I done bought me some dangle-hoops

[wafter]

Yes, they are quite big....205mm from my wrist to the tip of my longest finger. Maybe I should try wearing some gel pad track mitts or ski gloves. After all, I'm only dangling, not twirling about.

Yes; I think that pushes them into the larger end of the spectrum. IIRC 195mm is considered about average for blokes.. mine are about 190mm. As you say, no reason you can't use gloves.

I have massive respect for those who can twirl; considering the amount of strength required just to maintain static holds, that and the coordination required to launch yourself about on them must be insane!

 

[wafter]

Mother away for the weekend, torture-hoops now installed on the landing.

Posts may be shorter / more sparse over the coming days if my arms fall off and I have to type with my face..

 

[wafter]

A few months in and I'm starting to settle into a bit of a routine.

The past few weeks I've managed some hoop-action in the park on the way home on Monday and Wednesday nights, with the plan being to squeeze in another sitting at home later in the week, although this has so far proved elusive as I'm usually totally wrung out at the end of the week.

Routine is currently

- Ring rows, x10
- L-sit (or as pitifully close to it as I can get) for 30 seconds
- Ring pressups x as many as I can manage, currently about 5
- Dead-hang knee-raises x 10

This routine is done three times and finished off with an as-long-as-I-can-manage fully relaxed dead hang to decompress everything.

I'm also looking to incorporate some supported tricep dips too but find them bloody difficult and my form is terrible.

The rings remain absolutely punishing but it also feels great to be exercising bits that other activities can't reach. Progress is slow and I still largely resemble a potato, but I can feel a difference in the fit of my clothes around my shoulders / lats / delts / traps.

The rings are a great exercise to do on the way home since they largely target the upper body, meaning I can give it a hammering while leaving my ability to get home largely unaffected. Plus, since it's targeting a whole different set of muscles it effectively doubles the source of post-exercise endorphines, usually leaving me with a pretty substantial high afterwards.

It's deceptive how much effort is required for some of these exercises - last night I clocked 75% of max HRM after doing on of the L-sits. The dead-hang to finish is fantastic as it leaves seemingly most of the upper back and arms stretched and loose; leaving me with a lovely lightness in the upper-body for the ride home. While my muscles ache a bit in the days afterwards they never feel tight or painful.

I should probably concentrate a bit more on the weights as I've let these slip, but it seems that between the bike, rings, dumbells, pressups and a bit of walking that's most bases covered

 

[wafter]

Another update since this thread is proving so popular

The routine has been slimmed down to three sets of the following:

- Static support; 45 seconds (up from 30 a while ago); usually struggle on the last set
- Ring rows from near-horizontal; as many as I can do to failure which is typically 6-8 per set
- Dead hang knee-raises; 10 off with the last set incorporating alternate lifts to the left and right to target the obliques with reps to failure

This is topped off by a dead-hang for as long as possible then a couple of seated stretches to target the glutes and quads.

I also do the odd random chin-up if I find myself in an appropriate environment; be that one then as slow-an-eccentric as I can, or as many reps as I can (usually a whole two, currently).

I've also bought some gym chalk as my grip has noticeably been limiting some work like the dead-hangs when it's been raining / I'm sweating.


I can't say as I've noticed any obvious strength gains however I've gone from two sessions on Mon & Wed knackering me to Mon, Wed, Fri and this week have had some time on the rings pretty much every day without it destroying me.. I'm definitely feeling it more in my abs, glutes, inner thighs and possibly hip flexors - most likely due to the knee-raises but I also think that low cadence stuff on the Brompton is punishing these areas too.

Range of motion with the knee-raises is still limited although I think I can get my quads just beyond horizontal now, which is progress.

There remains more muscle definition in my upper body however progress is slow so hard to gauge, I'm certainly not what you'd objectively describe as muscular and there's still a lot of excess fat.

As I hopefully continue to improve I'd like to incorporate more chin-ups and eventually proper pull-ups once I've reached the ability to actually do one - will probably follow the route I have with the chin-ups; i.e. start with negs and look to work up to full reps. I'd also like to look at single-arm ring rows (although these are sodding difficult) as I think I have a growing asymmetry issue, while I'd also like to get onto some dips - something else I've found very difficult so far.

Progress is slow but tangible and it feels good to be doing something positive

 

[wafter]

Servings of dangling have been all over the place in the past week. Last Monday saw a session pre-massage, then nothing until Saturday while I attempted to recover from said massage.

