Unless you are already trained. gymnastBar muscle ups are one of the most difficult exercises. body weight movements You can try it. significant core and upper body strengthMuscle Ups Require Excellence liquidity, body awarenessCoordination and timing.

If you decide to add muscle-ups to your gym repertoire, know that there are right and wrong ways to develop this skill.

• Wrong way: You repeatedly swing your body against the bar and hit it hard until you're tired, frustrated, and possibly injured.
• Correct way: Muscle up progress.

Muscle-up progressions are a series of increasingly difficult movements that gradually develop muscle-up technique while building strength. Each stage of the progression includes benchmarks that indicate whether you are ready to move on to the next training within the progression.

The final step, of course, is a muscle-up performed safely, confidently and with perfect form.

6-step bar muscle-up

AS John Gallucci, Jr., MS, ATC, PT, DPT, CEO me physical therapyExplain that muscle-ups are actually a series of small movements linked together.

1. keep swing
2. raise your knees
3. raise your legs
4. From chest to bar pull up
5. Triceps dips

To do muscle-ups, you need to be comfortable performing each of these movements repeatedly. This is where the muscle up progress begins.

Developed with input from American boxing coach and owner Gallucci and Jeff Waters. waters performanceThe next muscle up progression begins at the beginner level. Depending on your gymnastics experience and current strength level, you may want to skip ahead.

Step 1: Knee Hanging/Leg Raising

• Grab the pull-up bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder width.
• Keep your arms straight (a position known as a dead hang) and your legs straight together, keeping your arms at arm's length.
• Bend your knees 90 degrees and raise them to hip height. Hold for 1 second and then return to the starting position.
• Once you can perform 3 sets of 10 reps, straighten your legs and perform the same movement so your body forms an L shape. Once you can perform 3 sets of 10 straight leg movements, move on to the next step.

tip: “Make sure all the work comes from your hip flexors and core, without swinging or using propulsion to raise your leg,” says Gallucci.

Step 2: Assisted chest-to-bar pull-ups

• Wrap one end of a large resistance band around a pull-up bar. Hold the bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder width and place one foot on the other end of the resistance band.
• Hang with your legs straight and your arms at arm's length. core and glute engagement.
• Rather than swinging or kipping (using momentum to propel yourself upward), engage your lats and squeeze your shoulder blades together as you pull your chest toward the bar.
• Pause briefly, then lower your body back to the resting position.

tip: “Start with a thicker band,” says Watters. “If you can do all 10 pull upUse a thinner band. Over time, keep working until you can do 10 strict pull-ups with the thinnest band. Then continue.”

Step 3: Strict pull-ups from chest to bar.

• Grab the pull-up bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder width.
• Keep your arms straight and at arm's length and cross your ankles behind you.
• Without swinging or kipping, use your core, glutes, and lats to squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull your chest up to the bar.
• Pause briefly, then lower your body back to the resting position.
• Once you can do 3 sets of 10 reps, continue. However, continue to practice chest-to-bar pull-ups as you develop new techniques.

tip: “At this stage, ‘push’ That’s what you use to strengthen your muscles,” says Watters.

He proposes integration push-ups Included in the training plan are lever pushups, where you lower your body to the ground and briefly raise your arms before pushing up into a plank to take the momentum out of the movement.

“Start in the bottom position, rise to about halfway, and then lower back to the ground. “This is the most difficult part of the drive, which is why we emphasize it,” he says.

Step 4: Triceps dips

• Grab the dipping station's handle and jump or climb to the starting position. Keep your feet off the floor, arms straight, and ankles crossed. (To make the move easier, you can wrap a large resistance band around the handle and place your knees on it.)
• Keeping your forearms vertical, elbows tucked in (not extended), lower your body until your elbows are at about a 90-degree angle, leaning your torso forward.
• Reverse the movement and return to the starting position. Once you can do 3 sets of 10 reps, continue.

Step 5: Keep Swing

• Grab the pull-up bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder width.
• Keep your arms straight and your legs together, keeping them at arms length.
• Take a hollow position. Using your core and lats, bend (round) your spine and tilt your pelvis back (tuck your tailbone).
• Use your shoulders to push your chest forward and arch your spine, allowing your legs to swing back.
• Using your shoulders, lats, and core, swing back to a hollow body position and begin doing pull-ups the same way you would for chest-to-bar pull-ups.
• Once you can complete 3 sets of 10 kip swings while your chest touches the height of the bar, progress to full muscle-ups.

tip: Make sure you are using your shoulders and not your hips to create the swing.

Step 6: Muscle Ups

• Grab the pull-up bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder width.
• Keep your arms straight and engage your core and glutes.
• Kip Swing Initiation: Starting in a hollow position, use your shoulders to push your chest forward and arch your spine. Then swing back to the hollow body position using your shoulders, lats, and core. (If you're behind the bar, lean back and pull the bar down to get as high as you can.)
• Squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull your hips toward the bar. Once your abdomen touches the bar, rotate your wrists forward, lean forward and straighten your elbows so your torso is over the bar.
• Press and then lower to dead hang position.