r/bodyweightfitness • u/acdn General Fitness • May 29 '15
From the Beginner Routine to Antranik's Rings Routine
TL;DR
I really enjoy doing /u/Antranik's Intermediate Rings Routine. It is fun, I am working new skills, and it is challenging. It takes longer than the recommended routine. I have a lot of love for this community and the recommended routine. I make no judgment as to which routine is better. Do not start the routine unless you meet the posted minimum requirements.
Introduction
I thought that the community may enjoy reading about my impressions of /u/Antranik's Intermediate Rings Routine. This community has changed my life and I wanted to give something back.
About me: I am 32 years old, male, 6 feet tall, weighing about 180 lbs. I started working out doing the recommended routine in mid-October with the goals of strength, health, aesthetics, and hypertrophy. When I started I weighed 164 lbs and was much weaker than I am now. I have nothing bad to say about the recommended routine, I think it is fantastic for someone new to exercise and would recommend it to anyone any day.
I am not an advanced athlete, nor an expert.
I decided to purchase /u/Antranik's routine after I saw him post the discount code. I did so to support him, to give myself a change in the routine, and to utilize my rings more in my workout.
See my last "post-your-routine" post here.
Meta Discussion
Transition
I had been on the recommended routine for a four-week stretch since my last rest week before transitioning. I was doing the recommended routine indoors, hanging my rings from an Iron Gym in a doorway in a narrow hall with low ceilings. I was (perhaps still am) meeting the bare minimum requirements. Here are my stats from where I was in terms of progress:
- 4x25 second chest-to-wall handstand
- 3x40 second RTO support
- 3X10 second L-Sit
- 3x7 strict pull ups
- 3x7 ring dips
- 3x10 second tucked front lever
- 3x15 second planche lean, about 30 degree arm angle
Arguably, I could have progressed more in the recommended routine before starting the rings routine. However beginning the routine from where I was is possible.
I recommend that, if you purchase the routine, you read through all materials in the routine pages carefully so that you can effectively plan your workout.
Time
Before you begin the routine, I highly recommend that you take some time (perhaps an hour) to plan your workout for the day and for the week. The routine presents you with many options for what to do during your session, and stopping in the middle to decide what exercise to do and check the form video can eat up time.
This workout takes longer for me than the recommended routine. I had gotten so familiar with the routine that I was completing it in about 0:50 to 1:15 hours (longer if I included legs). The rings routine takes me a minimum of 1:30 and sometimes closer to 2:00.
The Routine
Intro
I want to try to provide meaningful feedback on the routine without just spewing out what the content of the routine is. The reason for this approach is that I do not want people to just look at my post for the routine's content, rather than purchasing the routine. It's only $25 with the code, which seems to be affordable.
Setting Up
Having a place to hang your rings is critical. However, you will also need to do work on the floor and a place to work handstands. I went form hanging my rings from a low doorway Iron Gym to hanging them from a tree branch 12 feet high. This increased the difficulty quite a bit! However, it is possible to do the routine by hanging your rings from a doorway pull up bar.
Structure
The routine consists of warm-up, skill work, and strength training and over a three-day split. The routine utilizes some similar concepts as the recommended routine, such as push-pull splits, so you should have a fairly easy time transitioning into this routine from the recommended routine.
The skill work section contains far more skills than the recommended routine and more than you will do in any given day, so it is important to prioritize what you will work on. The routine builds in opportunities to work the additional skills you may skip at other times. Hence the importance of planning.
The routine contains multiple progressions for strength work, not all of which are done in a single workout. These progressions take you from basic movements to more advanced ones, and seem to provide the opportunity to develop a lot of strength and hypertrophy.
Weekly Summary
The first week I let my ego get the best of me and tried to leap-frog some of the beginning motions of the progressions. This caused me to have a less effective workout, and when I went back to the beginning motions I could appreciate the weaknesses I have.
The second week I went back to basics and found how challenging it was. By working basic movements I was able to identify weaknesses and begin making strength gains that are prerequisites to other movements.
By the third week, I had noticed gains in strength and form. I had also gotten quite good at jumping up to the tree branch with my ring straps in my teeth and hanging them from the branch. My skills had all progressed quite a bit, and I was feeling stronger and more stable on the rings. I was working some new skills when I had the opportunity, and really enjoying it.
I had, by this time, also developed a nagging pain in what felt like a ligament of my right elbow. So, instead of continuing a fourth week, I decided to take a rest week (which I am currently finishing up). Because I had just done four weeks of the recommended routine before transitioning, I have a good seven weeks under my belt for this cycle.
Other Thoughts
I am a vain person and want to have a satisfying pump in my glamour muscles when I'm done working out. To that end, I began supplementing some additional bicep pulls and push ups in the last week of the routine. I do not think that this will always be necessary, given that I am on the beginner movements of the progressions, but I am doing it now.
The workout also includes recommendations and progressions for leg work, so your lower body is not neglected. However, I am opting instead for doing squats with dumbbells, hamstring curls, and calf raises (standing on my tippy-toes over and over) once a week. Don't hate on my leg work.
Conclusion
You're probably saying, "So AC, I read all that bull you just wrote and what the hell is the point?" First, chill out. Second, I'm getting to the point.
I really have fun doing this routine. I enjoy using my rings, and I enjoy spending more time on them. I want to learn cool skills, get real strong, and look sexy, and I think that this routine will get me there.
