Homemade Gymnastics Rings

g5hn710m4xpdwy

I set about building some homemade gymnastics rings today so off I went to B&Q. Got me some pipe and some wood so I could hang them from the attic.

So, I get home before realising I dont have any sand then noticed I dont have any rope or those webbing tie things:(.
Then the worse bit came, I inspected the pipe, "PP waste pipe". No PVC here :mad: I am a fool for not checking this out but now I have 2m of this polypropylene pipe that I dont know wether it would be safe to stick in the oven.
Would anyone be able to shed some light on this? I might try do it just as if it was a PVC pipe but would like to know if it will burst into flames or not.

rubadub

This guy is selling the straps cheap, I ordered some from him the other day.

I would not use rope, it is too hard to get the 2 loops to be the same length. I have 2 rope loops on my chinup bar that I thread my tricep bar through.


PP is polypropylene which should be fine. It has a higher melting point than PVC so might need more heating but I would start low. Go VERY easy when bending hot plastics or they will kink. It is just as safe to put in the oven as PVC would be

Also there is no need to make the full ring, like this guy who made a balls of it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V8C-fOP5c4

You only hold one part anyway, you could just cut them and use them straight. The full ring does allow the straps to come out the top though, close together so they are probably more stable. The guys here just use straight tubes. http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/shenandoah/Grunt/Bodyweight.html

I do prefer the rings myself, I have both.

The sand is important, other wise you have to bend very gently. I am near the beach so would head there, or get cement sand or just stick in a load of dry muck from the garden.

If you mess them up just use straight ones, or cut short ones and bend just slightly. Also if you have the wood and straps you can just make a trapeze chinup bar in the attic any way, and you can still do lots with that, e.g. ab rollouts, body rows.

This guy shows some various moves

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSaKIq-bS2A

Big guy, but this 10 year old is far more impressive!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwJkoq0v_ko

rubadub

Ikea do gymnastic rings.
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00041048

you can see they are not full rings like I was talking about, just bending a short bit is going to be much easier.

g5hn710m4xpdwy

Thanks Rubadub. Have seen a view of those links already. Cheers for the ebay link:)
I think I am going to give it a shot shortly. Think i have sand out my back somehwere, damn weather.
I am going to try doing a ring first and if it's a complete failure then I just do the slight bend. For a ring, do I put some rope through the ring, tie it and then use the webbing on the rope to the rafters?
Will post pics of my creation.

EDIT: Ugh, no gaffa tape Know of any alternatives?

rubadub

Can't think of anything to replace the tape with, except loads of sellotape or brown tape, black insulating tape, but it will probably not hold up to the oven.. You can get duct tape in most supermarkets now, very useful stuff.

No real need for the rope, you can just pass the webbing through the tubes. However you might want to use the straps for other things and not have to remove the rings each time. e.g. putting a straight bar or tricep bar across the straps. If the rings are on separate ropes it allows you to just move them up the strap a little, and slot the bar in place. But if had webbing in the tube and then you moved the rings up like this they would be highly stressed when you hang from the bar.

g5hn710m4xpdwy

I stuck a couple of layers of tinfoil over each edge
First one in the oven at the moment.
Alrighty, I think I will go with rope in the tube then put the tie/webbing on that.
Will update shortly, hopefully.


Update:
Christ, this thing just does not want to soften! Been in the oven since 18:19 at varying temps from 150c-200c! Maybe I should bump it up to 250c for a few mins and hope for the best :eek:

g5hn710m4xpdwy

Today was a failure. Started to melt and all sorts .
Tomorrow I am going to give it a shot with DRY sand, at 220-230* for 10 mins. none of this in for over an hour buisness.

Roper

You know they're €30 or so delivered right?


EDIT: Sorry they're not anymore, they're more like €70 now.

rubadub

Dry sand would be important, otherwise it is going to stay 100C max inside until all the water is vapourised off. This site says 140C is enough for bending PP. http://www.pilsa.com.tr/eng/ur7_teknik.htm

Kannon

Are there any good leg exercises for the rings?

rubadub

Kannon wrote: »

Are there any good leg exercises for the rings?

Not too many, it is primarily upper body. But some do some stuff, but I reckon it works the core moreso.

These are leg work exercises on a similar device

http://bodyweightculture.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8816

One other great thing you can do with rings is self assisted pullups. You adjust the rings so you are standing up, arm bent and holding the rings so you are now at the top of the pull/chinup position. Now you can lower yourself down, at this stage I would keep your legs off the ground so you do a negative. Then pull backup assisting yourself as little as you can with your legs.

