How To Do Ring Pull Ups – Including Upside Down Pull Ups!

We all know how fascinating it is to see models and actors sculpt their bodies within a few weeks’ time. But aside from their minimalistic diet, they intensify things by working out rigorously. With the help of specific workout regimens and trainers, they target specific parts of their body. 

Today, we will be talking about important things you need to know on upside down pull ups and the benefits of doing them. It would be a lot easier for you to appreciate a particular workout routine if you knew what they are for.

What Are The Benefits Of Using Rings Instead Of A Bar For Pull Ups?

1. Builds Stronger Grip

Ring chin-ups are a excellent way to enhance grip strength. Unlike the standard chin up or pull-up, when you use a ring you are swinging on a mobile point of contact. This then forces the hands and forearms to genuinely engage your grip to stabilize the body.

In addition to steadying the body, the ring chin-up can increase the range of movement of our pull on peak of the lift. This is awesome since a greater range of movement means greater muscle activation.

Ring Pull or Chin Up


2. Improves Shoulder Health

It's not unusual to find lifters who suffer from some kind of shoulder issue. A normal chin-up or pull-up can aggravate any nagging injury due to the restricted range of motion. Impingement for lifters is normally generated from a prior injury, tight muscles (resulting from poor form during lifts), or perhaps just wear and tear on the joint over years of use.

The ring chin-up allows you to move your body over a greater range of motion than you can accomplish with a normal bar. During the pull rings the shoulders can adapt to make it comfortable by changing the width where they pull.

3. Exerts Less Stress On Your Joints

To elaborate on point number two, ring chin-ups may also provide relief to the elbow joint. Heavy lifting over a lifetime can render the elbows with levels of tendonitis.

The increase in range of motion rings supply allow the elbows to move more freely. This allows the arms to move and rotate during the pull part, relieving stress our hinge-style joints in our arms.

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Why Do Upside Down Ring Pull Ups?

Upside down pull ups, are basically ring pull which you do with your head facing downwards. It pretty much looks like an inverted dip!  

It is very easy to assume that upside down pull ups can only improve your core, arms and shoulders. There are even a number of women who try to avoid workouts like these because they don’t want to develop “manly” muscles.

​However, doing the most suitable pull up variations for you in moderation can actually help speed up your muscle development. Aside from these specific parts, there are also other health benefits you can get from upside down pull ups.

1. Upside Down Pull Ups Target More Muscle Groups

Compared to just jogging or doing push ups, upside down pull ups target more muscle groups. This makes it an ideal workout for bodybuilding and overall muscle mass growth.

​Again, it targets your triceps, biceps, shoulder muscles and core. Your triceps and biceps strengthen with this workout. This helps you to get stronger overall that can lead to advanced workouts such as bench presses and dips.

​Also, the core is a very significant target muscle group. This is because as you pull your body up from being upside down, it creates a strain in your ab muscles. So if you want to speed up your ab improvement, this might be a workout worth trying.

Source: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/26khg-G2r9Y/maxresdefault.jpg

​Your leg muscles are also involved in this workout routine. As you try to keep your legs together and use them for support/balance, you are also working out the leg muscles. Overall, it’s one of the few workouts that heavily relies on the body as a whole.

2. It Burns Fats Much Faster

As a variant of your usual pull ups, the upside down pull up also burns more fats compared to other workout routines. Again, this is because doing the pull ups (as well as the upside down pull ups) use more muscle groups than your conventional exercises.

It is still true that getting into shape and burning fats don’t have any shortcuts. But if ever you feel like you want to burn fats at a much faster rate, it might be good to try pull ups as well as its other variations such as the upside down pull ups.

However, if you’re a beginner, be careful because this can be quite dangerous if not done properly.​

3. Upside Down Pull Ups Can Increase Blood Circulation

Upside pull ups might sound very intimidating at first. And that is very understandable.

However hanging upside down can help increase blood circulation. According to studies, hanging upside down increases blood circulation because of gravity. Blood and oxygen flow down to your heart at a more faster speed when hanging upside down due to gravity.

But then again, too much of this can also cause internal damages especially to the brain. So it is best to do upside down pull ups when you have someone to assist you and guide you.

4. “Inversion” Might Help Spine Decompression

Aside from the benefits of just the pull up, hanging upside down also helps decompress your spine and create space between the vertebrae. This also eliminates any pressure your spine might have accumulated from heavy work, bad posture and all other rigorous tasks.