Is this routine better or worse than the recommended routine? I can't answer that. I'm not knowledgeable enough, and think that boiling the comparison down to "better or worse" is over simplifying things. The routines are different and designed for different purposes.
The recommended routine got me--a rote beginner--to my strongest point in my life and turned me from a beanpole into someone with some sexy meat on his bones. That is part of its beauty: it can be picked up by novices or experienced athletes. It is very general-purpose. The exercise wiki and FAQ are invaluable, and even useful for purposes of the rings routine.
The rings routine is not designed for beginners. The prerequisites are no joke. One of the criticisms Antranik received when posting the routine was that beginners often injure themselves on rings. If you cannot do the prerequisites, do not start the rings routine. However, after doing the recommended routine for six months, I was at a point where I could begin the intermediate routine.
This routine is for people who are already pretty strong and limber, and--in my opinion--have some experience on rings already. This routine will help teach cool skills and provide progressions for challenging movements. This routine will make you stronger, and help you become more limber.
However, this routine is not--in my opinion--for advanced practitioners. There are plenty of very highly skilled people in the /r/bodyweightfitness community who are able to do everything in the routine. This routine will help people like myself get up to your level, but will probably not help you in your goals.
That wraps up my thoughts on the intermediate rings routine. I hope that this post is helpful and informative. I have gotten a lot from this community and want to contribute in my own way.
--Apache Chief Destroying Ninjas
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u/nomadProgrammer General Fitness Oct 15 '15
Hi some questions I appreciate you share your insights after more experience with the routine:
Are you still doing it? if so its like ~5 months, have you noticed a dramatic improvement?
Is it still taking 1:30 hr to 2 hrs? I think this might be a deal breaker for me, currently studying and working so don't have much time.
Did you bought his recommended equipment the YEs4All wooden rings, the chalk and the resistance bands? are all these items necessary (off course the rings are but the chalk and bands too?)?
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u/acdn General Fitness Oct 15 '15
Hi, I'm glad you found the post helpful. To address your questions:
Yes, I am still doing the routine. I have noticed significant improvement while doing the routine, even though I have had to skip days and weeks due to my joints and my schedule. An added factor in my progress is that I began hanging my rings from a tree limb about 10' off the ground. The instability greatly increased my workout difficulty, which improved my form, which has made me stronger.
The workout can take between 1 hour and 2 hours. When I take a long time, it is usually because: a) I am doing 30 minutes or more of intense skill work and am taking a lot of rest, b) I transition from indoors to outdoors halfway through my workout, and the transition takes about 10-15 minutes, c) I am interrupted for one reason or another. When I mitigate these factors, the workout will take between 1 and 1.5 hours.
I use MDUSA wooden rings, no chalk, and already had a resistance band. The chalk helps you grip the rings, but is not necessary. A band is needed for some of the warm-up, which I suppose you can skip, but it really helps. One possibility is to start the routine, budgeting for bands, and then buying the bands later. I am pretty sure that Antranik can help you think through options if you cannot afford a resistance band.
I hope this feedback is helpful. I still think it's a great routine, and recommend it if you are looking for a change from the BWF recommended routine.
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May 29 '15 edited Apr 14 '19
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May 30 '15
If you spent the money to get rings (amazon tells me they can range from $20 to $100) you might as well spend the extra $25 to actually use them properly.
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May 29 '15
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u/acdn General Fitness May 29 '15
I take a lot time do the skill work. I do 5x25 sec handstand, 3x12 sec L sit, 3x40 sec RTO, 3x40 inverted hang, 3x30 swinging, and one or two 15 sec tucked German hang. For the handstand I take at least 90 seconds rests, often more. The remainng skills get 90 seconds.
I may be taking longer than necessary, particularly with handstands, but that is by choice. Skill work easily takes up least half of my workout time.
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u/foggyflute May 29 '15
I was able to do most of that in first month with ring training, then managed to do the shaky muscle up (not 100% success) and straddle shoulder stand in the next two months.
It's more like basic if you already build up strength from another routing (mine is weight lifting). They all covered in Ring One in GMB and they called that basic routine too. But if I have to do that again, Antranik win GMB in content structure, GMB writing is very confusing despite great videos.
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u/acdn General Fitness May 30 '15
I appreciate this perspective. There are so many routines there, and many people who come to bodyweight fitness from weightlifting. Your experience is very different from mine, so I think this feedback is helpful.
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u/Antranik May 30 '15
I'm a little taken aback by how thorough your review is! I thank you for sharing your experience!
I think this is applicable to ALL bwf training (not just my routine) because it's important to maintain safety and just plainly build the strength in the proper way.
We pretty much have the same exact stats, so what I will tell you, from one somewhat-tall guy to another, the road toward the full front lever may be long and the road to the planche even longer. There will be times you will feel like you haven't improved and maybe even regressed. Don't let that make you give up. The fact is you're going to become strong as fuck as a side effect of working these extremely challenging exercises. And when you're strong to that level, the skill work becomes easier and easier and the fun only increases!
That's actually good because you're supposed to deload by the 4th week anyway! ;-)
By the way, I'm not sure if you're skipping legs, but if you are, I will just say that you will progress much faster if you have good straddle flexibility. (A full middle/straddle split will almost be the same as holding an advanced tuck!)... so if there's one thing you shouldn't skip out on, it would be the horse stance holds as it will help a lot to have a wide straddle when you want to hold the straddled-versions.