The Happy Fat Rings prove that size does matter, particularly when it comes to girth. What you do with them matters as well. At least, that’s what the company behind the Happy Fat Rings tries to tell us. With a grip diameter of 36mm, the Happy Fat Rings are substantially thicker and more hand-filling than the Olympic standard 28mm rings. These thicker grips, supposedly, carry some advantages for Calisthenics and CrossFit. It is time for me to test these claims by doing some exercises with the Happy Fat Rings. We bought these Happy Fat Rings ourselves, so you can decide if these Gymnastic Rings are for you.
You can also watch my Happy Fat Rings review on YouTube:
The 4 Advantages of Thick Gymnastic Rings
According to Happy Fat Rings, training with thicker Gymnastic Rings has four significant advantages. I’ll go through them here, but these are their conclusions. I’ll use them as a hypothesis and then come to my own findings in the conclusion of this review.
- More surface area promotes grip strength: If there is more surface area, the hand must exert more force to hold on to the rings. This extra force activates the whole hand and forearm, promoting a more balanced grip strength.
- More surface area reduces joint stress: With greater muscle activation, joint stress is distributed over a larger surface area, reducing the stress on individual joints.
- Thicker grips provide more stability: With more surface area, you create a more stable platform and more touch points for your hands and arms.
- Improves mental focus: A non-standard diameter grip requires a higher mental focus to keep your form perfect. The increased mental focus during the exercises enhances the mind-body connection. This focus improvement is the most farfetched supposed advantage.
A First Look at Our Happy Fat Rings
My first impression tells me these are good rings. They look nicely polished with even sanding and a satin finish. The straps look good as well, and the buckles are sturdy. The straps come with Velcro additions to roll up and store the excess neatly. The straps are unnumbered, so hanging them exactly parallel takes a little more guesswork. The Happy Fat Rings logo is stitched onto the straps, featuring a lobster (known for its squeezing power and refers to the Happy Fat Rings tagline “Squeeze Harder”).
Happy Fat Rings Dimensions and Materials
Here are the basic dimensions and materials used in the Happy Fat Rings and the straps.
- Ring Thickness: 36mm
- Ring Material: Premium Birch Wood
- Strap Length: 4.5m
- Strap Width: 40mm
- Strap Material: Nylon [red.]
I could not find a maximum weight capacity. Usually, wooden Gymnastic rings made of birch or beech can handle up to 200kg without issue. The straps appear nylon, but it’s unclear which material they used. One end of each strap is slanted for easy threading.
The Happy Fat Rings come in a toad bag displaying the ring’s logo. The bag feels flimsy but is of all right quality for storing your rings.
Exercising With The Happy Fat Rings
You can do all your standard Gymnastic Ring Workouts with the Happy Fat Rings. They perform like any other high-quality gymnastic ring for pull-ups, chin-ups, and hanging exercises, such as knee raises and toe touches. They also perform well for dips and Ring Muscle-ups. I also did successful tricep extensions, pelicans, rows, and lower exercises like push-ups.
They are very effective Gymnastic Rings, which is unsurprising since that’s what they are. What are you getting from that extra girth, though? Does it shine through in the exercises?
I liked doing my exercises with the thicker Happy Fat Rings. I like thicker rings because they give me more surface area for my false grip. I also have bigger hands, a blessing (?) given to many Dutchmen, and the extra thickness prevents the pinching pressure points I usually get with thinner rings.
Conclusions About the Happy Fat Rings
Can I recommend the Happy Fat Rings? They are expensive, coming in at €89.- minus shipping (which can add another €9.- or €19.-). That said, the Happy Fat Rings are unique with their 32mm girth, and I am a fan of wooden Gymnastic Rings and wooden handles on almost everything. Quality-wise, the Happy Fat Rings are on the top shelf, and the only thing I’d like to see changed are added numbers added to the straps.
I recommend the Happy Fat Rings for people who want to focus on building grip strength. The added thickness does require you to clamp down harder. Your hand isn’t closed as tightly, leaving your fingers more spread open, which works as a lever against your grip.
The second recommendation is for mastering the Ring Muscle-Up. The added surface area of the Happy Fat Rings gives more bracing to your wrists and forearms when doing the false grip. This bracing gives you more leverage and lowers the strain on your wrists. The false grip is, in my opinion, the only instance in which the Happy Fat Rings claim of lowering joint pressure applies.
Another good use case would be for people who already own 28mm Gymnastic Rings (the Olympic Standard) and want to add variation to their exercises with a thicker grip. Alternating grip diameters can help target the smaller muscles in your hands and wrists used to the 28mm grips.
Finally, the standard 28mm grips can easily cause uncomfortable pressure points if you have big hands. The 32mm grips make a big difference there, allowing you to use a larger surface area of your hand to grip.
If these cases do not apply to you, there are better solutions. Check out our other Gymnastic Ring reviews to find the best one.
Frequently Asked Questions About Thick Gym Rings
A couple of more frequently asked questions about thick Gymnastic Rings.
What are the advantages of using thick Gymnastic Rings?
Thick Gym Rings or “Fat Rings” give your hands more surface area to contact with. The increased surface area requires you to keep your hands more open, increasing the strain on your fingers and improving grip strength. Thicker rings also cause less pinching into the tissue of the hand, improving the comfort for people with big hands.
