Muscle up progression

steve0820

Hey All,

I'm looking for some tips and exercises for my quest to do a proper muscle up. I have been at it the last couple of months, with no real progress to show for it. I've been using some of the same methods I have with other exercises that I wanted to accomplish, but, it has not really worked. All of my training is currently done at a commercial gym, So not always the best bars to do them, also no rings, so i'm aiming for bar muscle ups. I typically use the smith machine for that training, pull ups and chin ups (I know right, found a use for the smith machine haha.)

Here is what I normally do:

* High pull ups, I try for chest height
* Weighted pull's and chin's
* Negatives (lower bar/jump up/start from top position and lower slowly to the bottom hang)
* Dips from top position
* Isometric holds

I'm a big fan of bar calisthenics, and have been improving in other moves, but I seem to be making no progress with my muscle up.

Any feedback/suggested would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

rybo

Beastskills and Mike Fitch have 2 muscle up progression tutorials that really helped me.

When doing your high pulls, try to make them as explosive as possible. You need that.
Sometimes technique is as much required as strength, see the above tutorials. The negatives are a good way to get used to the motion. Keep at it. Once you get he 1st, then they become easier.

shaunjhill

I was doing exactly the same things to get a bar muscle up this time last year.

You've almost certainly got the strength to get them, but it's getting the technique for the transition is the hard part.
A couple of things I found helpful.
Firstly is make sure you are looking up rather than straight ahead or downwards. This helps to keep your body in the right position as you are pulling up - it's not a verticle pull, but more up and away from the bar. At the start of the transition your shoulders are going be about the same height as the bar, but about 12 inches or so away - at this point its an almost horizontal pull. I visualise aiming my chest over the bar. It's a dynamic move and once you get into the dip position the rest is easy.

The second thing to try, and it's what got me my first rather messy muscleup, is to get one arm up and over then do the other arm.
If for example you were going to get your left arm over first, when you get to the top of the pullup , shift a lot of your weight onto your right hand and this will make it easier to get your left arm over the bar and into the dip position, put your weight onto the left arm then get the right arm over the bar. Again the pullup, and certainly the getting the first arm over is done dynamically with quite a lot of momentum. I did a few reps like this- you'll find it gets faster and easier and within two sessions managed to get my first proper muscleup!

Hope this makes sense.

good luck - they feel great once you get the hang of it.

steve0820

Beastskills and Mike Fitch have 2 muscle up progression tutorials that really helped me.

When doing your high pulls, try to make them as explosive as possible. You need that.
Sometimes technique is as much required as strength, see the above tutorials. The negatives are a good way to get used to the motion. Keep at it. Once you get he 1st, then they become easier.

Thanks for the suggestion. Checked those out. Going to work on my dips and re-adjust them for sure. Work on the explosiveness as well.

steve0820

I was doing exactly the same things to get a bar muscle up this time last year.

You've almost certainly got the strength to get them, but it's getting the technique for the transition is the hard part.
A couple of things I found helpful.
Firstly is make sure you are looking up rather than straight ahead or downwards. This helps to keep your body in the right position as you are pulling up - it's not a verticle pull, but more up and away from the bar. At the start of the transition your shoulders are going be about the same height as the bar, but about 12 inches or so away - at this point its an almost horizontal pull. I visualise aiming my chest over the bar. It's a dynamic move and once you get into the dip position the rest is easy.

The second thing to try, and it's what got me my first rather messy muscleup, is to get one arm up and over then do the other arm.
If for example you were going to get your left arm over first, when you get to the top of the pullup , shift a lot of your weight onto your right hand and this will make it easier to get your left arm over the bar and into the dip position, put your weight onto the left arm then get the right arm over the bar. Again the pullup, and certainly the getting the first arm over is done dynamically with quite a lot of momentum. I did a few reps like this- you'll find it gets faster and easier and within two sessions managed to get my first proper muscleup!

Hope this makes sense.

good luck - they feel great once you get the hang of it.

That's my biggest issue I think, not getting enough height and far enough away from the bar, then transitioning over to get to the dip portion is my breaking point. Someone had already suggested to me kipping pull ups, which I believe I'll start practicing as well, to get that motion.

Thanks for the info!!