A complete guide on how to build muscle with gym rings
Gym rings are one of the best pieces of equipment and you can easily get in a full-body workout with just these. They are particularly useful for pulling movements also.
Many people will ask, what split should I choose? What is the optimal amount of sets or reps? What is the BEST exercise? How many days a week should I train?
It doesn't matter.
I will go over a complete guide but you can optimize it for you, it's about what works for you. "But I can only train 1 day per week," Then train 1 day per week."But I don't know what to do." Then listen. "But I don't know what the BEST exercise is." Doesn't matter.
If you are a new lifter then as long as you are doing a few basic rules (Which I will outline in this post), eating a good diet, and training hard, you WILL gain muscle. This is a more callisthenics-based workout and callisthenics is just training with your own body weight. We are going to split these workouts into Push, pull, and leg exercises
Pushing movements to work your chest, shoulders and triceps
Pulling movements work your back, biceps and rear delts
Leg exercises work your legs, surprise.
Within that, there are 4 main upper-body movements -
A vertical push (such as an Overhead press, dumbbell shoulder press or handstand push-up)
A horizontal push (such as a bench press, dumbbell press or push-up)
A vertical pull (such as a lat pull down or pull up)
A horizontal pull (such as a barbell row, chest-supported row, single-arm dumbbell row or ring row)
And there are 2 main lower-body movements -
A leg press (such as a squat, leg press or Bulgarian split squat)
A hip hinge (such as a Romanian deadlift)
With these 6 movements, you can build a pretty good physique, but to build a truly impressive and aesthetic physique, we need more than just these exercises. This is a full workout guide on how to build a great physique and maximise your body.
Now not everyone is at the same fitness level, so choose a progression which you can do for 8 - 15 reps where you train to failure. Once you can do 15-20 of an exercise, move on to the next hardest variation. All the progressions are easiest to hardest. If you are in the middle of 2 exercises, say you can do 20 of one but only 3 of the next, then I would recommend doing it on your knees until you can do the movement for 8 or more reps. Remember, you can also add weight or reps to progress, for example with a backpack on your back or a weight belt.
Now for the workout:
Dynamic stretches(30 seconds for each stretch) - You need to stretch before a workout to make sure you don't get injured. Here is the warm-up:
Small arm circles forwards
Small arm circles backwards
Full arm swings forwards
Full arm swings backwards
Wall slides
Trunk rotations
5 min cardio at a moderate pace (cycling, treadmill, row etc.)- this is optional, and studies have found that this is particularly beneficial for leg workouts.
Also, one quick note, the rings are tough, so if you cannot do an exercise with the rings you can build up to it without the rings. Always make sure to look up how to do an exercise if you don't know how to do it with proper form.
Exercise 1 - Ring Push up
The ring push-up is superior to the normal push-up for a couple of reasons. For one, there is an increased stretch and higher range of motion on the chest, which leads to increased muscle hypertrophy. Another reason is more work for the stabilisers (notably the rotator cuff) which can increase upper body strength and help with overall health as they are often overlooked.
Incline ring push ups
Knee ring push ups
Ring push ups
One Arm push ups
One arm ring push ups
An excellent exercise for the shoulders and also works the triceps and chest decently. The rings are better as they allow for an increased range of motion, leading to more gains.
PROGRESSIONS
Knee planche push-ups
Pike push ups (progressively bring your feet and hands closer together)
Ring pike push ups
Elevated ring pike push ups
Wall assisted handstand push ups
Handstand push ups
Ring handstand push ups
Exercise 3 - Ring row (Lats, Trapezius, Rhomboids, Rear delts and teres)
The ring row is a fantastic exercise and strengthens the entire back. It is also one of the most easily adjustable so you can definitely find your level.
Incline ring row (Progressively decrease the incline until parallel)
Parallel ring rows
Parallel single arm ring rows
Decline single arm ring rows
90-degree suspended ring rows
The king of all back exercises, and for good reason. It works the entire back but puts particular emphasis on the lats which are one of the most important muscles for an aesthetic body.
Single leg assisted ring pull ups
Negative ring pull ups
Jumping ring pull ups
Pull ups
Archer ring pull ups
One hand finger assisted ring pull ups
One hand ring pull ups
Horizontal push (Ring push up)
Vertical push (Ring Pike push up)
Vertical pull (Ring pull up)
You can make some very good upper body gains, but we can do better. To help get the extra 20% out of our upper body we can make use of isolation movements, which are movements which primarily target just one muscle. We can use these to help grow stubborn body parts and build a balanced physique.
