Join the tribe of Movement & Calisthenics Athlete - people just like you that are working with their own body weight to get strength, lose fat build muscle, recover from injuries and live their best lives!

Ready for those rings muscle ups?

Doing muscle-up on a high-bar is something that every person gets excited about when he first starts doing calisthenics.

However, for me personally, performing muscle up on gymnastic rings is the REAL DEAL.

For those who don’t know, muscle-up, whether performed on a bar or using gymnastic rings, is a combination of actions such as pulling and pushing (pressing).

It’s good to mention the fact that probably the hardest part when it comes to performing a muscle-up is the part where your shoulders and

Ring muscle workout

chest need to make a transition over the bar.

Well, if making a transition over the bar is hard then making a transition using the rings is even HARDER!

You will experience more instability and you will need to focus a lot more on your form because if you don’t, you can easily get hurt through a bad rotation.

The muscle-up is one of the best calisthenics skills depends on a high-level strength and coordination especially when its done on gymnastic rings.

That’s why I in this post I thought about helping YOU get your first ring muscle-up in the shortest time possible.

But, first of all, you got to know that shortest time possible for some person can be 2 months and for other more than a year.

This, in fact, speaks from the levels of strength in the key muscles and areas in the body which are used when performing a muscle-up.

Before I proceed to explain each and every step from this tutorial, I want you to remember one thing.

**PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

This means that no matter if you are a beginner or an advanced trainee, you should always look upon doing the movements in perfect form, because, it will definitely help you in the long run.

So now that we are all set, let’s go straight to the steps that will lead you to your first gymnastic rings muscle-up.

 Rings Muscle Up: GRIP

Ring muscle workout

False Grip DEMONSTRATION

When it comes to gripping I need to mention that using the right grips is very more important because practicing a muscle-up with normal grip will make the exercise even harder.

Also, in today’s post, I will be explaining the STRICT muscle-up and not the KIPPING one.

Many people I know that do calisthenics think that the strict muscle up and the kipping muscle up are almost the same, but guess what…THEY ARE NOT.

The kipping muscle-up involves the whole body even the legs are used when it comes to swinging.

However, my point about the grip was that I personally recommend learning the false grip because it will help you get your get your strict muscle-up faster.

 Rings Muscle Up: PULLING Part!

workout for ring muscles

Next on the list of this tutorial is the PULLING action.

Performing pull-ups on a high-bar is definitely a great way to work your pulling motion, but because we are targeting a muscle-up on rings it is good to work your pull-ups specifically on them.

When performing pull-ups you got to lock down your core and your whole upper body and slowly go upwards.

As you progress I would recommend pulling yourself to the point like in the high-bar muscle-up where you need to make a transition over the bar.

If you are having trouble finding that point I suggest you look upon the video below, where you can use a band that will mimic a bar.

When pulling its better to keep both of your hands together at the chest and as you pull your body up, start opening your chest like in the picture below (TRANSITION paragraph).

Rings Muscle Up: Transition Step

Ring muscle workout

Great transition

Since I started writing this post I mostly thought about the details I need to write about in this paragraph.

The transition is definitely the hardest part when doing a muscle-up.

The shoulders are exposed to such rotation that can be very hard for some trainees; I mean it has been for me too.

Tight shoulders can be a sticking point and can affect your progress. That’s why I always recommend releasing the tightness in the shoulders first along with increasing their mobility.

As I said in the pulling section, having a band attached to your rings is a perfect way to work on the point where you need to make the transition.

Pulling and transiting is 70% of the muscle-up so the main focus should always be on these 2 steps.

Great way to work your shoulder and triceps motion is to perform slow DIPS.

Another thing that you can do is to pause on the bottom of the repetition for a few seconds. You will feel the stretch in your front shoulder deltoids and you will strengthen your tendons and ligaments.

Another thing when it comes to the transition is the importance of the shoulder going forward and the elbows staying tight to the body and not away from it (something that I have seen many guys having problem with).

 Rings Muscle Up: Pushing Step

Ring muscle workout

Doing an assisted dips on rings using a band

Probably the easiest step of this tutorial is the pushing part or also known as performing a DIP.

For many intermediate or even advanced trainees out there, doing dips on gymnastic rings will at first be very challenging because it activates the stabilizers which aren’t used when performing dips on bars.

The rings are providing a great way to work on a free natural motion because they can be moved in side, something that can’t be done if dips are practiced on the bars.

The key to strengthening the muscles is to slowly execute each and every exercise.

Doing dip-negatives will strengthen the necessary muscles and as I said before will prepare the muscles for the movement.

 Rings Muscle Up: WORKOUT SAMPLE

You can use this workout sample in a long term. I have personally used it and it provided me with such great results.
I personally suggest having a 2 day off from your training if you are a beginner or an intermediate trainee.

If you are a more advanced trainee with more than 2 years of calisthenics then you can do this routine every second day.

For example, you can stick with: Monday, Off, Wednesday, Off, Friday, Off, Sunday, and so on.

• 5 sets of 3-6 repetitions – DIPS

• 5 sets of 2-5 negatives – DIPS (Keep the CORE tight)

• False grip pull-ups 5 x max (QUALITY > QUANTITY)

• Band work (Reverse Fly, Front Rises, a lot of EXTERNAL ROTATIONS) – 3 x 10-12 REPS

*EXTERNAL ROTATIONS

*REVERSE FLY

*FRONT RAISES

• (WORKOUT FINISHER) Normal pushups for reps 3xMAX reps (feel the burn)

CONCLUSION

We have almost reached the end of this article.

As for the conclusion, I will stay with one simple word, PERSISTENCE.

No matter where your strength is standing right now, no matter how big is your experience, learning a new skill takes time and practice.

It took me more than 2 months (3 years of training, mostly free weights) since I started working towards the muscle-up so even if you don’t see a progress keep going.

You can also take notes of your training and record your training to see your mistakes.

As for your progress I’m always open for consultation, so feel free to ask any question you like below this post, and i hope this tutorial will help you get your first ring muscle-up as soon as possible.

Look upon these steps, work on them, challenge yourself and I guarantee… you will be there in no time.

For you out there that are total beginners, I will write a more detailed post on how to perform a muscle-up from total zero.

Did you find this blog article useful? Have any questions? Let us know in comments!