CrossFit Rings – Best Wooden Rings for Gymnastic Workouts

The ring muscle-up is one of those exercises that when you land it, you feel like you've made it big. It's a notoriously difficult exercise that can take years to perfect. But unless you're regularly practising, nothing's going to happen. Heading to the CrossFit box just to train rings every day might not be the best use of your time. So why not get your own wooden rings?

CrossFit and gymnastic rings are inexpensive, lightweight and super versatile. All you need is a bar, branch or some kind of high attachment point to set up one of the best upper body gyms on earth.

An essential piece of CrossFit equipment for people that want to master the muscle up. Gymnastic rings are one of the best upper body strength tools money can buy.

Best CrossFit Rings – Our Choice

The Rogue Fitness Gymnastic wood rings are a fine choice to get you started with ring workouts. A few weeks on these solid performers and you'll be making the rest of the gym jealous with your show off moves ?.

Why Ring Workouts?

I still remember the first time I learned to do a ring muscle up. It was an exhilarating feeling that I wish I had every time. Although I still thoroughly enjoy the feeling of performing them, there's nothing like the first time. How did I get it? Well, practising for 5 minutes every day helped. I didn't head to the gym every day but I had my rings attached to a tree near my apartment where i could practise.

A little every day is better than a lot of practice all at the same time. Muscle fatigue and injury are real dangers when it comes to intense workouts and movements involving rings. There's a reason why gymnasts have physiques that almost everyone envies. Gymnastics is tough and requires extraordinary strength and agility to reach the top levels. But we all don't aspire to compete in the Olympics in the gymnastics category (or any category). Hitting a ring dip or muscle-up is the end goal of many.

Tips for ring muscle ups

1. Place your hands at the bottom of the rings. Don't grab high up
2. Make sure to use a proper false grip. The knobbly bit at the base of your hand, where it meets the wrist, should be on the ring.
3. Assume the hollow hold position (this is probably the most important advice)
4. When you start to pull try to make the movement smooth. Crunch into a slight V shape at the top to help push your head through the straps and get your elbows over the rings.
5. Press out while keeping the rings in close.
6. Find a stable and strong support to attach the straps too. A pull-up bar is the ideal place as it's sturdy and will already take your weight.

Calisthenics Rings Workouts

Ring workouts are heavily biased towards the upper body and core. it's hard to train the legs with rings but your lower body will still get a decent isometric workout.

For the arms, back, pecs, shoulders, and abdominal muscles, there are few exercises or pieces of exercise equipment that hit all the right muscles better than a ring workout.

Calisthenics are a fantastic way to get in shape. And it's never too old to get into the world of fluid bar and ring movements and gymnastics tricks.

Rings are great for:

• Ring Dips
• Muscle Ups
• L-sit / Tuck
• Pull Ups
• Chin Ups
• Hangs
• Ring Push Ups
• False Grip Practice
• Front Levers
• One-Arm Ring Rows
• Ring Fly
• Ring Handstand

Great for building chest, shoulder, arm, and core. Nothing beats the physique of a well-sculpted gymnast.

With a set of gymnastic rings, you won't need an entire gym for full body and core workouts. Pack them into your travel luggage (even carry-on bags) for a portable CrossFit gym wherever you go.

Easy to Set Up and Use

Procircle gymnastic rings are superior to other brands thanks to increased thickness and diameter of rings, higher quality materials in the strap and buckle, and a tried and tested brand.

Wooden gymnastic rings are better than plastic as they suffer less slippage. Wide rings are better for comfort. All rings are portable and can be used almost anywhere you can find an overhead bar, pole, tree branch, or ceiling hang. Lightweight and quality design means you won't have to worry about weight when transporting your rings and you'll be using them for years to come.

Hang the rings in your garage, apartment, garden, or local gym.

Benefits

Travel

I like to travel and I don't like to lose fitness and strength. For this reason, my rings are an essential part of my travel gear. Yeah, it's 4 lbs ( nearly 2KG) of extra weight in my bag. But it's like having my own gym come along with me. Not every town has a CrossFit box. Not every CrossFit box has rings (true, I've seen a few with no rings, rowers, or bikes).

Easy to use

There's no reason to be scared of gymnastic rings. You don't have to be a gymnast and you don't need fancy moves. Ring pull ups, ring dips, and ring rows are easy-to-medium difficulty movements that can be practiced on rings before you progress to the more difficult exercises like l-sits and ultimately ring muscle ups and even Iron Crosses (for the experts)

What to buy

With few moving parts, wooden CrossFit rings should be easy to buy. But quality does matter. You don't want to be suspended upside down when a strap breaks or ring actually snaps. The latter is unlikely, but never say never! The better the straps, buckles, and construction, the less chance you will need to replace your rings, or more importantly, the less chance there is of something going wrong.

NextPro

At the lower end of the scale, the NEXPro Wood Gymnastic Ring for Crossfit are a decent choice for bargain hunters. With 15ft straps, there's plenty of room to hang your rings.

• Wooden Ring Thickness: 1.3” (3.3cm)
• Ring diameter: Inner 7.2″ (18.5cm) / Outer 9.25″ (23.5cm)

I bought these rings and although it's clear that the buckles in particular are not the highest quality, the rings served their purpose and are perfectly acceptable for the price. A few reviewers on Amazon had some issues with the straps slipping through the buckles. These rings are fine for infrequent use.

Rogue Fitness Gymnastic Rings

What's not to love about Rogue. It's a great brand with a cool name. The company also happens to have some of the highest quality and best rated products in the CrossFit space. And customer service is exceptional.

These rings are easy to adjust, built with high-quality craftsmanship in the USA and are designed for durability and comfort. We use them and we love them. Rogue's Wood rings have a lovely, natural feel to them and you won't mind spending time practicing your bodyweight exercises with this product.

• Weight: 4lb
• Wood Rings – 1.25″ (Fatter grips are better for developing grip strength)
• Material: Straps – Heavy Duty Nylon
• Comes with Rogue’s heavy-duty 1.5” wide nylon adjustable straps and buckle system
• You can order with or without straps, in different colors, and a longer length (40′)

If you're serious about buying a good set of wood rings, this is the product for you. Available for free shipping with orders of 5 or more.

Buy from Rogue.com

Iron Bull

The Iron Bull Strength rings are a solid choice for everyone from beginner to advanced.

Super strong steel buckles and an extra wide strap makes this ring set a solid performer. 1-year warranty.

• Ring Thickness: 1.25” (3.18 cm)
• Ring diameter: Inner 6.53″ (18.5 cm) / Outer 9.25″ (23.5 cm)
• Weight: 4vlbs (1.81 kg)
• Strap width: 1.5″ (3.81 cm)
• Strap length: 15 ft (4.57 m)