R1 has made me stronger, especially in my shoulders, arms and abs; taught me some new (and cool) skills; and surprisingly relieved elbow discomfort that I sometimes get from tennis. The cool down has also been great for my shoulder range of motion and to ward off any shoulder discomfort.

Can you do at least 5 solid pull-ups?

R1 is a demanding program, and it is not for beginners.

Being able to do five solid (strict) pull-ups is about the minimum strength level you’ll need to make suitable progress on Rings One.

R1 includes two difficulty levels: Level A assumes an intermediate level of strength, and Level B is designed for people who already quite strong, yet new to ring training.

If you can’t yet do five pull-ups, we recommend Integral Strength as a preparatory step before starting R1.

Integral Strength Info

Also check out our free pull-up tutorial.

Rings One is the Perfect Introduction to Gymnastic Ring Training

If you’re like most people who will stumble upon this page, your first exposure to gymnastic rings was seeing them in the Olympics and admiring the strength and physiques of elite gymnasts…

But let’s get real:

Your chances of jumping up on the rings and busting out an iron cross are nil. Rings are hard. Damn hard.

Which is why you’re here.

Since we first released Rings One back in 2010, rings have gained a lot of popularity for general fitness, and now you can see them hanging in a lot of commercial gyms. Unfortunately, they’re still damn hard, and without expert guidance, trying to use them can be an exercise in frustration.

Our head coach, Ryan Hurst, created Rings One to translate his gymnastics background into a program you can use for general fitness without having to take up gymnastic sport.

Versatility and Challenge in Every Direction

Rings allow flexibility for pulling skills below the rings and pushing and balance skills above the rings. Rings One will show you exercises that build strength and mobility in every range and direction.

Instability for Muscular Stimulation

Since they’re not fixed in space, rings will force your muscles to fight harder for control, and that translates to greater strength gains. We’ll show you the details of execution that lead to greater mastery of each movement and position.

Badass Credibility with Impressive Skills

Nailing a solid muscle-up or displaying stability in an L-sit make you look and feel like a badass. With proven progressions and an adaptable rep scheme, you’ll be able to keep making consistent progress towards clean, strict muscle ups and the R1 flow routine.

1. Strength Development

Strength is the foundation of increasing your movement capabilities, so R1 begins by building your strength in the basic movements everything else is built on.

2. Skill Development

As you continue building strength, Phase 2 introduces more skill focus and complex movements that will ingrain new motor patterns, developing balance and agility.

3. Flow Acquisition

Once you’ve developed the basic level of body control to execute each skill, we begin building combinations that offer even greater challenge and stimulation.

4. Flow “Mastery”

After several weeks of strength and skill practice, you’ll work to smooth out the transitions and cut down the rest time for more efficient applied movements.

I purchased Rings 1 and 2 and although I’m still in Rings 1 I’ve had a drastic change to my body in two months. Your program tied to a good diet has let me drop around 7 lbs of fat and I wanted to thank you for it.

Rings One has totally changed how I train. You have taught me how to correctly train to gain strength and for my body to move naturally and flow from one movement to another. And at the same time i am learning some absolutely fantastic skills. The rings at first were very very hard to use. I could easily do 100 press ups and 20 chin ups, but on the rings i could only do less than half of that and i loved this fact, and that the rings are so challenging. They’re not so hard now, of course.

My muscles are more solid than ever and so strong. My core strength is better than it has ever been. As you can see from my photo, I used to be a Royal Marine Commando, so I was always fit anyway…but the rings are pushing my muscles and skills more than any Marine circuit!

The manual has some great info and taught me a lot about how the body works and how it needs to recover.

Lastly, a very important aspect is that this ring training is so much fun!!!!!! I have never enjoyed exercise so much in my life.

R1 helped me get the ring muscle up, something that had been eluding me for a good while before I started training with GMB.

I noticed it also dramatically improved my grip endurance, without even really being a focus of the program!

Can’t believe I’m on week 7 of Rings One. This is by far the longest I’ve stuck with a fitness program, ever.

I LOVE the Rings 1 program.

I am having a really hard time taking rest / recovery days because I want to be back on the rings!! Was thinking of doing the parallettes or floor training next. Any suggestions? also, for those of you pausing on spending the $95.00, Dive in and Buy it! It’s Awesome!

As a Muscle Activation Specialist, Trainer and owner of The Human Motion Lab in San Francisco, this R1 program has really redefined what fitness is!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

• 71 Videos (almost 3 hours of tutorials) – Clear, reliable display on any size screen. Streaming videos adjust to suit your internet connection speed, and you can even download all the tutorials for offline use.
• Detailed Training Charts – 12 weeks of programming at two levels of difficulty, clearly arranged for easy reference.
• Supplementary Material – Warm-ups, cool-downs, FAQs, bonus tutorials, and more to make sure you have all you need to be successful and keep making progress.