I've done some each day since; today being thrown into the shade by a 5yr old girl casually doing muscle-ups on the bars next to me.. I got talking to her dad and it turns out we have mutual school friends - it was really good to chat to someone sound and it seemed like he was doing a great job or raising his kids with an interest in the outdoors / fitness and little of the crap many parents seem to placate thier kids with for an easy life.

Probably no rings tomorrow as it's pub night; then I'll aim to continue with daily sittings circumstances permitting.

Since this is an outdoor activity I'm concerned about my ability to sustain it throughout the winter, although the limited but tangible gains I've seen so far are helping with motivation

 

[wafter]

Broke a bit more new ground today; continuing the same format as before but (just) managed to up the support holds to 60 seconds from 45, and the number of knee-raises from 10 to 12 per set.

Rows remain a bit all over the place as the bar height I hang the rings from varies by location so effort will as well. Managed 2x10 reps then 8x to exhaustion, while I usually manage less at the park in Oxford because the setup is different and I'm closer to horizontal.

Realistically I'm probably getting time on the rings 4-5 days per week.

Not sure if pushing some activities further is detremental to others,however the muscles limiting each seem to be different which I guess it a good thing - pecs on the holds, biceps on the rows and abs / quads on the knee raises.

Aesthetically progress appears to continue at a modest pace, while I think the growing back / core strength has improved my posture and the stretching hopefully my upper body mobility too. Did today's effort at the end the usual short utilty ride and I feel much better for getting out.

All very welcome and an incentive to continue; can't see it being much fun throughout the winter though...

 

[wafter]

Back on the rings yesterday for the first time in weeks (or in any meaningful sense months) thanks to the weather and illness / fatigue.

Not a great showing but not as bad as I'd feared; felt great afterwards... now most of my upper-body aches horrendously so presumably I'm doing it right

 

[winjim]

Some lads had a set of these at the park yesterday. They let my 5yo have a go, set them up for his height and everything. He was well chuffed, then they impressed him even more by doing some fancy moves up the walls and across the rails.

 

[wafter]

Some lads had a set of these at the park yesterday. They let my 5yo have a go, set them up for his height and everything. He was well chuffed, then they impressed him even more by doing some fancy moves up the walls and across the rails.

Nice - it's always good to share

Conversely to your experience, a while ago I had a bold child approach me asking to try - this resulted in two seconds of joy as he swung wildly from one, before gravity demanded it's potential energy back - causing his head to smack into the frame the rings were hanging off He was subsequently returned to his mother with profuse apologies for breaking her offspring

Also, sadly I can't do any cool tricks; unless you count quivering awkwardly while attempting to simply support my own body weight. Once you've had a go, it really drives home how insanely strong and skilled some gymnasts are..

 

[wafter]

Predictably progress remains slow - both generally and since I'm still getting back into a regular routine after winter's weather and illness really curtailed my time on the rings.

I think I forgot to mention up-thread that at some point I altered the support a little hold - from hands parallel right next to my hips to maybe 4-6" outboard. Doesn't sound like much of a change but initially made the difference between comfortably maintaining the hold for a minute to almost like I'd never touched the rings before - very unstable unstable and barely achievable for any length of time.

I'm now back up to typically 45-60 seconds on the first sitting, diminishing by maybe 15 seconds per session on the remaining two. The next step is "rings turned out" (RTO) where the hands are rotated outwards by 90 deg each. Subtle on the face of it, but again a whole new level of impossible. I intend to start gradual rotations outward once I can maintain the current hold for 60 seconds on the last set.

I'm maybe creeping forward a little on the rows and have upped the knee raises quite significantly - last time managing 20 reps on the first set (overhand grip, straight raises) 16 on the second (underhand grip, straight raises) and 16 on the last (overhand grip, alternate raises to left, middle and right).

After the last session on Monday I'm still feeling the effect of the knee raises in my abs but nothing to reflect the other exercises - maybe suggesting I'm not pushing myself hard enough but I'm not sure I can do any more as I'm already going to exhaustion on each set. More sets perhaps..?

I'm also not sure what's best in terms of recovery - seems I can manage more when I've not been on the rings in the past 2-3 days; raising the question of whether it's better to do fewer, longer sessions per week in a more recovered state or keep pushing shorter sessions more frequently.

Finally my diet remains less than ideal so I'm making a conscious effort to reduce carbs and increase protein intake; although this is easier said than done...