Muscle Up Lesson #2: Master Pull Ups and Dips

This may sound obvious, but you must correctly train pull ups and dips if you want to ever be able to do a muscle up. The operative word is correctly. Many people train pull ups and dips, but not everyone trains them correctly.

Proper pull up and dip training will help lay the foundation for the strength it will take to complete a muscle up.

As I said in this post, you may not be as far from doing a muscle up as you think. You actually don't even have to be able to do a ton dips and pull ups. You just have to get great at doing a few reps WELL. (Take a look at the video to see how I like to see a dip and a pull up done.) 

Muscle Up Prerequisites

Pull Ups: 5 full range of motion reps (from dead hang to chin over the bar), with a 2 second pause at the top and the bottom. Absolutely no momentum, or raising of the legs.

Dips: 10 full range of motion reps (full depth and full lock out), with a 2 second pause at the top and bottom. Absolutely no momentum.

Once you pass these two tests, you can consider moving ahead with your muscle up training.

So, after watching the video, are you performing pull ups and dips well enough to consider moving on to the mighty muscle up?

Thanks for reading today! 

I want to hear what you think of my posts, so please comment below. 

Please share this post with a friend! 

More importantly, set your own goal and start your own vlog/blog! 

Half(ish)

Today I was able to hold a human flag for 15 seconds. I wasn't in a full flag position when I started the clock, so this wasn't a true 15 seconds. But I'm pretty happy with it for today.

This was the first flag I've held all week. I think the lower frequency is the way to go for me. 

I still need to get stronger in the flipped position. I haven't made much progress on evening that out.

Thanks for reading today! 

I want to hear what you think of my posts, so please comment below. 

Please share this post with a friend! 

More importantly, set your own goal and start your own vlog/blog! 

Muscle Up

Each day I train, I incorporate some type of muscle up. I vary up how I do them, how many I do, and for how many sets. I normally like to do 3-4 sets as part of my warm up, no matter what the focus of the actual workout is. 

I love muscle ups because they train the entire upper body, and importantly, in an explosive manner. It is hard for me to think of another exercise that involves both a pull and a push, and requires use of the lats, traps, biceps, triceps, pecs, abs, and forearms. The involvement of many muscle groups is the reason I like to use the exercise as a warm up. The exercise gets blood to, and primes the upper body muscles.

I might even go as far to say that muscle ups are all you need to develop an aesthetic and functional upper body. A muscle up is somewhat advanced, but you may not be as far from being able to do one as you think you are.

If anyone wants me to break down the muscle up into a tutorial, please comment. I don't know if anyone even reads this stuff. I'm probably just writing to myself on here...

Thanks for reading today! 

I want to hear what you think of my posts, so please comment below. 

Please share this post with a friend! 

More importantly, set your own goal and start your own vlog/blog!