Today I’ll introduce some helpful resources I’ve found and ones that you can reference along your journey to perfecting your muscle up.  One of the most complete break downs and explanations of the muscle up was given by Coach Carl Paoli

of San Francisco CrossFit and from GymnasticsWOD.com in these CrossFit Journal videos. If you haven’t already subscribed to the CrossFit Journal I encourage you to check it out as it has tons of great info and resources that we coaches constantly reference and learn from.

Just in case you don’t have a CrossFit Journal account and are too cheap to splurge for one, I’ll run you through the progression as best I can that we have used with a number of athletes and that we routinely demonstrate on Thursday classes.

First, learn and get acquainted with the false grip. It is possible to perform a muscle up without a false grip but we consider it a more advanced movement, and one that we can perfect once an athlete understands and has the capacity to perform muscle up with a false grip. Coach Carl Paoli has a few progressions and drills below to improve your false grip:

And don’t forget to work on false grip pullups and even holds as Coach Dusty Hyland from DogTown CrossFit demonstrates below:

Next, make sure you have the capacity and ability to press out of the deepest ring dip you could achieve. There’s nothing worse than being able to pull yourself through the transition of the muscle up and not having the strength to press yourself up and finish. Some drills and ring dip variations we utilize are ring dips with assistance bands, ring dip negatives, ring dips beginning at the bottom position, and ring dips with a pause at the bottom.

Next it’s time to work the toughest part of the muscle-up, the transition and turn over that takes you from under the ring to on top of the rings. There are few drills that have had success with athletes in the past. The first is beginning in ring support and lowering yourself, almost a negative, controlling your descent into a hanging position.

Another helpful drill is to utilize the bands and set them up like Carl shows in the video below. He also highlights the importance of maintaining a hollow position throughout the pull, keeping the toes up as you pull your nose through to toes (nose to toes). Check it out below:

Here’s a different video from Coach Jon Gilson and Again Faster that breaks down the muscle up as well. Sometimes it helps to hear different coaches explain movements as each approaches it slightly differently in their explanation and the cues they provide to athletes. Check it out.

Do you learn better by reading?  Then check out the progression offered up at BeastSkills.com.  My goal is not to inundate you with information, but to offer different resources for you to reference as each of you are likely struggling with a different piece and each of you are different levels.  Pick and choose drills and cues that work for you and put them to practice during your skill work.

WOD 12.28.11
Deadlift 1×5/Wendler

4 Rds:
12 Overhead Lunges
12 Toes to Bar
36 Double Unders