Ring push-ups are a slight variation on the traditional bodyweight push-up, introducing gymnastics rings to the exercise to add an element of instability.
Notes: As you become stronger lower the rings to increase the difficulty of the exercise.
The push-up is a staple bodyweight exercise that almost everyone is familiar with.
Adding gymnastic rings into the mix suspends your hands above ground and the independent movement of the rings makes the exercise much more difficult to control, adding an injection of intensity to the exercise. As a result, you recruit more stabilizer
muscles and maximize the benefits of the exercise.
Ring push-ups are a great way to develop the chest and shoulder muscles and by
altering the height of the rings you can control the exercise difficulty.
Gymnastics rings are not simply about adding intensity, however, and ring push-ups
allow you to move through a much greater range of motion than static floor push-ups
which is beneficial for your mobility and flexibility skills. The joints are also able to track
naturally and there’s great carry over into your grip strength.
The wide grip push-up is the same as the basic push-up except the hands are positioned further apart so they go out past your shoulders. This is one of the more difficult basic push-up exercises and focuses upon the outer muscles of the chest, rear deltoids, and back.
Similar to the basic push-up except it focuses on the triceps muscles rather than chest. Grip the rings as you would a normal push-up but as you lower your body down you keep the hands close together slightly in front of the head, rather than under the chest. Lower your body down as per the standard push-up but make sure to keep the elbows in so all the tension is focused on the tricep muscle.
The jack-knife push-up is one of our favorite variations and emphasizes shoulder development with a great hit to the abdominals.
You begin in the basic pushup position and slide the rings straight forward as far as possible without bending the arms, your body stretching forwards. Maintain the hold then pull-back to the starting position.
Lift one leg from the floor and keep it elevated throughout the exercise. Switch legs after one set are complete.
This will further unstable the body and place emphasis on core development.
Like the standard pushup, but you grip the rings near your hips and turn the rings out
so that you are now in a reverse grip position. The Psuedo-Planche Pushup is
substantially more difficult than a regular pushup.
Start with the basic push-up exercise and build upper-body strength. When you can
comfortably perform 20+ standard push-ups it’s a good time to start introducing
gymnastics rings.
One benefit of training with gymnastics rings is that you can easily height-adjust the
rings and control the difficulty of the exercise. The higher the rings are set, the easier
the ring push-ups become. Lower the rings as you build your strength.