Rings One: Week 1 Introspection

Ok, I'm not really starting at the very beginning of Rings One, due to previous training done under Rings One (at Level A) , Parallettes One Level A, and Integral Strength.  I'm kind of resuming where I left off in Phase 2, except of course due to lack of ring practice I'm not quite in shape for Phase 2 either.  So I'm going to be quite a bit less formal for my Rings One introspection posts.

What I did this week was 2 sessions of Above The Rings and 1 season of Below The Rings as if I were in Week 1 of Rings One.

For Above The Rings what I will do for next week is this routine:

Dips - 3 sets, just like in the Phase 2 routine.

Superset of Inverted Press and Pushup - 30 seconds each set, 3 total reps of this superset.  This is straight out of Integral Strength, except done on the rings instead of the floor.  I found that my pushup level is with knees on the floor - it's better to get the Quality and Ease of this movement down before progressing to the full pushup.  The purpose of this superset is to prepare for the Tuck to Tuck Shoulder Stand - this is not a movement I can attempt cold after months of no ring training.

Tuck Sit Hold - 3-5 sets, one 20-30 sec. hold per set.  The official program prescribes 3-5 sets of 3-5 second holds, but experience has taught me this is not enough to progress towards the full L-sit.  Parallettes One was recently updated so that the trainee now practices for up to 60-second holds of the Tuck Sit before progressing to L-Sit - so the hold times probably need to be bumped similarly for ring training.

For the Below The Rings sessions the prescribed Phase 2 routine of pull-ups, tuck-roll chin-ups, and skin the cats should be fine - just 3 sets per exercise.  Then I will add 3 sets of pistol squats.

This is what I will practice for 3 more weeks.  Then I will evaluate where to go next with my ring training.

I ended up not bike commuting this week because of rain.  I still have a lack of confidence in riding my road bike after that fall on the ramp (bad angle, so the wheel got caught in a groove between the ramp and the road), so I want to ride on the road bike some more before attempting the full commute, and I want to ride on a dry day.