Hanging out in Texas

My grandpa Sydney Winick was a great poet and storyteller, and several of his most vivid tales involved his experiences on the gymnastics team. He was a high school varsity gymnast, with his specialty being on the high and parallel bars.

On this current road trip down to Texas, I’ve added a new routine to my fitness repertoire: the gymnastics rings. When I am on the rings, I feel a physical and spiritual connection with my grandpa. Despite the limited formal gymnastics training I’ve had in my life, I developed an immediate inclination to the rings that I can only attribute to the boldness my grandfather instilled in me.

I’ve been fortunate to find several different fitness parks with gymnastics rings. The first was on our way down to Texas, at the Main Terrain Art Park in Chattanooga, Tennessee (see: “Training in Chattanooga”). In San Antonio, I’ve used the rings at Pearsall Park in South San Antonio and Trinity University’s calisthenics park. Pearsall is a bit of a trek from where we’re staying, while Trinity is just minutes away. Therefore, I’ve been going to Trinity more frequently, but Pearsall is one of the best parks I’ve ever been to. It’s got three different sized pull up bars, gymnastics rings, a complete Ninja Warrior style course and a nature trail that’s replete with fossils (San Antonio was underwater during the Cretaceous Period).

The first move I had in my mind to do on the rings was an upside down hang. I’ve seen it done many times by gymnasts, but I’ve never had the gumption to try one on my own. I knew my physical strength and prior calisthenics training had prepared me well enough to succeed. I just needed to be bold and go for it. On the first few attempts I was not completely vertical to the ground, but after tightening my core, squeezing my glutes and filling my mind with courageous thoughts, I ended up in a pretty darn good position.

Once I achieved the upside down hang, I attempted an L-sit and a skin the cat, two moves that were also familiar to me from my gymnastics spectatorship. Every inch of my being was hard at work.

While the three aforementioned movements were incredibly tough, doing dips on the rings has been the hardest challenge. It might even be one of the most difficult bodyweight exercises I’ve ever done to this point. I can do twenty dips on a parallel bar, but on the rings I could only muster a quarter of that total in one set. Getting to five reps was incredibly grueling. Ring dips are objectively harder because of stability issues. In addition to engaging my pectorals and triceps via the act of pulling and pushing my body up and down, I had to recruit all of my stabilizers (i.e. trapezius, rhomboids and obliques) to keep myself from swaying outward with the rings.

Gymnastics rings are one the best pieces of equipment to build significant joint health, strength, flexibility and coordination all at once with just your bodyweight. I’m really glad that I’ve had ample opportunities to get familiar with gymnastics rings, and that San Antonio is full of outdoor calisthenics parks with rings and other quality equipment. I’m also fortunate to have learned about boldness and taking risks from my grandfather, the gymnast. He’s frequently in my thoughts, but when I’m on the rings, it really does feel as if he’s right there beside me. And that gives me even more of a will to grow and succeed doing what I enjoy, which is what he always encouraged me to do.

---

Thanks for reading Artfully Exercising!

Show me some ❤️

I’d be grateful if you’d take a moment to hit the “heart icon” on this post to show your appreciation (and boost this post within the algorithmic sea that is social media).

Consider subscribing 📩

Artfully Exercising is a reader-supported publication about art and fitness. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber:

Documenting my physical and mental health journey in the form of Artfully Exercising has been a labor of love, which takes a lot of (well spent) time, energy and resources to write the content you receive in your email boxes. If my writing has given you any sort of inspiration and enrichment, please consider making a contribution by becoming a paid subscriber or making a one time contribution.

If you are not ready to become a paid subscriber, you can support my work with a one pledge at a monetary value of your choice:

Let’s continue the conversation 💬

If what I’ve written resonates with you, and/or you want to share your thoughts, please leave me a comment! One of the most rewarding things about writing is getting feedback and making connections with others!