When looking to increase the intensity of your workouts, it helps to consider the top three training factors for boosting muscle growth:
While these factors apply to the traditional strength tools (dumbbell, barbells, and machines), we can smartly apply them to gymnastic rings.
MECHANICAL TENSION
By altering your body’s leverage or adding an external load to increase the force on a specific muscle through a full range of motion, you increase the amount of mechanical tension on the muscle and improve the workout. For example, by shifting your body from a 45-degree body angle to parallel to the ground during a Push-up or Row, or adding a 20-pound lifting chain during the same movement, you increase the difficulty of the workout.
MUSCLE DAMAGE
By keeping constant tension on a muscle during an extended number of reps (also called “time under tension”) you increase the degree of micro-tears in the muscle, thus improving the amount of muscle gained during recovery. For example, you can increase muscle damage by never locking out your elbows at the top or the bottom of a Push-up.
METABOLIC STRESS
In applying the concept of metabolic stress to a workout, the important elements are slow negatives and exercise variety. Slow negatives mean increasing the amount of time spent in the movement, such as taking 5 seconds to lower yourself during a push-up (as opposed to the standard 1–2 seconds). Exercise variety, as the name implies, would be switching from the standard Push-up (hands on handles) to the Incline Push-up (hands on the floor/feet above the shoulders).
INTENSITY TECHNIQUES
A sub-category of metabolic stress is Intensity Techniques. These add variety and brutal effectiveness to any of the foundational movements, those being Squats, Single Leg Squats, Deadlifts, RDLs, Rows, and Push-ups.
Mechanical Drop Sets: Instead of simply dropping the weight to continue the set, you “drop” to an exercise with more mechanical advantage. (For example: during a set up Push-ups, moving from parallel to a 30–45-degree body angle to continue the set.)
Cluster Sets: Breaks down one set into multiple mini-sets. To do so, find a body angle/leverage point you can do at an 8-rep max, but instead do 5 reps for multiple sets with only 10–15 seconds rest between sets. That way you are able to get around 15 reps at a body angle/leverage point you could previously only do 8 reps from.
Pre-Exhaust: Do a set of an isolation exercise for a muscle group. Then, with no rest, do a compound movement of the same muscle group.
Example #1: Rings Chest Fly for 12 reps followed by Rings Push-up for 10–15 reps
Example #2: Rings Leg Curl for 15 reps followed by KB Deadlift for 10–15 reps
Super Sets: This pairs two exercises with no rest. Variations on the Super Set are endless, but my favorites are:
ISO Holds: Holding the last rep of an exercise in the contracted position for 5–10 extra seconds.
PSD Sets: Utilizes the old school bodybuilding techniques of a pre-exhaust set, a strength set, and a mechanical drop set.
Here is an example of a PSD Set for the back: