A possible DIY solution for hanging gymnastics rings from a too-low ceiling

[mydavesat]

@tinekarobinson Are you sure you're not being overly literal? I've literally never seen a climbing hall where rings are suspended the way you describe. Instead it's from wooden beams attached to the walls. And those beams could carry this set-up no problem.

 

[tinekarobinson]

@mydavesat I suppose it depends on what you’re planning on doing on the ring’s. Gentle hanging and pull-ups? Probably ok to hang from the rafters. Swinging muscle ups? You’re gonna break something.

 

[holesinmyfeet]

@tinekarobinson Unless you have a concrete ceiling but then you get into details like depth of anchor and whether the concrete rebar was pre-tensioned. Don’t cut a pre-tensioned strand of rebar... that’s a lawsuit

 

[faith33]

@mydavesat Uh - what the heck are you trying to accomplish? Create a system of rings mounting points so that your 2.5m rings feel like they at 3m? It isn't going to be enough difference to matter unless you are very high level. It put it in comparison, my home rings are probably only 2m length, the OMB rings are at 3m length, and the OMB swinging rings are at, like 5m length. I was able to stabilize on the OMB-SR after my first muscle up with a "hey, this is a little harder". I mean, I'm not doing Giant Swings, and maybe it makes a difference there, but I am doing handstands.

You can probably the setup you describe, but I just don't think its worth the trouble. Regardless, you aren't going to be doing handstand transitions on them because you just don't have the ceiling clearance; handstand transitions (giant swing, inverse iron cross, etc.) are where the added difficulty will matter.

 

[mydavesat]

@faith33 It's just that I saw many rings with a strap length of about 1.5 m and I thought that adding a meter there might make an actual difference; it's almost twice as much after all. Sure, it won't help with handstands, but it might mimic the instability of longer straps for iron crosses for example.

 

[faith33]

@mydavesat The instability feels like a really big hurdle initially, but you get used to it very fast (couple of weeks), and the additional instability of longer straps is trivial compared to the initial hurdle.

Think support hold like doing an L-sit on two of those exercise disks. Initially that is really hard, but increasing or decreasing the radius of the disk doesn't really make it any harder after it is palm-sized.

Anything longer than 1.5*upperTorso is sufficient for training all but the most specific of exercises.

If you are training HS transitions, however, you are going to want to dial in exactly how hard to swing to do it - but even for something like an iron cross, as long you aren't using the lateral movement to stabilize, its fine - the difference between a 10 degree IC and a 15 degree IC because of strap length is negligible compared to the overall force; the difference between a 3 and 5 degree lateral movement HS is trivial.

It just doesn't make a difference.

 

[mydavesat]

@faith33 Not the answer I was hoping for, but the one I needed. Thanks.

 

[romasliv]

@mydavesat I like you

 

[gracesmom04]

@romasliv me too

 

[redfox22]

@mydavesat I think everything you've said is correct, the thing I would want to see (but am too lazy to do) is some math on how much more/less difficult an extra meter of strap actually makes the exercises. I also suspect it's not much, and moreover I doubt you'd be able to reduce the strap-on-strap friction to less than the difference.

 

[mydavesat]

@redfox22 Yes, I've been wondering about that indeed. SunTzuWarmaster says the difference in difficulty is negligible. And if the strap on strap friction can be made low enough is an open question, but I could see that happen.

 

[idrivetoyota73]

@mydavesat Dude. Just hang them like a normal person. You're making it complicated for the sake of making it complicated. The extra instability won't matter

 

[mydavesat]

@idrivetoyota73

The extra instability won't matter

Yeah that's what most practitioners seem to lean to in their answers. Live and learn I guess.

 

[humanity]

@mydavesat I feel like you might be over thinking this

 

[armyguy]

@mydavesat I hang my rings off of my door frame pull up bar. Works wonders.

 

[twobraids]

@mydavesat Nerd.

 

[dawn16]

@mydavesat no go with standard residential construction methods the dynamic load is too much and the proper anchor for your horizontal line would require an engineered solution

 

[romasliv]

@mydavesat What a post! Great thinking! Great diagram! Great math! There are certainly some considerations that could make this not work or be dangerous. All that I can think of have been pointed out by others though, so all I have to offer is a "Hell Yeah!"

Here's my idea. To increase the difficulty, tape a child to the ceiling and have them push and pull on the strap as hard as they can while you're exercising. Tell them if they don't do it hard enough you'll leave them up there

 

[romasliv]

@mydavesat Idk why people downvotes I guess I was too enthusiastic. I was genuinely excited by this post lol. Most people hate thinking and I liked the effort

Tape your wife to the ceiling!