Developing the Muscle-up Transition

For many people, the difficulty with the muscle-up is probably one of struggling with the transition from the pullup to the dip rather than a lack of either pullup or dip strength. Continuing to emphasize building more pullup and dip strength will generally have very little carryover for the muscle-up as the area in need of attention will receive little direct stimulation from either of these movements.

A simple solution to this is to simply attempt to add a small portion of the transition to the top of each pullup and the bottom of each dip:

1) For the pullups don't stress out too much about the amount of transition you successfully achieve; just be consistent and smooth in trying to add more and more of the transition to the top of the pullup rep. Eventually you will be able to end each pullup rep in a bent arm position on top of the rings.

2) For the dips simply allow yourself to slip lower then the supported bottom of the dip. Be attentive and don't allow yourself to go farther into the transition than you have the strength to press back out of. In this case "less is more" as it will allow you to more thoroughly address your weakness.

3) Once you can dip down, lower all the way through the full transition ending at a pullup top position with a false grip and return, you will for all intensive purposes have developed a full muscle-up.

4) In addition, once you have achieved a single muscle-up, you can then additionally strengthen the movement by training transitions in a row. Begining from either a dip or a pullup, get to the transition and then simply work transition "reps" by moving up and down thru the transition without ever letting your arms straighten.

for a video that has a muscle up in the very beginning of the clip. Notice how the athlete focuses on striving to point his elbows "up" as soon as possible during the muscle up transition.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Muscle up is one of the few words that are fluent in my strength dictionary, so far I've seen the most problems in the person transition from the pull up to the dip, most people hold out the rings to far from their hips which puts a lot of stress on the shoulders and I've seen someone almost pull their shoulder out of place. When doing the muscle up keep the rings close to your chest from the pull up then bring them into your hips nearly touching your waist with the rings.

Right now I am currently working on the explosion part so I can make the transition nearly flawless and try to do the actually muscle up while holding an l-sit through all the variations.

I think I will make some articles on the muscle up because I believe it is a great skill and requires lots of strength and any bodyweight person should complete this skill.

It took me two months until I finally could do my first muscle up. First because I had to get strength on my wrist with the false grip, just doing false grip pull ups. and when I had enough strength the problem was the technique. The thing that worked for me was to think that someone pressed my elbows up and behind, like if you turn on an old light switch.

Here you have my second muscle up (the first wasn't recorded), it has a lot of keeping, but it was after my pulling movement, so it didnt really help me to go up, but to stabilize my center of gravity.

Now I do the muscle up with the legs forward so, and almost don't kip.

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=kn2H37y9-Ds

Here is a great crossfit video going over muscle ups:

http://xercisefactor.com/view_video.php ... 3fcfb77bd7

Coach Sommer said:

Developing the Muscle-up Transition

For many people, the difficulty with the muscle-up is probably one of struggling with the transition from the pullup to the dip rather than a lack of either pullup or dip strength. Continuing to emphasize building more pullup and dip strength will generally have very little carryover for the muscle-up as the area in need of attention will receive little direct stimulation from either of these movements.

A simple solution to this is to simply attempt to add a small portion of the transition to the top of each pullup and the bottom of each dip:

1) For the pullups don't stress out too much about the amount of transition you successfully achieve; just be consistent and smooth in trying to add more and more of the transition to the top of the pullup rep. Eventually you will be able to end each pullup rep in a bent arm position on top of the rings.

2) For the dips simply allow yourself to slip lower then the supported bottom of the dip. Be attentive and don't allow yourself to go farther into the transition than you have the strength to press back out of. In this case "less is more" as it will allow you to more thoroughly address your weakness.

3) Once you can dip down, lower all the way through the full transition ending at a pullup top position with a false grip and return, you will for all intensive purposes have developed a full muscle-up.

4) In addition, once you have achieved a single muscle-up, you can then additionally strengthen the movement by training transitions in a row. Begining from either a dip or a pullup, get to the transition and then simply work transition "reps" by moving up and down thru the transition without ever letting your arms straighten.

The following video has a muscle up in the very beginning of the clip. Notice how the athlete focuses on striving to point his elbows "up" as soon as possible during the muscle up transition. Please reduce the size of the video clip for the clearest picture.

As a side note, the reduced price on the best selling Xtreme Rings used in the video continues. Follow this link for further information: http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

WOW, this should be obvious because it is the most logical approach to learning the muscle-up but it didn't occur to me.

I practiced it today to try to get the no-momentum bar muscle-up and I could really tell that with some work this style of training will get me there. I even had a dream about training this way after trying it out yesterday.

I was messing around on the Xtreme rings today with my friends in the garage, and we came across something that seems like it may work to help develop the muscle-up transition, I'm interested to see what you all think of this.

