14 Exercises to do with gymnastic rings, beginner to advanced
By Flexi Muscles — 16 September 2026 · 11 min read
The best exercises to do with gymnastic rings run from a basic support hold through to the front lever, and the order you learn them in matters more than how many you attempt in one session. This guide covers 14 exercises grouped into beginner, intermediate and advanced tiers, each one building the strength the next tier needs. Rings punish shortcuts — skip the support hold to chase a muscle-up and the shoulder joint pays for it, not the ego.
Shop Gymnastic Rings at Flexi Muscles
Beginner exercises to do with gymnastic rings
These four exercises cover pressing, pulling, grip and core stability. Learn all four before adding anything from the intermediate tier — every later exercise on rings assumes this base is solid.
1. Ring support hold
Press down on the rings, lock your arms straight, and hold your body vertical with legs together and shoulders pulled back and down. This is the foundation position for almost every other exercise on this list. Start: 3 sets of 10–20 second holds. Once you can hold 30 seconds without shaking, move on to ring dips.
2. Ring row
Set the rings at hip height. Lie beneath them with feet on the floor, body in a straight line, and pull your chest to the rings with elbows close to your sides. Walking your feet forward increases the angle and the difficulty. Start: 3 sets of 8–12 reps. This is the main horizontal pulling exercise on rings and the one most people should learn first.
3. Ring hang
Grip the rings overhead with arms extended and hang. Keep your shoulders active rather than letting them shrug up around your ears — this is not the same as passively hanging from a bar. Start: 3 sets of 20–30 seconds. It builds grip strength and teaches the active shoulder position that every pulling exercise on this list depends on.
4. Ring push-up
Set the rings 15–20cm off the floor. Perform a push-up while resisting the natural tendency of the rings to flare outward, then rotate them slightly inward at the top of each rep. Start: 3 sets of 5–10 reps. Because the rings are unstable, this recruits noticeably more of the stabiliser muscles around the shoulder than a push-up done on the floor with fixed hands.
Intermediate exercises to do with gymnastic rings
Move into this tier once you can hold the ring support for 30 seconds and complete 10 controlled ring rows. These five exercises add load, range of motion and unilateral control on top of the base you already have.
5. Ring dip
From the support hold, lower until your shoulders drop below your elbows, then press back up. Rings allow a deeper range than parallel bars, which recruits more chest and triceps muscle across the full movement. Start: 3 sets of 5–8 reps, using a resistance band under the knees for assistance if a full dip isn't yet controlled.
6. Tuck L-sit
From the support position, draw both knees to your chest and hold them there without the support hold breaking down. This builds the core and hip flexor strength that every advanced hold on this list depends on. Start: 3 sets of 5–10 second holds, progressing toward a straight-leg L-sit once 20 seconds feels stable.
7. Ring Bulgarian split squat
Stand facing away from the rings, rest one foot in a ring behind you, and lower into a single-leg squat. The instability of the rear foot forces the standing leg and hip to stabilise harder than a bench-supported version. Start: 3 sets of 6–10 reps per leg. It's the one exercise on this list that trains the legs directly, which is worth knowing if your only equipment is a set of rings.
8. Ring pull-up
Hang from the rings with an overhand grip and pull your chin above hand level, letting the rings rotate naturally as you pull. The free rotation is easier on the wrists and elbows than a fixed bar for most people. Start: 3 sets of 5–8 reps, or banded assistance if a full pull-up isn't there yet.
9. Archer push-up
From a wide ring push-up position, bend one arm while keeping the other straight, shifting most of your weight onto the bending side. Alternate sides each rep. Start: 3 sets of 4–6 reps per side. It's a genuine stepping stone toward one-arm pressing strength without needing to attempt a true one-arm push-up.
Advanced exercises to do with gymnastic rings
Skip this tier entirely if you cannot yet perform 8 strict ring dips and 5 strict ring pull-ups. Training these five skills on an underbuilt shoulder is how ring injuries happen — it is not how the skills get built any faster.
10. Ring muscle-up
Pull explosively from a hang, transitioning over the rings into a support hold without a kip if possible. The transition is the hard part, not the pull. Start: practise the transition alone at chest height before attempting a full-range muscle-up from a hang.
11. Front lever
Hang from the rings and raise your body to horizontal, arms straight, back parallel to the floor. Most people train this with tuck and one-leg-extended progressions for months before the full straight-body version. Start: 3 sets of tuck-front-lever holds, 8–12 seconds, building toward advanced tuck and single-leg variations.
12. Back lever
From an inverted hang, lower your body to horizontal facing the floor, arms straight. It demands less raw pulling strength than the front lever but more shoulder flexibility, which catches most people out. Start: 3 sets of tuck holds, 8–12 seconds, with dedicated shoulder mobility work between sessions.