​Upside down pull ups might be a good exercise for a total body stretch. But then, don’t think of this as some physical therapy treatment. At the end of the day, it is still just a normal body workout with added benefits.

5. It Is A Workout That Does Not Need Much Space Or Equipment

If you are tight on budget with little space at home, the pull up and its variants can be a good addition to your workout routine. Unlike weights, ab machines or even the treadmill, pull ups simply need a sturdy bar for you to hang on to.

However, a ring pull up bar can actually be a good long term investment. It does not need much space as you will just be hanging or attaching the bar to your ceiling. There’s going to be no more need for changing plates or whatsoever. You only need the pull up bar and yourself.

For the DIYers out there, I'd recommend out these kit from Amazon, that you can install in your own garage.

6. It Can Improve The Strength Of Your Grip

For aspiring body builders, it is very important for them to have a really strong grip. It minimizes the amount of accidents or casualties they might incur. Having a good strong grip also helps you maximize workouts with dumbbells or barbells.

​The pull ups can do these for you. Aside from muscle strength, the upside down pull ups can also help increase your grip strength. This is done as you hold onto the bar and rely more on your grip to pull yourself together.

7. It Can Be Good Body Fat Indicator

Simply being “big” is not enough to be able to wing a pull up. You can be big with body fats and not be able to do the pull up. You can also be big with heavier muscles and have enough muscle strength to do pull ups.

​If you try doing a pull up and find it hard to lift yourself, it might be best if you try shedding off some weight first. This will help you speed up whatever muscle development you might do.

​This will also make it easier for you to lift yourself up despite gaining more weight from your muscles.

However, do note that if you are a beginner, you do not simply start off with the upside down pull ups. Or even the basic pull up in general, right off the bat. If you really want to be able to do pull ups, you can start with the inverted rows.

Inverted rows can train your body and your back muscles to pull you up against gravity. This can give you an idea on how to pull off those pull up variations. This can also improve your stamina for further repetitions of the pull ups.

(because you’re not just going to do the pull ups once, you have to do reps to get somewhere)​

Other Pull Up Variations That You Can Try

Aside from the conventional pull ups and the challenging upside down ones, there are still other pull up variations that you can try. Other pull up variations not only target specific muscle groups, they also work for differing purposes.

For instance, the weighted pull ups are meant to improve upper body strength. You can do this by wearing a weighted vest, weighted belt or putting your feet through a kettlebell.

Source: http://assets2.tribesports.com/system/exercise_images/images/000/000/081/show/20130730162017-weighted-pull-ups_(3).jpg

​There are still a lot of other ways to add weight to your pull ups. However, take note that the best way to add weights to your pull ups should be based on what purpose you are doing pull ups for.

​Next is the close grip pull ups. Now aside from the arm muscles, this particular pull up particular covers the back muscles such as the rhomboids and the lower and middle traps.

​This is because the mentioned muscles are forced to work overtime just to pull your body weight up vertically. Unlike the wide grip pull ups (or the conventional pull ups) that give you more leverage.

​Then there’s the L Pull Ups. The L pull ups also cover a lot of muscle groups if not all. You can usually see this as a part of a gymnast or cheerleader’s workout or warm-up routine.

​It targets various muscle groups such as your core (the ab muscle group) as you try to sit in an upright L while lifting yourself up and down. The muscles of your arms are also strained to maintain consistency and longevity.

​But most importantly, it also improves the hamstring and hip flexibility from keeping your legs at a parallel position from the ground all while doing the pull ups.

At The End Of The Day…

There are still more pull up variations other the ones mentioned. But despite the number of benefits presented, it is best to do these in moderation. Pull ups are only good when they’re done right and safely.

Pull ups isn't the only exercise that can be flipped on it's head. You can also experiment with other upside down exercises, like upside down sit ups!

​If you’re a beginner, it is best to try the upside down pull ups with a trainer. They can ensure you of the right technique and posture to do the said exercise. Finally, don’t use the upside down pull up to treat or improve any spinal problems or issues. It is still best to consult with a therapist.

​At the end of the day, the upside down pull up can only do so much. It has its limitations and specific purpose. With that said, did you find this article informative? If yes, comment, share, and let us know below!

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