Yesterday I told you about push-ups on bars and understood that there was another exercise about which I just have to tell you, if you've stepped on workout path!
Muscle up
Muscle up is probably exactly that point when the transfer from a regular fitness training to the workout world begins. This exercise is not only excellent by itself (because it combines pull and push and ligament training), but it also is a key component to make a combinations of exercises from different workout elements on horizontal bar, parallel bars or other various sport equipment.
If you begin your training path from 100 days of Workout, then trying the muscle up is likely too early for you, and todays info-post will be more informative to you rather than practical. In general, I would recommend you begin doing muscle ups, when you already reach decent success in pull-ups (20 ideal repetitions), push-ups on bars (30-40 ideal repetitions) and push-ups from floor (60-70 ideal ones). Believe me this will prevent from wasting a lot of your time and can also defend you from joint and ligament injuries.
Main points
* More movement amplitude, more muscles are involved in process.
* In order to do muscle up you have to put your wrists on the bar level or above.
* Thus try to make a move as if you want to lower down the horizontal bar before you. That is you DO NOT pull yourself to the bar or alternatively, you try to lower it down before you.
Safety rules!
Because the wrists and hands, shoulder and elbow joints are actively involved during muscle up exercise it’s very important to follow the right technique:
* The movement should be done along the natural trajectory
* Muscles must always be strained напряжении (especially crucial is in the negative phase)
* If you feel uncomfortable try other options of doing the exercise, change a grip type etc.
The exercise itself, if you split it to components, will look as follows:
1) Hanging on the bar
2) Moving your body up (PULL phase) due to the sharp contraction of muscles
3) Transferring your body above the bar (TRANSFER phase)
4) Pushing up from bar (PUSH phase)
5) Holding in upper point above the bar
6) Bending of arms and lowering your body to the bar
7) Transferring your body under the bar (TRANSFER phase)
Unbending of arms рук and returning back to the start positionYou can do repetitions by two methods:
- Due to the “explosive” power you can perform so high pull-up, that your hands will be above the bar and all that will remain is to simply twist them and push yourself to the upper position. (This method BARELY involves elbow ligaments);
- Do “explosive” pull-up, twist the wrists in upper point (due to your joints) and then push yourself to the upper position (this method involves elbow ligaments, what you’ll feel yourself during learning the exercise and trainings).
You’re free to try both options and choose whatever you like the most. You can look at first <url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lMqNWXRNjA">from Hannibal training video (0:39)</url>. The second one – from everyone else who does muscle ups.
Useful tips
Grip width. Try to make your elbows stay exactly at your shoulders’ width. It would be optimal position for the beginning, if you set your grip wider or narrower – it will be harder.
Arms. Don’t push your body to the hands and do not bend your arms very much. If you notice that you press yourself too close to the bar and aren’t able to push yourself over it, that means you’ve bent your arms too much.
Strokes, jerks and inertia. While you learn how to properly do this exercise you’ll make many involuntary forward feet strokes. This is normal, but try to learn to do muscle ups only by means of your arms’ strength. Such option pumps better and looks way more impressive.
Muscle up on one hand. Many people say that firstly you have to learn how to do muscle up on one hand, аnd then on another. But I firmly believe that it provokes the accumulation of erroneous skills and creates additional harmful strain on the shoulders. Therefore bend your elbows simultaneously!
Elbow joints, ligaments and tendons. The muscle up on the bar is a rather complicated exercise, which require some physical training and preparedness of elbow joints and ligaments. So at first stage, in learning process, pain in elbows is possible, but you should differ “good” out from “bad” one and do not continue your trainings if something really goes wrong.
Dead point. If you stuck at the top point (when you have shoulders above the bar) and are not be able to push yourself, try to perform a sweep with your legs (like a pendulum), it’ll give inertia to your body and make the pushing part much easier.
In addition
I made a small program here during my leisure time with some lead exercises to pull-strength, it is focused on training those muscles and movements, which are used in muscle up. Judging by the reviews, it really helps people, so you can try by yourselves:
Training is nothing, will is everything.
