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Hey guys. Recently I've been pushing my school to set up some sort of high bar for vaulters and whoever to train on. With the school's current financial situation, it's unlikely that we'll be able to buy a high bar, and building a high bar for indoor use may be a little tricky. An outdoor high bar is plausible, but we're not sure where it would go and how to stop people from playing on it. Anyway, I was wondering what everyone thought of gymnastics rings? Could they adequately substitute for a high bar? What kind of training/gymnastics drills should we do?

Also, do rings just hang down directly from the ceiling? There isn't some sort of err spring attaching it to the ceiling or anything like that is there?

Okay thanks a whole bunch!

Nope, no springs! They really just hang there, nothing fancy at all. There are a couple of threads on this somewhere already... They were all about 'do it yourself rings'. PM 1yeldud1 about building an apparatus if you cant just hang them from the ceiling.

The drills can be the same as on the high bar. Try the ones in the 'media' section, and try having the rings doing big long swings, with your legs over your stomach, extend up with them in an I as the rings pass their lowest point. (There are pictures in BTB2.)

KEEP PUSHING FOR THE HIGH BAR! Put a sign up that says 'High Voltage' if you have to... GET IT DONE!

Sooch, we discussed rings v. highbar with 6-Pack on this thread: http://polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=16176&p=117122&hilit=kirk+highbar+rings#p117122

Rings are good, but highbar is better for simulating the vaulting actions. Some drills can be done on either apparatus, but not all. At the very least, rings are great for skin-the-cats - to keep your shoulders supple (to improve your plant).

I've often wished that rings had more "give" - by adding a little bungee to them - but the official ones don't. The highbar gives a bit - that's one reason why it feels a bit more like a pole.

Rings are better than nothing, and can hang from anywhere. You don't need to have a high ceiling for rings - especially if you're only doing "bottom" drills - by that I mean nothing above the height of the rings.. You could just hang them from the crossbar of a football goal post - or something like that - for SOME drills. Of course you wouldn't leave them up, because you'd lose them quite quickly unless your football field is guarded 7/24.

Kirk

If you're working on technique, there are drills on the bar that cannot be done anywhere else. I don't think I use the rings nearly as much as the high bar for technique purposes. In my opinion though, rings are almost unbeatable when you want to build upper body strength and power.

But what specifically are some important drills on the rings? Are there any technical things that can be done on the rings as well? I have access to a pull up bar that I can do bubkas and swinging bubkas on, but that's about it.

This is my favorite PV drill on the rings, as demonstrated by "Amy" ...

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn5LIiHmP ... re=related

Focus on the downswing part of this drill.

IMO, she extends too far past the upswing, into a feeble attempt at an extension. That's not the important part of this drill. It's the DOWNswing!

My second favorite - if you have the space to do this - is to do this same swing (but not so exaggerated, of course), from a running start. For this drill, it's actually better to have a SHORTER length of cabling to hang the rings from. This is because it gives you more of a 'jolt' that simulates the pole hitting the box. With a LONGER (normal) length of cabling above the rings, you'll swing too far out, without ever hitting the point at which you feel any jolt. I hung a pair of rings on a tree at home for this.

If you're stuck with the long, normal-length straps/cabling, the way to modify this (and this isn't really advice for Sooch, but more for intermediates and elites) is to attach a couple more cables (could even be bungees - if strong enough) to just above the rings, and fasten them down to the floor or wall such that they'll stop the swing of the rings as you run up and catch them.

Not allowed to modify any rigging at your school? Then just have a buddy on each side of your runup hold these ropes (that are attached just above the rings) firm. They'll give you the jolt you're looking for!

This is the way the rings can work almost the same way as the "hinge/whip drill from a running start" on the highbar. In fact, it's an improvement over that drill for 2 reasons: (a) because you can set the height of the rings to whatever you want; and (b) because there's no issue re how to grip the highbar. You just grab the rings after your takeoff, and they twist in your hands in whatever position feels natural.

One nice thing about rings is that by raising them to any height you want, you can swing so that your trail leg just misses the mat on the floor. You can also raise them quite high up - to practice JUMPING up on takeoff. You can't do this on a highbar - they're rigid, and set at a height ideal for [short] gymnasts. This is usually too low for anyone over 5-10 or so - especially if the bar dips during the drill.

Also, here's some skin-the-cats that Amy does on the rings: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=D9MiJlGPC8Y&NR=1 - good for general body awareness on the pole, and for conditioning the muscles to become accustomed to being suspended on the pole.

Kirk

KirkB wrote:This is my favorite PV drill on the rings, as demonstrated by "Amy" ...

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn5LIiHmP ... re=related

"Amy" is Amy Chow, she won a silver medal on the bars at the 2000 Olympics. She's kind of a stud: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RAW5Gtp-1Q (and I think she pole vaulted around 13' or so).