Gymnastic Rings: Wood or Plastic?

Gymnastic Rings: Wood or Plastic?

When it comes to selecting equipment for a workout, or a particular skill you want to learn or goal you want to achieve, starting from the right base with materials is incredibly important. This will not only start you with a better grounding from the outset, but ensure you’re set up to continue training in the correct way. And the gymnastic rings are definitely not an exception.

There is nothing like seeing an athlete on a pair of wooden gymnastic rings covered in chalk to show you just how truly gifted an athlete can be. And professional athletes use wooden gymnastic rings for a reason. Many reasons in fact.

Speaking from personal experience I have used both plastic and wooden rings. And for me, wooden gymnastic rings are the winner hands down! The texture is far better on wooden gymnastic rings than plastic ones, so you can maintain better grip with or without chalk, although I highly recommend with. Due to the better grip, the wooden gymnastic rings then feel more comfortable, particularly if you’re trying to master the false grip. Where the wood sits against your wrist is far more pleasant than plastic, meaning when you’re really pushing for those last reps, you’re not thinking about how uncomfortable your wrists or hands feel.

The way in which wooden gymnastic rings are finished, they wear down better than the plastic ones do. This means, unless you leave them in the pouring rain for days on end, they will last you a long time. And if you’re training outside, wooden gymnastic rings will maintain better grip in adverse or wet conditions. Plastic rings tend to become slightly perilous under even damp conditions.

Even though plastic rings might seem like an affordable entry point for those beginning to learn. I would suggest investing in the better wooden gymnastic rings, not only for the reasons I’ve mentioned above, but also because investing in your training is akin to investing in yourself. Start as you mean to go on and having equipment you know you can rely on is key.

Starting from the foundation of wooden gymnastic rings will also give you the confidence to push yourself further. So therefore you can feel more confident exerting yourself, knowing you have a stable base from which to work. The extra weight means they sit with a better weight in the straps, meaning exerting force means they won’t buckle under pressure.

For me, it’s wooden gymnastic rings, all the way. I always recommend the wooden gymnastic rings  to my clients, if they can’t train as much with me as they want to, as gymnastic rings are extremely versatile and portable. And, it just so happens, Gravity Fitness have the competition and starter thicknesses available here. I would recommend going for the competition thickness if you want to work on your bodyweight skills, and the thicker set if you want to train with more weight.

So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and start incorporating rings into your training! Tag @gravity.fitness on Instagram so we can see your progress! So go ahead and make the most of your training with wooden gymnastic rings!

by Guy Joynson for Gravity Fitness