How to Use Traveling Rings to Keep Fitness Fun

Traveling rings are a fitness apparatus that usually has five to ten aluminum or wooden rings suspended from chains or rope. The ropes are then spaced a few feet apart and attached to a strong steel support beam that looks a lot like a large children’s swing set. All of this is set up in a way that allows users to travel from one ring to the next using a combination of arm pulls, leg swings, twirls, swoops and any number of Spiderman-esque or dance-like movements.

When I say dance-like, I really mean it. If you haven’t seen this in action, check out some videos. People, both young and old alike, can be seen gracefully soaring through the air on these rings. Some look like trapeze artists while others look like Olympic athletes, but all of them look like they are having the time of their life.

As I will get into later, the traveling rings have been around since approximately 1860, but Muscle Beach (in Santa Monica, California) is credited with making them popular in the 1970s. Since then, this sport has grown and blossomed in cities all around the world. 

Due to the lack of rules in this sport (or more accurately, this art), the styles used on the rings are as individual and creative as the person performing them. Which makes it as fun to do as it is to watch. 

Fitness and fun

One of the first things I noticed when I started researching this traveling rings was how much fun everyone was having. In the videos I watched of people swinging, twirling, and dangling, the default setting for this activity seems to involve a lot of laughing and grinning. Even the name this community has given itself, Ringers, is fun and playful. And to me, that is one of the most important, and all too often overlooked, aspects of fitness—it should be fun!

To me, that is one of the most important, and all too often overlooked, aspects of fitness—it should be fun!

Sure, there are times when you might struggle to find the fun in your fitness routine, especially if you're training hard. But overall, your regimen should be fun instead of feeling like some gross medicine you take only in the hopes of getting healthier. To be truly healthful, not to mention sustainable, your fitness program should bring you joy. If yours feels like something you have to force yourself to endure, look for a different program.

If you don’t enjoy running, go for a walk. If you don’t like lifting weights, try resistance bands. If you don’t like going to the...

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