Support Hold (Rings)

In this text, you will find the info on how to start training for the Support Hold, how to progress and why is it important to master at the beginning of your bodyweight training.

The Support Hold (SH) on the rings is one of the most important things you should master when starting out with gymnastics rings. This is the fundamental position that will be used in almost all BW exercises done on the rings. You will enter this position in almost every training session when you are working on your Planches, Dips, Muscle-ups, Press to Handstands and other exercises.

The SH on the rings will require more balance, stability, and strength than the regular hold on parallel bars.

To progress with this exercise, you can use a chair or just lower the rings closer to the ground so you can use your legs. There is also an option where you can ask your training partner to stabilize the rings with his hands so you can hold this position.

The idea is to use your leg/s to assist yourself and overtime reduce the amount of assistance you need, until you feel comfortable to remove your legs of the chair or of the ground.

The longer the straps, the harder it will be for you to hold this position, due to instability and length of the straps.

Start by getting into the SH with bent arms, find the stability by pushing the rings against your hips. Once you do this, start extending your arms until you lock them out.

Hands should be facing each other, the head should be neutral, shoulders protracted and depressed (Push downward as hard as you can) and the arms straight – This is the most important part, don’t bend the arms because it will take away the purpose of this exercise.

Hold the SH until you start shaking uncontrollably. Once the shaking starts that is the sign to stop and rest.

When you finally get the straight arm SH start rotating your hands outwards and don’t rush with this because It will introduce a lot of instability into the exercise once you start rotating the hands. So, just slightly rotate your hands further and further each session until you finally get the full “Rings Turned Out Support Hold”. Later, you can increase the intensity by putting the straps wider at the top or increasing the length of the straps. You can also play around by introducing some dynamic movements like swings or holding the L-Sit.

One simple way to progress fast with this exercise is to simply use this as a warm-up in your training. Right in the beginning when you are most rested. Which means you will do this before starting your main exercises.

Try to get a total of 60 seconds by diving the exercise into multiple sets.

Example of sets: 6x10sec, 4x15sec, 3x20sec, 2x30sec.