How is the Ring Face Pull different from the Ring High Row?

Both keep the elbows wide, but in the Ring High Row your hands stop in front of your shoulders. In the face pull your hands keep travelling up to finish beside your ears, with your upper arms turned out and your forearms pointing up.

Can the Ring Face Pull replace the cable face pull?

Yes, for most people it trains the same pattern and is a good stand-in when there is no cable station. The rings also make you hold a rigid body line, while the Cable Standing Face Pull makes it easier to add load in small, exact steps.

How do I make the Ring Face Pull harder or easier?

Change your body angle. Walking your feet forward so you lean back further makes it harder, and stepping back so you stand more upright makes it easier. A pause at the finish or a slower lowering adds difficulty without changing your stance.

How many sets and reps should I do?

Most people do 2 to 4 sets of 12 to 15 controlled reps. Pick a body angle where the last few reps are hard but still finish with your elbows at shoulder height and your hands beside your ears.

When should I do Ring Face Pulls in a workout?

They fit well in a warm-up before pressing or near the end of an upper-body or pulling session. Because the load is modest, they are also easy to add to several sessions a week.

Ring Face Pull

What Is the Ring Face Pull?

Ring Face Pull is a compound exercise that primarily targets the shoulders, especially the rear delts, and also engages the upper back, the rotator cuff and the biceps. It is a beginner-level movement in which you lean back from a pair of gymnastic rings with straight arms, then pull the rings to either side of your face with your elbows high and wide until your hands finish beside your ears.

It is the bodyweight counterpart of the Cable Standing Face Pull. Instead of a weight stack, the load is your own body, and you set it with your body angle: the farther you lean back, the more of your weight the arms have to pull. Like the cable version, it is usually done for higher, slower reps, either as part of a warm-up before pressing or near the end of an upper-body or pulling session to balance push-ups and presses with work for the back of the shoulders. A set of rings hung from a bar or beam is all it needs, which makes it easy to fit into home and calisthenics training.

The path of the elbows is what makes it a face pull. Your upper arms travel out to the sides at about shoulder height, so the rear delts, the trapezius and the rhomboids do most of the work, and the final turn of the forearms up beside your head brings in the infraspinatus and teres minor, the rotator cuff muscles that rotate the upper arm outward. A lab study of suspension-strap rows in 28 healthy adults found that a row finishing with the upper arms out to the sides at shoulder height and the elbows bent to 90 degrees recruited the posterior deltoid and the upper, middle and lower trapezius at more than 60% of maximal effort, while a low row reached 40 to 60% only in the middle trapezius, lats and posterior deltoid. That study used straps and stopped short of the outward rotation, but its arm path is the one this exercise follows.

The Ring High Row uses a similar wide elbow path, but there the hands stop in front of the shoulders with no turn of the forearms. In the face pull the hands travel higher and finish beside the ears, and that final outward rotation adds work for the rotator cuff. Beginners can start almost upright and lean back further as they get stronger. If gripping the rings or holding a straight body line is still the limiting factor, the Band Pull-Apart and a light cable face pull train the same muscles with the body supported.

Muscles Worked

MuscleActivation

Deltoid: Primary
Infraspinatus: High
Rhomboid Major: High
Upper Trapezius: High
Biceps Brachii: Medium
Erector Spinae: Medium
Lower Trapezius: Medium
Teres Minor: Medium
Gluteus Maximus: Low
Rectus Abdominis: Low

Instructions

Hang the rings from a secure overhead anchor and set the straps so the rings sit around chest height.
Take an overhand grip on the rings, palms facing down, and stand facing the anchor.
Walk your feet forward and lean back until your arms are straight in front of you at about shoulder height, keeping your heels planted.
Brace your abs and squeeze your glutes so your body forms one straight line from head to heels.
Pull the rings toward your face by driving your elbows out to the sides and back, keeping them at shoulder height or slightly above.
As the rings reach your face, rotate your upper arms outward so your forearms point up and your hands finish beside your ears, palms facing forward.
Squeeze your shoulder blades together for a moment without shrugging, keeping your body straight.
Straighten your arms slowly to lower back to the start, letting your shoulder blades spread apart at the bottom.
Walk your feet forward to make the set harder, or step back to stand more upright and make it easier.

Common Mistakes

Dropping the elbows
Letting the elbows sink toward the ribs turns the movement into an ordinary row and shifts the work from the rear delts to the lats.
Skipping the rotation
Stopping with the hands in front of the chin and the wrists below the elbows leaves out the outward rotation and leaves the shoulder turned inward at the finish.
Sagging hips
Letting the hips drop or pike breaks the straight body line, takes load off the upper back and strains the lower back.
Shrugging
Pulling the shoulders up toward the ears loads the neck and upper trapezius instead of the rear delts and mid-back.
Leaning back too far
Starting at a body angle that is too steep for your strength leads to partial reps, sagging hips and elbows that drop to finish the pull.
Dropping into the straps
Falling back to straight arms instead of lowering under control jolts the shoulders and wastes the lowering half of each rep.

Injuries

Ring Face Pull is a low risk exercise when performed with proper technique. The load is only part of your body weight, the rings let your hands and shoulders find their own path, and you can make each rep lighter at any moment by standing more upright. The usual strain points are the front of the shoulder when the hands stay below the elbows at the finish and the upper arm stays turned inward, the neck and upper trapezius when you shrug, and the lower back when the hips sag.

Before you lean back, check that the straps are fixed to a solid anchor and the buckles are locked, since the whole set hangs on them. Choose a body angle where you can finish every rep with your elbows at shoulder height and your hands beside your ears, keep your ribs down and your glutes squeezed so your body stays in one line, and lower each rep under control instead of dropping into the straps.

To make it easier, step your feet back so you stand more upright, or build the pattern first with the Band Pull-Apart or a light Cable Standing Face Pull. To progress, walk your feet forward so you lean back further, or add a pause at the finish and a slow lowering.

Stop the set if you feel a pinch or sharp pain at the front or top of the shoulder, numbness or tingling down the arm, or pain that lingers after training, and have it assessed before you continue.

Overview

Primary Focus: Shoulders
Equipment: Rings and body weight
Modality: Strength
Difficulty: Beginner

Alternative Exercises

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How is the Ring Face Pull different from the Ring High Row?: Both keep the elbows wide, but in the Ring High Row your hands stop in front of your shoulders. In the face pull your hands keep travelling up to finish beside your ears, with your upper arms turned out and your forearms pointing up.
Q: Can the Ring Face Pull replace the cable face pull?: Yes, for most people it trains the same pattern and is a good stand-in when there is no cable station. The rings also make you hold a rigid body line, while the Cable Standing Face Pull makes it easier to add load in small, exact steps.
Q: How do I make the Ring Face Pull harder or easier?: Change your body angle. Walking your feet forward so you lean back further makes it harder, and stepping back so you stand more upright makes it easier. A pause at the finish or a slower lowering adds difficulty without changing your stance.
Q: How many sets and reps should I do?: Most people do 2 to 4 sets of 12 to 15 controlled reps. Pick a body angle where the last few reps are hard but still finish with your elbows at shoulder height and your hands beside your ears.
Q: When should I do Ring Face Pulls in a workout?: They fit well in a warm-up before pressing or near the end of an upper-body or pulling session. Because the load is modest, they are also easy to add to several sessions a week.