Standing Muscle-Up

The Standing Muscle-Up is a great muscle-up progression for beginners because it teaches the muscle memory needed for a full muscle-up (an advanced bodyweight skill) while using only as much load as the athlete wants to put on the rings.

Type Of Exercise: Strength
Muscles: Forearms, Shoulders, Trapezius, Middle Back, Lats, Biceps, Triceps, Chest
Difficulty: Moderate
Equipment: Gymnastic Rings

Standing Muscle-Up

Set a pair of gymnastic rings to just below chest height.
Stand between them, grab ahold of them in a false grip, and, staying on your feet, lower down below them until your arms straighten.
Row back up until your chest touches the rings.
Now get your chest above the rings into the bottom of a dip by keeping the rings close to your body and shifting your shoulders forward.
This should move your elbows back behind your torso.
You must maintain the false grip throughout the pull and transition.
Now that your chest is above the rings, pause momentarily.
Now reverse the transition, row back down, and repeat for reps.
Keep your feet on the ground throughout but use your legs as little as possible.

Exercise: False Grip Pull-Up
Type of Exercise: Strength
Muscles: Forearms, Shoulders, Trapezius, Middle Back, Lats, Biceps, Abdominals
Difficulty: Intermediate
Equipment: Gymnastic Rings

Exercise: Assisted Negative Muscle-Up
Type of Exercise: Strength
Muscles: Forearms, Shoulders, Trapezius, Middle Back, Lats, Biceps, Triceps, Chest
Difficulty: Intermediate
Equipment: Gymnastic Rings, Plyometric Box