Few exercises rival the full body challenge of the Muscle-Up. In order to help you achieve your first Muscle-Up, we’ve put together this four-part video series that breaks it down into three lead-up exercises. And I’m sure that once you get your first full Muscle-Up done, it will be all you want to do for weeks!
The Muscle-Up is a must for gymnasts, bar athletes, parkour/free runners and everyone at the Global Bodyweight Training Gym! In theory it doesn’t seem so hard – you’re just pulling your self up and over a bar. Well, believe me, there are a lot of small actions that have to be orchestrated perfectly in order to make this happen. Mastering the combination of momentum movements to get you up and over the bar is a skill that has to be practiced and learned. That’s why we’ve broken the movement down into three exercises that work on specific phases of the entire movement. Once you’ve worked on your lead up exercises, it will help you put them together to achieve your first kipping Muscle Up!
Now, the Muscle-Up that we see most often, and the one we are working towards in these progressions, is technically a “Kipping Muscle-Up.†This is a dynamic movement that allows an explosive “kip†to assists in getting you over the bar. In gymnastics, the athlete strives to complete muscle ups with absolute control and without the help of any momentum technique. This is a very advanced exercise and one that we will showcase in later videos.
The first exercise in our led-up series is the Jumping Muscle-Up, an essential piece of the sequence that will help you make the transition from the “pull†to the “push†phase of the movement. We are allowing the power of the legs, combined with the pull of the upper body, to create the momentum. In the final version of the Kipping Muscle-Up at the end of this video series, the momentum will be created by the “kip†itself.
As you’re practicing the Jumping Muscle Up, challenge yourself to use less and less of the legs and more pull from the upper body. You can also progress to jumping off of only one leg. This is a quick way to decrease the assistance from the legs.
Check out the video below, and then follow the links below for the other parts in the series!
Check out the other parts to this series here:
Should be a lot of help on learning the muscle up.
Were did you get the workout station you are using?
It’s a company called Sorinex which is pretty awesome. Another company that makes great bodyweight equipment is called Move Strong. Good luck Steve!
I worked on these yesterday at the park! Completed 4X5 on a low pull-up bar. I followed this up with KB Clean and Presses 4X8. Great progression Mike, I’m coming to U-Fit to knock out a REAL Muscle up REAL SOON!!!
Bring it Pack! You’re an animal
Mike I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHO YOU GOT THE WORKOUT STATION FROM. THIS THE ROW PROGRESSION AND SIDE PLANK EXERCISE ARE SOME OF THE BEST INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS i HAVE SEEN LATELY.
Hey thanks Steve! We really take pride in putting out high quality, unique exercise videos. The positive feedback is appreciated! The cage is by a company called Sorinex. They make solid stuff.
Great video! How strong must I be to be able to do a muscle up? I’m kinda having trouble with even this segment, the jumping muscle up.
Hey Theron, that’s a tough question. The muscle up is a combination of strength, power and skill, so how do you get good at muscle ups? You do muscle ups! Our bodies are incredible at eventually adapting to any given task, so make sure you put in the time to each step and you’ll get there.