Finally put together a rings routine

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Today was the first time I've actually done a full rings routine from beginning to end (including all the strength holds) since I stopped competing rings 6 years ago.

Here's my current routine:

Back uprise L-cross
Press to maltese (needs work; it's a bit high right now)
Lift to planche (also needs work; can't keep my legs high enough comming out of the maltese)
Lower to support
Press to inverted cross
Back uprise straddle planche
Forward roll, back uprise
Straight arm pike press handstand
Back giant
Double layout (needs work; I can get enough rotation, I just need to work on straightening it out)

 

[NYgymfan]

Nice job! Did you have to re-learn any of the skills or did you just need to re-gain strength?

 

[BlairBob]

Pretty cool. Don't you need to work on hitting the handstand in a forward swing as well as a backwards swing ( as in adding a front giant )?

Get some video, I'm wondering how you are pressing to the invert cross from support. Do you do press from support through planche/maltese to invert or go from a handstand and lower to invert cross?

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Nice job! Did you have to re-learn any of the skills or did you just need to re-gain strength?

Well, it's not really re-anything; I stopped competing rings around level 8 (or the equivalent of level 8, anyway), and I never did anything harder than a press handstand back then. So most of this stuff is brand new to me.

I'm working on front giants, bot don't have them as solidly as I do back giants, so I'm not putting any in my routine yet.

As for the press to invert, I basically do it like a press handstand but with really wide arms -- so I go straight from support, instead of lowering from handstand. Right now I'm doing it as a straddle press, but I guess it will need to be a pike press for me to compete it.

In terms of strength, I've found inverted crosses to be surprisingly easy. The hard part is the balance, not the strength (admittedly my inverts are a little high, but no more so than most elite gymnasts outside of china)