and make 90” depending on the level of fatigue.


Day 1: Exercise #1 Ring Mountain Climbers - 8 rounds 20” max reps / 10” rest between rounds

Exercise #2 Ring Archer Pushups - 8 rounds 20” max reps / 10” rest between rounds

Exercise #3 Ring Rows - 8 rounds 20” max reps / 10” rest between rounds

Exercise #4 V-ups - 8 rounds 20” max reps / 10” rest between rounds

(Rest 90” between exercises)


Day 2: AMRAP (As many Rounds as Possible) 10 min. 20 Squats + 10 ring Dips + 5 Ring Pullups

(Rest 3 min.)

In 3 min. 30 Jumping Lunges + 10 Ring Pushup Burpees + 10 Tuck ups - For 5 rounds

(Rest in time left during 3 minute round)


Day 3: 30” max reps / 30” rest between rounds 20min. Total

-Burpees

-Ring Rows

-Squats

-Ring Dips

-Jumping Jacks


For more great workout and exercise ideas please see our related articles here on our blog:




Also stay tuned to future articles where we’ll be updating you on specific skills and training routines to overcome those challenges as you get stronger!


A bit of history, where did gymnastic rings come from?


The gymnastic rings or “still rings” where first developed in the modern era during the early 19th century by Friedrich Jahn popularly know as the father of modern gymnastics. They were designed to increase the demands on the strength of the user while requiring high levels of stability and concentration.


The rings first appeared in competition during the 1896 Olympic Games and are generally made from wood and occasionally metal or plastic.


Wood, Plastic or Metal rings:


The Highest quality rings tend to be made out of wood. Wooden rings have a wonderful texture that allows a firm grip even in the absence of chalk. The natural oils from the hands help to treat and maintain the rings over time ensuring they last for as long as you do. Metal and plastic are cheaper alternatives that get the job done and may be appropriate for sets of rings that spend their whole lifetime outdoors or in a damaging environment, but don’t offer the feel and quality of their wooden counterparts.

Competitive rings have a diameter of 28mm but can have width variations depending on the manufacturer or purpose of use. Official competitions have the rings suspended from straps at 2.5m above the floor and 50cm apart from one another.


Competitive styles on the rings have progressed from pure strength and stability routines in the early years of competition toward more dynamic and acrobatic forms in the modern era.


You can learn more about the history of the rings here https://www.britannica.com/sports/rings



Fat grip 36mm gym rings
Thick grip gymnastics rings


Happy Fat Rings are born 2020!


Despite the competition standard of 28mm for the diameter of the rings, HFR designed the definitive wooden gymnastic ring improving on the original by widening the gripping surface. We are just a bunch of workout nuts that have a passion for improvement, whether it be smashing personal training goals or trying to get the best out of our equipment, the Happy Fat Rings team is always looking for ways to level up. Our specialized “thick-grip” rings the next step in gymnastic rings evolution.



Best gym rings? Why a fatter grip is better.


Wider gripping surfaces require that the hand exerts more force to hold onto the ring. As the hands squeeze tighter, the forearms, biceps, triceps and deltoids become involved in helping to sustain the effort according to the theory of radiative strength. Thick rings promote faster, more comfortable skill and strength development, especially in adult practitioners. Increased muscle activation helps to displace joint stress over a larger surface area. Healthier joints promote more frequent training sessions with less injuries. This allows the athlete to workout pain free for longer amounts of time. Although something was been tried and true for generations, there is always room for improvement and that’s what HFR’s unique 36mm base offers.



Gymnastics rings hanging outside
Hang gymnastics rings outside


Where I hang my rings?


The great part about choosing gymnastic rings as a training tool is that they are portable and versatile. You hang them just about anywhere, from a tree branch or out door gymnasium to anywhere indoors with the space to accommodate you. When you’re down you roll up your straps and drop your rings in your bag and you’re ready to go. There’s no special, right place to do your training, anywhere you can is a great place to get in your work out.


How do I hang my rings?


The best part of having gymnastic rings is being able to workout just about anywhere you desire. Most rings come in their own travel bag, so rolling up your straps and stowing your rings takes only a moment. If you have access to a park you can train outdoors or even bring your pwn pair to the gym with you, home set up is also quite simple.


So to get started, first find a sturdy cross beam or branch that is sure to hold your weight. Absolutely test this first before committing to your workout because you don’t want an accident!


Once you’re sure about your spot, toss your strap buckles over the bar. Pass the non-buckle end under the ring then down through the buckle as indicated by the arrow on the buckle itself.


Adjust the rings to the desire height and TEST them again! Make sure that the rings and their support surface are easily going to support your weight and movement. Don’t take it for granted. Once you’re sure that you’re stable and safe you’re ready to train.


If you’re having trouble or want detailed instructions with fotos and a step by step tutorial please follow this link: https://www.happy-fat-rings.com/post/how-to-set-up-your-rings-for-home-use


At the bottom of the article you’ll find a video on some other home installation options if the cross bar doesn’t suit your purposes.


For this and more check out our full blog series at www.happy-fat-rings.com and get your first pair of the world’s only, original fat-grip wooden gymnastic rings here: www.happy-fat-rings.com/shop


Looking for information on bodyweight training, calisthenics skills and product reviews and information? Check out our collaborators over at Calisthenics Worldwide: https://calisthenicsworldwide.com/

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1 Comment


Donald Gannon
Donald Gannon
Jun 16, 2023

Great article, I learned a lot. Thanks

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