This exercise is similar to the ring row, but this time we will use a supinated (underhand) grip to target the biceps. Use the same progressions as the normal ring row.
The dip is a classic bodybuilding exercise, and for good reason. It is one of the very best for hitting the triceps. However, to work the triceps effectively, we need to make sure we are using an upright stance to prioritise the triceps. This diagram shows the difference.
PROGRESSIONS
Leg assisted ring dips
Single leg assisted ring dips
Weighted dips (with a backpack for example progress by adding more weight in the bag)
Leg exercises:
Squats (Quads, Glutes)
The king of all leg exercises, and for good reason too. It can be easily adjusted to your fitness level too.
PROGRESSIONS
Assisted squats
Jackknife squats
Squats
Narrow squats
Side staggered squats
Front staggered squats
Skater squats
Assisted pistol squats
Pistol squats
Dragon pistol squats
Nordic leg curls (Hamstrings)
A killer exercise to strengthen and grow the hamstrings and also prevent injuries.
PROGRESSIONS
Razor curl
Hamstring hip hinge curl
Partial range nordic curl - Gradually increase range of motion
Nordic curl
Bridges (Glutes, hamstrings, also for mobility - spine)
Great for strengthening the glutes, hamstrings and spine as well to prevent any injuries.
Ring Leg raises
PROGRESSIONS
Lying knee raises
Lying Bent knee raises(slightly bent)
Lying Frog raises
Lying leg raises
Hanging knee raises
Hanging bent knee raises (slightly bent)
Hanging leg raises
Hanging toe to bars
PROGRESSIONS
Short bridges
Single-leg short bridges
Straight bridges
Elevated straight bridges
High Angled bridges
Full bridge
Single-leg full bridge
Wall walking bridges
Stand-to-stand bridge partial reps
Stand-to-stand bridge
Below are the three most common training splits, so either choose one which you like or make your own. Just make sure you are doing each exercise 2-3 days a week and rest each muscle group for at least 48 hours before working it again.
This is a push pull legs split, repeat this cycle twice a week, resting for a day in between each cycle. I have given example days below as well to help you out, but you don't have to follow them.)
Day 1 - PUSH (Monday, Thursday)
Ring push up
Pike push up
Upright tricep dip
Day 2 - PULL (Tuesday, Friday)
Ring row
Supinated grip ring row
Ring pull up
Day 3 - LEGS (Wednesday, Saturday)
Bridges
Pike push up
Upright tricep dip
Ring row
Rear delt ring raise
Supinated grip ring row
Ring pull up
Squats
Nordic curl
Bridges
Ring leg raises
Day 1 - UPPER (Monday, Thursday)
Pike push up
Upright tricep dip
Ring row
Rear delt ring raise
Supinated grip ring row
Ring pull up
Nordic curl
Bridges
Ring leg raises
A FEW KEY RULES
1. Reps and sets - 5-15 reps are ideal. Perform each exercise for 3 sets.
2. Progressive overload - Each week, make sure you are improving something. For example, one week I could do 10 reps and then the next week I would try for 11 reps. This is key as you need to be giving your muscles more load as they get stronger.
3. Training to failure - You need to be training within 1-2 reps of complete muscular failure. If you don't train hard, don't bother working out. Seriously. You could be doing the worst workout possible, but if you were training hard you would probably still see some results.
CARDIO
Cardio is essential to keep fit, and I would recommend 150 mins of exercise each week, excluding this. You could split that up into 20 minutes each day, and it could be anything, sports, walking, running, cycling, anything to get the heart rate up. Your heart is a muscle as well, and it needs to be trained like every other muscle.
NUTRITION
As long as you are eating healthy, I see no reason to count calories or macros, especially if you are a teen. Priorities real, whole foods as opposed to processed foods. Eating a balanced diet is also important, but you could look to eat more protein to help with muscle growth. Below are my favourite healthy, nutritious foods which have lots of protein.
Legumes(Lentils, chickpeas etc)
Nuts and seeds
Meat
Fish
Eggs
Yoghurt
Milk
Oats
Other healthy lifestyle changes I would recommend would be prioritising healthy snacks, switching that KitKat or a packet of crisps for a handful of nuts, or an apple. Protein supplements are also popular, now I am not totally against them, but I think you can get all the required macronutrients without them. They may taste good and have not much sugar, but almost all of them contain lots of unhealthy chemicals and sweeteners. Then again, a protein bar once in a while won't do much harm.
