A gymnast definitely has an advantage on rings if he has a strong upper body. Unfortunately this event is not my forte but I’m hoping that it will soon become one of my stronger events as I have been working diligently on increasing my strength. There’s not much to say about rings other than the fact that in order to be good on it, a gymnast needs to be incredibly strong.
When watching a performance on the rings, the main thing to keep in mind is that each strength position much be held for a complete 2 seconds. Ideally, the rings should not sway back and forth or side to side, hence the reason it’s called “still rings” (“rings” is just a shortened version). Rings can actually be tricky because swinging elements (skills that resemble swinging on the high bar) are one of the required groups. Therefore, a gymnast must have a lot of control over his body to prevent any swinging from occuring. However, watch a routine of a good ringman and you’ll notice that the rings will not shake at all. He will also make it look so easy that when you watch him, it will seem like he only weighs a few pounds.
Here are the requirements for rings:
- Swinging elements
- Swing elements that finish in a handstand ( handstand must be held for 2 seconds)
- Swing to a strength element (must be held 2 sec.)
- Strength elements and hold elements (i.e. strength skills that does not start from a swing)
- A dismount
Here is a ring routine of me from Winter Cup 2009:
If you notice, I’m not super strong like a mutant but I’ve been working on increasing my strength so hopefully it will get there soon. Developing ring strength takes a long time but it’s what you do on a daily basis that eventually makes you strong.
Also for my dismount, I’m trying to chang it to a double twisting double back which is worth an “E”. Doing so will increase my start value by 0.1.
