Muscle-Up

How to Perform the Muscle-Up

1. Grip a pull-up bar with a false grip (wrists over the bar) or a standard overhand grip, hands slightly wider than shoulder-width.
2. Hang with arms fully extended and engage your shoulders by depressing your scapulae.
3. Initiate an explosive pull-up, aiming to bring your chest to the bar rather than just your chin.
4. As your chest reaches bar height, aggressively lean your torso forward over the bar and drive your elbows back and upward.
5. Transition your wrists from under the bar to on top of it as you rotate your body over the bar.
6. Once your torso is above the bar with arms still bent, press yourself upward by extending your arms into a dip position.
7. Fully extend your arms at the top with your hips at or above bar height.
8. Lower yourself back down in a controlled manner, reversing the movement.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Muscles Worked

Benefits

• ✓Develops exceptional upper-body pulling and pushing strength in one movement.
• ✓Builds coordination, timing, and body awareness that transfers to many athletic activities.
• ✓A benchmark skill in calisthenics that demonstrates mastery of bodyweight strength.

Pro Tips

• ●Master chest-to-bar pull-ups and straight bar dips individually before combining them into a muscle-up.
• ●A false grip (wrists over the bar) makes the transition much easier, especially for ring muscle-ups.
• ●Practice explosive pull-ups with the goal of pulling as high as possible to develop the power needed for the transition.

Recommended Sets & Reps