I recently had a chance to meet World Champion gymnast Jordan
Jovtchev. One of the secrets he shared with me is that to get
super-strong, you need to be training for routines. Working on
individual skills is important, but the ultimate goal in gymnastics
is to have a solid routine. However, I know most readers of this
magazine are not gymnasts, so the goal here is to construct a
ring routine purely for strength training.
Jordan is one of the strongest men on the planet and he keeps
up his strength by performing three ring routines a day. His routine
consists of five strength holds, two swings to handstand and a
dismount. Obviously we will skip the swings and dismounts. These
are cool, but too technical for strength training.
Here are a few general guidelines for designing a ring routine
for strength training.
1. Pick at least 6 exercises that you can perform for more than
one rep.
2. Strength holds should be held for at least 1 second, but preferably
2. You can hold them longer if you want, because this is training,
not a competition.
3. You should perform some elements below the rings and some above
the rings. To get up, perform a muscle-up or kip. Front and back
uprises are fine for gymnasts, but have less value for conditioning.
4. For training, don't worry about formal requirements for gymnastics
routines. Swings, handstands and dismounts are all cool, but they
are unsafe and unnecessary for conditioning purposes. Stick with
exercises that have the greatest value for conditioning and that
you can perform SAFELY.
5. Do not repeat exercises. For example, 5 muscle-ups, then 5
dips and then 5 pull-ups is a nice circuit, but it's not a routine.
6. Use a combination of dynamic elements and static holds. For
example, do not just hold levers or only do dynamic exercises
like muscle-ups.
7. As you improve, add more difficult elements and scratch the
easy ones.
8. The entire routine should last about 1 minute. Good resting
points are flexed hangs, supports and L-sits. Do not rest in a
hang if you can avoid it, unless it is a rear hang.
Here is a sample routine I did today in gymnastics class. I made
it up as I went along.
Muslce-Up
Forward Roll to Support
L-Sit
Shoulder Stand
Back roll to flexed hang
Back Lever
Skin the Cat, pike out
Inverted hang to Front Lever
It was a fun little routine and had a good mix of elements. It
was not super hard, but the crowd was impressed. Oh, and the crowd
was fifteen girls and one other dude;-)
