Tag Archives | Iron Cross

Gymnastic Rings Dream Machine

The other day my friend was telling me about this device called a gymnastic rings dream machine. Surprisingly I had never heard of it. Well, he built one in his gym, and just yesterday I got to try it out for the first time ever.

Walking and Jumping On Your HandsWalking and Jumping On Your Hands on Amazon

Sorry the video isn’t great, but it was shot with an iphone on a whim.

The gymnastic rings dream machine allows you unload a significant portion of your bodyweight and thus you can work on harder skills. You see me here doing an iron cross and front lever, two moves that are currently outside of my ability (but not for too much longer).

Does anyone else have experience with the dream machine?

Comments { 5 }

Victorian on Rings

Here is a video of a great routine, even including a rarely seen Victorian on the rings at 0:08 by Stanford’s Peter Derman.

Trampoline Handbook
Trampoline Handbook on Amazon

Obviously quite impressive.

These skills may be way beyond your ability but that doesn’t mean you can’t be inspired by them.

In my gymnastics class I’ve talked quite a bit about the tumbling and even parallel bars and progress is still coming fast there. But I also play around with the rings.

For the first time I hit multiple muscle-ups on the rings in a row without re-gripping. Never worked on that before. Also working a bit towards one arm chinnups. Still have a long ways to go there.

Another thing that is inspiring is that there’s a couple guys there that can just about do the iron cross. Watching videos is one thing but seeing it live and up close is another.

If you get around people that are better than you, you have no choice but to be pulled upwards.

Good Luck and Good Gymnastics,
Logan Christopher

P.S. Want your own pair of Gymnastic Rings? You can get them here…

Comments { 3 }

Paul Hamm, Olympic Gold and the Rings

I can remember it like it was yesterday even though it was about four years ago.

Had never paid all that much attention to the Olympics before but this year was different.

My good friend and I were watching the men’s individual all-around competition. Gymnasts are truly some of the worlds strongest athletes but the Olympic level is just ridiculous.

There was some amazing competition. Of course, I was rooting for the USA and I got to see one of the most amazing comebacks ever in the history of sports.

After a disastrous fall on the vault it looked like Paul Hamm was out of the running. But two near perfect routines on the parallel bars and horizontal bar put him back in front.

Not only did he win the Gold but he was the first American to ever to so at the Olympics in the all-around competition. We were going crazy with excitement.

Yes there was some controversy behind a scoring error, but watching that piece of history will forever be burned in my mind.

It’s amazing what these athletes can do. It’s unreal.

How do they build that kind of strength and skill? One its how they train, which is long hours every single day working on perfecting their routines.

But it is also what they train with. The tools and apparatus on which they train. A big key to build gymnastic strength is to train the same way.

The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing
The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing on Amazon

One of the most basic tools for the gymnast, and the one that epitomizes all that is gymnastics, are the rings.

There is nothing quite like ‘em. If you’ve never mounted a pair you’d be surprised at just how much you body shakes as you try to support your bodyweight.

Forget the iron cross or maltese. Can you manage a few pullups or dips? What about the classic muscle-up?

Well, now you can answer those questions. Now you can get started training your way to building Olympic level strength with the Elite Gymnastic Rings.

Not only that but you can get instructed by another world champion and Olympic medalist in how to use them.

And if you want to really impress someone do a handstand on top of the rings. Now that’s balance!

Paul’s performance on the rings back in 2004 was before the fall and comeback (a decent 9.587) but you can be sure I’ll be watching the gymnastics this year, especially the rings.

The difference is this time I’ll be training right alongside him. Will you?

Sincerely,
Logan Christopher

P.S. Notice that on either of the two pages as the bottom in the P.S. you can get both the Gymnastic Rings and the Ring Strength DVD in a special combo deal and save.

P.P.S. And yes, if you didn’t know, Paul Hamm will be back in Beijing. I’m rooting for a repeat.

Comments { 1 }