WOD Doc: The Muscle Up, a 10-Part mini-series

The Muscle Up is an incredibly technical movement comprised of the Pull-Up Portion, the Transition Portion and Dip Portion. Mastery of each of these movements is paramount to success and injury reduction

 Dip Portion

Here, you should be able to perform a minimum of 10 dips on a stable surface (box, parallel bars) as well as 5 dips on an unstable surface (rings).

Observe for shoulder shrugging, anterior shoulder dumping, and elbow winging.

Transition Portion, Part 1

The Hollow Rock is essential as it helps your body brace and transition between the push-up and dip movements. Begin on the floor, lock down the rib cage and raise the feet and begin to rock. Over time, you will have less rib / abdominal translations. Repeat (3×10) until proficient. You’re now ready for the unstable surface – the bar. Locking down the rib cage and bracing at the core, begin the Kipping motion. Pause for a second to reinforce muscle memory for core activation – without it, your movements will be sloppy. Repeat (3×10) until proficient. Now you are ready for an even more unstable surface – the rings (repeat 3×10)). Remember, it’s all about challenging you from a stable to unstable surface.

Pull Up Portion

You have adequate dipping strength, and you’ve now gotten good at hollow-body position to help you with the transition movement. Now, you need to progress through pull-up strength. Repeat until proficient before progressing.
1) Chin-To-Bar pull-ups (maintain hollow body position)
2) Chest-To-bar pull-ups (maintain hollow body position)
3) Bellybutton-To-Bar pull-ups (maintain hollow body position)

Failure Progression: should you have difficulty getting to the next level, at the one you cannot perform for 10 reps (i.e. chin-to-bar), use a resistance band until you can perform complete 8 reps.  Recall the pull-up progression 6-5-5-4-3 is part of the 30 day pull-up challenge. The complete breakdown of this program can be found here.

The transition movement is going from a stable surface (bar) to an unstable surface (the rings). Remember to warm up with hollow body position

Failure Progression: should you have difficulty getting to the next level, at the one you cannot perform for 10 reps (i.e. chin-to-bar), use a resistance band until you can perform complete 8 reps.  Recall the pull-up progression 6-5-5-4-3 is part of the 30 day pull-up challenge. The complete breakdown of this program can be found here.

Transition Portion, Part 2

Okay, so you now have the strength necessary to do the chin, chest and bellybutton to bar on stable and unstable surfaces. Now, it’s time to use a resistance band to transition from the pull-up to the dip. This is hard.

Notice how the band is positioned under your butt. Get comfortable bouncing into the pull-up position, then transition into the sit-up portion, which quickly transitions into a very deep dip. Practice makes perfect.

Next, the transition is to set the rings to the height you will be pulling from. Using 2 resistance bands, you complete the same motion as the video above. Remember, practice makes perfect.

Bonus: Recovery (Lats, Pecs, Corobrachialis)

During all of these phases of difficulty, you’ll no doubt get very sore. Using a barbell and foam roller to target the pectoralis major, corobrachialis and latissimus dorsi will give you the mobility necessary to hit the Transition Portion without winging your elbows and getting nice and low into the dip, which will offset excessive shoulder loads.

Bonus: Recovery (Shoulder Dumping)

To continue with shoulder mobility and stability, you need to also address the ‘shoulder dumping’ motion. To combat this, use a barbell and retract your shoulders, repeat for 8-10 sets.

Muscle-Up Negatives – Improving your Strength

Now that you are mobile, stable and can successfully perform a band-assisted muscle-up, it’s time to increase your strength for the muscle up. Do this by using a box to stand on (scale with bands if you need to). From here, get into the dip portion of your muscle up and perform a negative motion, lowering you to the ground to build strength.

Dr. Kelly Starrett uses his demo to slowly transition into a muscle up, followed by breakout movements to adequately stretch and mobilize the required tissues.