Strict Muscle-Ups and Nasty Girls
This year marked a VERY big moment for me – I finally got a kipping muscle-up! This movement took me FOREVER to finally achieve, and now I’m on to the next level – STRICT MUSCLE-UP!!
It’s a REALLY big goal, and one that I’m sure will take me awhile to actually accomplish, but I’m working on it day by day, and know that will time and dedication, I’ll get there.
What I want to share with you, is some really well-put together information that I found from ringtraining.com while looking for tips and tricks to develop my strict muscle-up skill. The info is pretty far down the page of the article, so I’ve copied it below for you to see. Read it and spend some time practicing the movements yourself – true story, if you do, you’ll get better at muscle-ups!
The Muscle-Up
From ring training.cm
The muscle-up combines the pullup and dip into one compound movement. It is similar to the clean and jerk of weightlifting. It works the entire upper body and teaches you to efficiently surmount any obstacle. The muscle-up is unrivaled in terms of functional upper body exercises. It is also a challenging movement for most people and can require a lot of preparation work.
You should be comfortable in both pullups and dips before working on the muscel-up. Some people recommend having 15 pullups and 15 dips. My recommendation is to have 8 false grip pullups and 8 full range ring dips as a minimum. Your shoulders should be acclimated to full-range dips, because the muscle-up requires a lot of flexibility in the shoulders.
The false grip is key to developing a muscle-up. A false grip is when you use your wrist to support your bodyweight, instead of your hand or fingers. However, this is not a thumbless grip. You always want to have your thumb wrapped around the ring. You are merely shifting your wrist upwards. If you are doing them correctly, you will have red marks on your wrist from where you make contact with the rings.
False grip pullups are the most important developmental exercise for the muscle-up. They will strengthen your false grip and your ability to exert pulling strength while using a false-grip. To perform a muscle-up, you first need to set your false grip. It is best when starting out to set the rings at a height where you can set your grip with your feet on the ground. Once you get the hang of it, you can do a pullup and set your false grip one hand at a time, or roll them both over simultaneously. With your grip set, pull yourself up till your hands are near your armpits. Your elbows should be in front and you should be leaning back slightly.
The transition is the most difficult part. To get over the rings, instead of trying to press the rings downward like a triceps pushdown, think instead of rolling your shoulders forward and over the rings. This will leave you in a very deep dip position with your elbows behind you and your shoulders in front of the rings. From here, you simply press out of the dip to a support. Always make sure you hit a solid support with arms straight and rings slightly turned out.
If you are struggling to learn a muscle-up, it might help to approach the problem in reverse. Start in a support position and lower yourself through the transition. Be sure to maintain a false grip all the way down. This will help teach you to keep your body close to the rings.
The swinging muscle-up also makes this move somewhat easier and can be a nice exercise for metabolic workouts. To do this, as you reach the transition, swing your legs forward and upwards. The extra momentum will help you through the transition. The strict muscle-up will develop the type of strength you will need for more advanced skills, but this is a way to start out.
Top 5 Muscle-up Mistakes
- Not keeping the rings close to your body. If the rings flare out to the side, you will have much more difficulty.
- Having the rings in front of your body. If you try to transition with the rings in front of your body, you will be effectively lifting your whole body with your triceps. During all points of the muscle-up, half of your body should be in front of the rings and half behind the rings.
- Pulling too explosively. Believe it or not, it is actually easier to do a muscle-up with a slow and smooth motion versus an explosive, jerky pull. Most people lose the momentum during the transition and end up falling before they are above the rings.
- Not using a false grip. Learn the false grip, get strong with it and use it. Just learning a proper false grip is enough to help most people.
- Fighting too hard. The transition is not a high-strength move. It is more about technique. If you are straining really hard during the transition, you are probably using inefficient technique.
Enjoy!
Emilie
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Monday’s Workout
Nasty Girls:
3 Rounds:
50 Air Squats
7 Muscle Ups
10 Hang Power Cleans (135/95)
Compare to 6/13/11, 10/10/11, 2/13/12, 7/30/12, 11/26/12, 5/26/13, 8/19/13
2013 12 01