If you lower the rings to a little above mid chest high and grab them in a false grip replicating the way ones upper body looks in the pull-up/dip transition, with your feet on the floor push down as hard as possible in an isometric exercise fashion.

*Edited for clarity.

I did a lot of pull ups first on bar. And i did my first muscle ups on bar too. I was training for 3 months like this, and i never tried on rings. And after that, i tried on rings. The first few was unsuccessful, but when i felt the rings better, i could do it.

Can these progressions be used on a bar too?

I wish I had a reasonable spot to set up some rings.

You can do jumping MU on a bar or with a band or with your feet on a block.

You can also do the standing transition drill, I think.

Alright, so I just "succeeded" at a full muscle up. I really had to modify my grip to get up, so (being of no gymnastic experience) I'm wondering if I'm not cheating. Is it possible to overdo the false grip? (sorry for the lack of detail; I don't know exactly how to explain)

I heard from a former gymnast that you are not allowed the false grip when first mounting the rings? So the muscle up to support would be done with a normal grip. Is that true? Thanks

I'm not a gymnast by any means, but from watching the olympics and a lot of videos on youtube, I'd have to say that's false.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXY309phfeY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h3kqXPZUsw&NR=1

They look like false grip to me.

What i found interesting enough is i was able to do the muscle up on the rings with in two weeks, using a little spotting technique. Now i can do about three muscle ups(on rings) without kicking or jerking, But interestingly enough i cannot yet do an unassisted muscle up on Bar. Everyone is always saying that ring muscle up is much more difficult but i have to say the bar seems to be where the real challenge is. Does anyone else have this same experience?

on the bar is just tehnic. It' way more easier.

Gregor said:

on the bar is just tehnic. It' way more easier.

This is really interesting. Gregor did you learn the muscle up on the bars first? or the rings first?

Rings. I've tried my first MU on bar at 15??? Before then it ever came on my mind.

PS: my MU record at 10 years of age is 12 (strict).

Snap! thats rather impressive, well for me its definatly a transition cause i was doing weights from the time i was twenty. Now at 23 i really only now have come into the world of Gymnastic Strength Training™. Its all quite exciting and Gymnasticbodies info has been invaluable, hence my progressions have been coming along nicely, but you all are inspiration so keep up the good work.

I remember it took me about 2 weeks to develop my first kipping muscle up on the Rings when I first started training it... However I now want to develop a slow muscle up, and that'll take some more effort! Will probably take me around 1-2 months to get strong enough for the transition!

I just learned how to do the muscle-up from a straight arm hang. It helps to grip higher on the curve of the ring. Also I can only do it when I first start using my rings, my hands get slippery fast!

Do most people use chalk when they do muscle-ups? I bet it would really help with the slipping grip.

sasquatch said:

I just learned how to do the muscle-up from a straight arm hang. It helps to grip higher on the curve of the ring. Also I can only do it when I first start using my rings, my hands get slippery fast!

Do most people use chalk when they do muscle-ups? I bet it would really help with the slipping grip.

I use chalk just for hang Yes it would help, especialy if you have moistier palms.

Gregor said:

sasquatch said:

I just learned how to do the muscle-up from a straight arm hang. It helps to grip higher on the curve of the ring. Also I can only do it when I first start using my rings, my hands get slippery fast!

Do most people use chalk when they do muscle-ups? I bet it would really help with the slipping grip.

I use chalk just for hang Yes it would help, especialy if you have moistier palms.

I get moist palms pretty fast and it makes me a have a hard time with muscle-ups, I need to get chalk.

I think the thing that helped me do the slow muscleup that I have now is slow behind the neck pull ups. right to the neck. It might be me or something, but that's what helped me get a smother and controlled transition. Until now I can only do 2 strict muscle ups back to back, then I just can't go past the transition.

guys - i took some time off from trying to get the MU transition, mainly focussing on front and back lever, and recently found out by accident that i can pull myself through a complete transition on the rings. its a bit wobbly and not pretty looking, but it works.

now the strange part is: i can do positives but i am completely dumbfounded getting back down with a negative. i dont think its much of a strength thing (i dont kip through the transition - i bend forward a bit and try to move my shoulders in front of my hands), but mainly a coordination thing. i start hanging there, being completely clueless when i should rotate the rings inwards, draping my wrists on top of the ring, back into a false grip again.

any tips or visualizations?

Yeah I just recently learned how to muscle up, got it in about 3 tries, and I don't kip. But I have the same problem, I'm afraid of going down. Would it help if from the support hold I go down as low as I can, then go back up. Then keep practicing until I can work my way to go all the way down?

Hi guys, I'll like to know how you guys train for the false grip? I've been trying out mu rows but my wrist can't seem to stay in the false grip position n always slip out of e rings into a normal grip. Is there any techniques or so to keep it in place?