I am doing heavy negatives like this now, the rings move and are less stressful on the wrists, at high weights I find this can be limiting on a straight bar. Also means I do not have to go standing on boxes to reach the bar.

Kannon

thanks Rubadub.
at the moment i'm hanging them from my door gym (that i got on your recommendation tyvm) and finding them quite tough. i can normally do about 80/90 normal pressups in one go but with this way i can only do about 5 or 6. i have my legs slight raised but i keep veering over to the right when i do them which is kind of annoying. still its my first go at ring training and i must say i'm enjoying it...

rubadub

I take it you are just doing pushups on the rings? (not pushups with your feet in the rings?). If you can only manage a few then you could try putting your feet on the ground and maybe raise the rings. Also widen your legs out for more stability.

Can you do dips on them yet? or even hold yourself stable? This is hard a first, a guy on here could do 35 normal dips but not a single ring dip (at first). It comes quickly though. Keep practising just normal holds if you cannot dip, I think it is safe enough to train the stability every day, I did.

Also you can have them at a certain height so you can self assist yourself with your feet when stabilising or doing dips. Also you could use a chair on one hand and the ring on the other, then switch. Try doing negatives dips, just lowering yourself slowly, then stand up and go again.

g5hn710m4xpdwy

Just to let you know, had no time today to try them. Will post when I do.

rubadub

My straps arrived today, I only ordered last friday afternoon.

Look good & strong, it is also easier to get the webbing into the buckle than my elite rings.

Make sure your wood is strong enough, test it out before trying and crazy upside down moves on the rings!

I would get my wood from a pallet in work. You could also make holes in the attic cover, or make a new one. If you had a jigsaw you could make neat little rectangles for the straps to go on. You could have the rings inside the attic, and just flip over the wooden cover to use them, so when you are not using them just flip it back, all you will see is the little bit of straps going through the 4 jigsawed rectangles.

Kannon

rubadub wrote: »

I take it you are just doing pushups on the rings? (not pushups with your feet in the rings?). If you can only manage a few then you could try putting your feet on the ground and maybe raise the rings. Also widen your legs out for more stability.

Can you do dips on them yet? or even hold yourself stable? This is hard a first, a guy on here could do 35 normal dips but not a single ring dip (at first). It comes quickly though. Keep practising just normal holds if you cannot dip, I think it is safe enough to train the stability every day, I did.

Also you can have them at a certain height so you can self assist yourself with your feet when stabilising or doing dips. Also you could use a chair on one hand and the ring on the other, then switch. Try doing negatives dips, just lowering yourself slowly, then stand up and go again.

No my feet i'm putting on a stool with my hands on the rings. widening the legs is a good point, i find normal pressups easier to do like this. I haven't tried dips, i'll give them a go today. that bodyweight culture site has a lotta good stuff, thanks for the link. those pin type things that people use for pressups etc look kinda interesting. might have to acquire a set of them.

Khannie

rubadub wrote: »

Ikea do gymnastic rings.
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00041048

Anyone have these? recommend them? They're very reasonable considering the potential value of them as exercise kit.

rubadub

Khannie wrote: »

They're very reasonable considering the potential value of them as exercise kit.

Good price. But seems it is just rope though, you need them adjustable to really use them to their fullest. Those ebay straps are very good. A shorter bit of PVC is much easier to bend than going full circle. I have bent some just using boiling water and going very slowly, and reheating. It is easier to bend a big bit and then cut if afterwards.

I don't think hot water will be hot enough to bend PP though.

I have pipe bending equipment and was thinking of doing a short bit and putting on gelled bike grips for comfort.

I am going to use the straps for other things too, e.g. put them on a heavy barbell on the ground, now loop another bar up and do shrugs with it. I am also thinking of a pulley system to do cable work on the chinning bar.

I have lots of excess webbing on the straps and might make these

Burkatron

Zombie thread! I was just looking for some info on what straps to buy for a set of rings I have! Would these (the link that Rubadub provided in post 2) be suitable??

rubadub

Mine are still working fine from that seller.

He now does post the heavy duty ones here, I got medium he did not ship the heavy duty's here at the time.

The one in your link is for 4 sets of 2.5m straps. So you would only need 2. As these will be looped you after left with just 1.25m of strap when the 2.5m is folded over on itself. It will be a little less than 1.25m as you need at least some trailing out the end.

He has 3.5m & 5m medium strength ones too. I got long ones and was using the excess for other things.

Personally I would get the 5m heavy duties, they are only a little more when postage it added on.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/set-two-5m-H-D-VAN-ROOF-RACK-TRAILER-webbing-tie-down-straps-/180870219942?pt=UK_Tickets_Travel_Luggage_CA&var=&hash=item6fc94f9e3b