Muscle Up Tutorial

The Muscle Up! The perhaps most popular Bodyweight exercise there is! If you know someone who does Bodyweight Training, it is unlikely that they will not know what a Muscle Up is. And with good reason! The Muscle Up is not only a show off exercise, it is also an exercise that displays raw strength not only in the back, not only in the biceps, but in the entire upper body! If I were forced to never ever do more than one exercise for the rest of my life, I would pick the Muscle Up! So keep reading and find out how YOU can unlock the Muscle Up by following my advice! LET’S GO!!!

Now, before you even try to do the Muscle Up, I suggest you make sure that you can first do at least 10-15 Pull Ups and 15-20 Dips and of course with proper form!

When you can do that, you can move on.

Correct&Wrong Grip/Handplacement on the bar

When you are trying to do a Muscle Up the placement of your hands on the bar is extremely important. This Picture shows how your hands should be placed and also how they shouldn’t.

If you do not place your hands like the two correct ones, then you’re gonna have a hard time learning the Muscle Up. It is much easier to do the transition from Pull Up to Straight Bar Dip with your hands correctly gripping the bar.

High Pull Ups

Doing High Pull Ups will help you getting used to pulling hard enough to get your chest over the bar, which is crucial when you do the transition.

Band Assisted Muscle Ups

Using an elastic band to do Band Assisted Muscle Ups is a great tool when pursuing the Muscle Up! I wish I had known about this technique when I first tried to learn the Muscle Up! So I recommend that you use this method yourself!

Negative Muscle Ups

Doing Negative Muscle Ups really strengthens every single one of the muscles you’ll be using when doing the Muscle Up. Start at a Straight Bar Dip position and from there lower yourself down as slowly as you can, until you are hanging in a Dead Hang Pull Up position.

Pullover to Muscle Up Position

Getting into the Straight Bar Dip position can be a bit of a challenge, unless the bar is not very high over the ground. If that is not the case and the bar is very high, you can use the method Pullover to Muscle Up Position. Simple do the thing I show on this picture. When you are at the top, you can start doing the Negative Muscle Up. (You can also use a chair or something else to get to the Straight Bar Dip position)

Jump Muscle Ups

Another great way of learning the Muscle Up and especially getting the feeling of a real Muscle up, is by doing Jump Muscle Ups. This, however, requires that the bar you are using is not to far away from the ground. You need to be able to grab and hold on to the bar and at the same time be able to touch the floor with your feet. From here, simply jump up while pulling at the same time and try to pull yourself over the bar.

Partner Assisted Muscle Ups

The last method I have is Partner Assisted Muscle Ups. These are VERY EASY! I have tried them a couple of times and I could have been doing Muscle Ups forever! Try it out for yourself! Partner Assisted Muscle Ups look like this: