Beginner's Guide to Watching and Understanding Artistic Gymnastics, Rings Events

[dawn16]

@zfatu Stronger athletes will not use a false grip during strength holds. In fact it has come into fashion to hold the strength move just resting your hands on the rings with your fingers pointed out rather than gripping them to show ease and no false grip.

Example: http://www.nbcolympics.com/sites/de...os-petrounias_still-rings_rio-olympics_ap.jpg

 

[zfatu]

@dawn16 Ohhh, I did just see that last night watching some videos... makes sense now.

 

[lovinggodlovingpeople]

@dawn16 I love it when they do that.

 

[boundlesslove]

@zfatu As long as your arms are straight in the hang or hold, false grip is allowed. At least when I was competing.

That being said, you don't necessarily want to do a false grip on something like an iron cross because you're actually using the wrong muscles even though it's easier. And again, much harder to lock your arms in a false grip.

 

[fromgenesistorevelation]

@boundlesslove

That being said, you don't necessarily want to do a false grip on something like an iron cross because you're actually using the wrong muscles even though it's easier.

I wouldn't say it's the wrong muscles. It's definitely easier and a good way to go about it when you begin though.

 

[boundlesslove]

@fromgenesistorevelation It's wrong in regards to proper technique. If I were learning, I wouldn't even train with a false grip. Bad habits are much easier to prevent than reverse.

 

[fromgenesistorevelation]

@boundlesslove For some, it would be impossible without false grip. (Btw I'm talking about regular people, not competitors.)

 

[boundlesslove]

@fromgenesistorevelation I do agree with that, it's an extremely difficult skill to learn. But I wouldn't call it a 'real' iron cross if you're using a false grip.

 

[zfatu]

@fromgenesistorevelation Im new to all this-bodyweight only training, and gymnastics; so yeah, I assumed FG was the normal way to learn iron cross

 

[boundlesslove]

@zfatu You're going to be (hopefully) doing a lot of drills and strength exercises before you even attempt an iron cross, so again, I'd strongly suggesting learning it the 'proper' way.

 

[zfatu]

@boundlesslove I have no intention of doing an iron cross now or probably ever. But I what I was trying to say is I thought FG was the proper way or profession to a non FG. Just having that few less inches pulling you away from your center of gravity has got to be huge. This is all presumption, which I tried to make obvious in my last comment. I've got no gymnastics knowledge but plenty of schooling in bio and physio

 

[boundlesslove]

@zfatu Ah ok yeah, you can learn it with a FG and then transition into a non-fg cross but it's harder for a few reasons although, totally possible. Just those couple of inches makes a huge difference not only because of the center of gravity, but because you're actually using different muscles. Which is why I had suggested to just learn it properly first.

 

[teachmetodothywill]

@stonesoffire Thank you OP. This is very interesting.

 

[dawn16]

@stonesoffire And if you start watching events and want to nerd out a little. There's a podcast called Gymcastic that is fantastic

 

[stonesoffire]

@jackkoons I've seen some very general articles that just mention what D- and E-scores are. My intention was to go deeper, but not to include too many nuances-if I did, one might as well read the whole CoP instead. You can point out a rule you think would be important, I will then add it to the post. Thanks