By Sho / 7 November 2025(update)
Hey everyone, it’s Sho!
If you’ve been grinding to get your first ring muscle-up but keep falling just short, I’ve been there — for almost a year. The kipping ring muscle-up looks effortless when others do it, but in reality, it’s a mix of timing, power, and technique that can feel impossible to master. In this post, I’ll break down exactly what stopped me for months and what finally helped me get over the rings.
You’ll see the common mistakes that hold many athletes back (like how you kip or how you use your hips), plus the specific drills and mindset shifts that helped me build control, power, and confidence. Whether you’re close to your first rep or still stuck in the transition, this might save you a few months of frustration.
Table of Contents
- The Problems
- About the First Problem
- 1) Not Doing Kipping Correctly
- 2) Weak Hip Pop
- About the Second Problem
- Final Advice
The Problems
I couldn’t get my body high enough to get over the rings.
Just hanging on the rings was tough. After each practice session, I needed a long break, so I couldn’t get much volume in. Let’s break down each issue.
1. About the First Problem
1) Not Doing Kipping Correctly
One common mistake when kipping is bending your knees during the backswing, which creates a “slack.” This prevents you from generating enough height during the hip pop in the front swing. It might feel powerful, but you’re actually losing force. To fix this, I practiced swinging with a towel between my legs to prevent my knees from bending. I also focused on engaging my hips and glutes, keeping my gaze toward the floor during the backswing for a bigger, cleaner swing.
When doing the front swing, I realized that engaging my lats—like in a bar muscle-up—was crucial. By activating my lats, then abs, then hip flexors (in that order) after the backswing, I could generate a much more powerful swing.
2) Weak Hip Pop
a) Not engaging the glutes fully
To work on this, I did hip lifts on the floor and practiced using the rings. Practicing bar muscle-ups while focusing on the hip pop also helped a lot.
Exercises I found helpful:
b) Lack of back strength
For this, I focused on exercises like cable pulldowns and using resistance bands on a box to build strength.
2. About the Second Problem
Without sufficient grip strength, it’s hard to get enough practice reps in, which slows progress. Plus, without a strong grip, you can’t transfer enough force to the rings when you pull. To improve this, I did the following exercises:
- Dead hang
- Farmers carry
- Plate pinch
By the way, you might hear a lot of people say you should master strict pull-ups before working on kipping, but I disagree. Kipping requires its own specific technique, which needs to be practiced. Sure, having the strength to do strict pull-ups is important to prevent injuries, but that kind of strength doesn’t come overnight. If you wait until you’re perfect at strict pull-ups, you might never start practicing RMUs. So, I think it’s better to work on both.
Final Advice
Finally, I want to share some advice from a coach I’ve been following lately. His explanations have helped me improve a lot. I highly recommend checking out his work.
Thank you for reading.
See you soon.
Sho