MAG Swinging on the Rings

[lilmisssunshine]

There's something about swinging back and forth on the rings that requires the hands to turn back and forth. My son isn't getting it. A google search tells me that it's something like palms back when swinging forward and palms front when swinging back? Can anyone help me understand the purpose of this? Does it build better momentum?

 

[skschlag]

From what my son says, it is a push and pull feeling...you push the hands and rings out on the back swing, and pull them back in on the front swing. He will get it. It takes time, practice, timing and strength!

 

[skschlag]

And yes, it gives them more momentum to get into the bigger skills.

 

[profmom]

And when we say "time and practice," be thinking possibly like late L5-L6 with good coaching to get the proper ring turnout and real height on the back swing. And for their static positions, they need to learn to turn the rings out too. If you look at photos or pictures of the elite guys doing L seats on rings, you'll see that the rings are always at least parallel to the body. When we started this, I had no idea how much was involved in the mechanics of those swings to get the power and momentum to do the big stuff.

When I saw the thread title, I thought it was going to be about the Santa Monica rings! Our program director usually shows the classic videos to the boys every summer to connect them with the history of the sport.

 

[lilmisssunshine]

Thanks! I know he's going to get it eventually, and I'm sure he'll definitely improve over the summer, but I just felt bad for him because won't let him try the rest of the routine because he's not getting the hands right on the swing. So, like, son gets up there, then does the pull-up and L-sit assisted (not sure if those are the right terms), then he tries swinging, but the coach makes him get down and explains how the hands have to be. Coach lets him have another go, but when he still doesn't get it right, he gets off the rings with a "maybe next time".

Luckily, my son doesn't seem to mind it, but I just want to help him if I can. He's a very visual person and I think he sometimes over-intellectualizes verbal corrections. For example, when he was first doing the vault, I could see him slowing down and not quite getting the jump part onto the uh...bouncy thing (obviously new. lol.). This meant that he wasn't getting enough momentum to properly do the flip. He kept telling me how to verbally do it and every time he went to do it, it was like I could see him playing the verbal instructions in his head, and having it slow him down. We watched some YouTube videos, and he went into the next practice and did it. LOL. I just feel like a similar thing is happening with the rings and I'd love for him to have that moment when it clicks.

I would imagine that the feeling is similar to what you do with your hands when you're holding the chains of a swing. Does that sound right?

When I saw the thread title, I thought it was going to be about the Santa Monica rings! Our program director usually shows the classic videos to the boys every summer to connect them with the history of the sport.

I didn't know about these, but I'm going to show DS the videos when he wakes up. I'm kinda bummed though, because my brother was been living near Santa Monica, but is now moving to North Carolina, so we will have fewer excuses to head to California.

 

[profmom]

Haha, our program director really believes in teaching the boys this history, so he drags those videos around to our state's annual clinics as well. When JO nationals were in Long Beach, our guys made the pilgrimage to Santa Monica and played around because of the videos! I don't think, however, he would have approved if anyone had tried a quad flip.

 

[skschlag]

You can look for some videos of rings swings. Sometimes just watching lots will help.

 

[Popcorn]

It will come. It's like those double leg circles, there's a lot of trial and error until it clicks. His coach sounds like he really wants the fundamentals to be strong, which is a great thing.

 

[sce]

Watch the ring portion of this video:

 

[Hollowarchkick]

In order to achieve an in locate or dislocate to handstand (giant), the rings have to be turned in the proper position on the basic swing. So, for example, the palms face away or forward when the feet are rising in the back. Then the arms will circle and push down as the feet rise. The opposite is true in the front.