Setting up rings

This article concerns the installation of gymnastic rings for fitness training, rather than professional gymnastics.

Installing and mounting your gymnastic rings for fitness training

Setting up gym rings is dependent on the training environment so it's impossible to cover all the possibilities that will be unique to you. We offer this article as a guide to help with the most common scenarios and explain to anyone interested in starting ring training how it's accessible to them. We've included real world example ring set-ups at the end of the article for your reference. 

Fitness rings

There are now many variations of professional gymnastics rings that have been specifically designed for fitness and are available to buy (See Fitstream Store for ring recommendations). They generally follow a common structure in terms of operation and components:

• Rings: Available in plastic or metal, or wood. 
• Straps / Webbing: Heavy duty webbing, usually Nylon that's used to suspend the rings from a secure anchor point. 
• Buckle: CAM buckle through which you secure the straps and use to height adjust the rings. 

You'll need to read the instructions specific to your manufacturer of gymnastic rings but they usually work as follows:

1. Feed the straps through the gymnastic rings and over the anchor point (see below for example anchors)
2. Press the lever on the CAM buckle and thread the strap through in the direction indicated to secure the rings. 
3. Adjust the amount of strap fed through the buckle to alter the height of the rings from the ground. 

This design brings convenience, flexibility and portability to an age old piece of training equipment and allows the average person to begin ring training in and around their own home. 

Setting up your rings: The anchor point

The most important factor to allow for safe and effective ring training when setting up your gymnastic rings is the anchor point. The anchor point is the object from which you hang the rings. 

You can hang the rings from any stable structure that can safely support your bodyweight and that you're able to attach or thread the rings over. Here are a few ways that people are using their gymnastic rings at home, in the gym or outside:

At home:

• Hanging the rings from garage / basement rafters and beams
• Securely installing eye bolts to the ceiling or beams through which you can thread through the ring straps. 
• Note: if installing eye bolts it's best to screw these horizontally into beams rather than vertically so that the rings aren't pulling down in the direction that they're screwed. 

At the gym:

• Suspending gymnasrics rings from pull-up bars or power cages.

Outside:

• Using whatever you can find! We've seen people using park equipment, goal posts and even trees!

Other things to consider when hanging gymnastics rings

Here are some other pointers to consider when mounting your rings to make sure you get the most from your training:

If your environment meets the above criteria you should be set for one of the most effective bodyweight workouts around, and the rings will help you build phenomenal strength and athletic ability. 

Example gymnastics rings setup

Here we include example gymnastics rings set-ups from our readers. To share your own solution or gymnastics rings tips please email admin@fitstream.com.

Standard garage gym, gymnastics rings setup, by Fitstream

The below photo shows a standard garage with fitness rings suspended from the exposed rafters. It's not in shot but a towel is placed over the rafters to prevent excess chaffing against the straps.  

The garage roof is pitched and the rings are suspended on one of the centre rafters. It's around 14' high in the centre and provides more than enough room for the muscle-up. As the rafters are exposed this is one of the easiest gym ring set-ups as the straps simply loop over a rafter and are secured in place using the buckle. 

As the rings are height adjustable you can simply feed more or less strap through to alter the height and cater for a range of exercises from high-ring pull-ups to low-ring push-ups. 

Custom, removable gymnastics rings setup in living room, by Richard Manderscheid

Richard wanted to install his gymnastics rings in his living room in a removable way but didn't want to compromise on the flexibility of being able to height-adjust the rings. 

His innovative approach is to set the rings up with S-Hooks that are connected to eye-bolts drilled into a beam horizontally. The S-Hooks can be quickly lifted from the bolts to take the rings down and hide from view.

(Richard uses a binder clip screwed to a wooden closet rod to reach up and hook the S-Hooks back to the eye screws).

Using a custom pulley rig Richard has created an easily adjustable, yet safe ring training environment.

He used the following components in his setup, all easily available to buy online (he used his local West Marine since the best pulleys out there seem to be for sailboats) -

• 2 eye screws
• 2 S-hooks, pinched a little for safety
• Good rope from a sailing store
• Plastic cleat (to secure rope to the wall)
• Single pulley (Harken 2650 used)
• Double pulley (Harken 2638 used)
• Strap
• Strap adjusters

Richard is 6'1" tall and the bottom of the beam is 13'4" from the floor and there's plenty of room to safely ring train.

He adds that his ideal solution would be to install the rings in a room with a recess in the roof in which the rings can be hoisted into without the need to take them down.

This is a very flexible solution for anyone looking to install gymnastic rings in a room where the rings cannot be permanently rigged up. 

More information

If you would like to share photos of your gymnastics rings setup, or any tips and advice with other readers please send emails to admin@fitstream.com.

Once you've installed your rings, view our database of ring training exercises to get you started. 

If you're shopping for gymnastics rings see the Fitstream store for ring recommendations and reviews.