13. Iron cross
Support your body with arms extended straight out to the sides, rings held at shoulder level. This is one of the most demanding static holds in ring training and typically takes years of dedicated support and lever work to reach. Start: assisted iron cross holds using bands, once the front and back lever are both solid for 15+ seconds.
14. Planche
Hold your body horizontal above the rings, arms straight, feet off the ground, supported entirely by the shoulders and wrists. It's widely regarded as the single hardest static skill in ring training. Start: tuck planche holds on the floor or parallettes first — most people work toward rings-specific planche training only after the floor version is under control.
Common mistakes people make with ring exercises
- Skipping the support hold. Most people want to get to dips and pull-ups immediately. The support hold is what teaches the shoulder to stabilise the rings under load — without it, dips just load an unstable joint.
- Letting the rings turn out during push-ups and dips. Uncontrolled outward rotation at the bottom of a dip or push-up puts uneven stress through the shoulder. Actively rotating the rings inward at the top of each rep keeps the joint tracking correctly.
- Training levers and holds every session. Front lever and back lever progressions load the shoulder and lats heavily. Training them daily without recovery days is a common route to a nagging shoulder issue that then takes weeks off training entirely.
- Ignoring straps and buckle checks. A loose or unchecked buckle is the one genuine equipment hazard in ring training. It takes three seconds to load-test before a session and prevents the only common equipment failure that actually causes injury.
- Chasing the muscle-up before the strength is there. A muscle-up needs a controlled pull-up and a controlled dip as prerequisites, not just enthusiasm. Kipping the transition to compensate for missing strength is how people tweak a shoulder mid-set.
How to build a ring exercise progression
Work through the tiers in order rather than sampling exercises from all three at once. Most people spend four to six weeks on the beginner tier before the support hold and ring row feel genuinely controlled, not just achievable for one shaky rep.
The intermediate tier typically takes two to four months, depending on training frequency and existing strength. Ring dips and pull-ups tend to arrive first; the ring Bulgarian split squat and archer push-up usually take longer because they demand single-limb control most people haven't trained before.
Ring push-ups are a useful example of why the instability matters more than it looks. Independent EMG research on unstable-surface pressing has found chest and shoulder activation roughly 15–20% higher on rings than on a fixed surface for the same movement. That gap is the entire argument for training on rings instead of a bench once the basics are solid — the equipment itself is doing part of the work a spotter or a machine would otherwise need to do.
The advanced tier has no fixed timeline. Front lever and back lever progressions commonly take six months to a year of consistent training to reach a straight-body hold, and the iron cross and planche can take several years for most recreational trainers. Progress within a tier before adding exercises from the next one — a solid intermediate athlete who trains the fundamentals well will outlast someone chasing an iron cross on a two-month-old support hold.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exercises can you do with gymnastic rings?
Rings support pushing exercises such as dips, push-ups and the planche, pulling exercises such as rows, pull-ups and the front lever, and static holds such as the support hold and L-sit. Fourteen of the most useful, grouped from beginner to advanced, are covered in this guide. The range covers every major upper-body movement pattern with one piece of equipment.
Do you need to be strong to start ring training?
No. The beginner tier — ring support hold, ring row, ring hang and ring push-up — is accessible to most people with no prior training. Strength builds through the exercises rather than being a requirement to start them. What matters is starting with the beginner tier and not skipping ahead to dips or pull-ups before the support hold is solid.
How many gymnastic ring exercises should a beginner learn first?
Four is enough to start: the ring support hold, ring row, ring hang and ring push-up. These four cover pressing, pulling, grip and core stability. Adding more before these four feel controlled just slows progress, because every later exercise on rings builds on the stability these four teach.
Can you build muscle with gymnastic ring exercises alone?
Yes, for the upper body and core. Ring dips, ring rows, ring push-ups and ring pull-ups load the chest, back, shoulders, triceps and biceps through a full range of motion, and the instability recruits stabiliser muscles that fixed equipment does not. Rings do not load the legs beyond exercises like the ring Bulgarian split squat, so lower body training still needs separate work.
What is the hardest gymnastic ring exercise?
The iron cross and the planche are generally considered the hardest ring exercises, requiring years of progressive training and exceptional shoulder and core strength. Most recreational ring trainers never attempt either, and that is not a failure — the front lever, back lever and ring muscle-up already deliver most of the strength and physique benefit rings are known for.
Related at Flexi Muscles
- Strength Training Equipment — gymnastic rings, pull-up bars, and home gym kit
- Resistance Bands — for assisted dips, pull-ups, and band-assisted progressions
- Lifting Accessories — chalk and grip support for ring training