The PULL UP - MUSCLE UP
The muscle up has a huge component related to pulling stregth , so become stronger in pull ups will also get you more powerful , making the transition much easier .
However, this is sometimes not enough .
How many times people stopped me at the gym , asking me : “ how do you muscle up ? i’ ve been trying for months but i still cannot get it !”
“What do you do ? “ i reply
“ Well , i try to become stronger in pull ups, hence increasing the number of reps and my 1 RM”
The first thing i think is “ THANKS GOD “ , after years and years we made it , we won , no more stupid 40 kg loop band assisted muscle up , no more stupid nosense try , finally something with logic.
Then i ask them to show me their pull ups and here is where i notice some issues.
Technique related issues .
scapula position : during a pull up the scapula start in elevation , then you use your romboids muscles to start the depression and you keep it throughout the entire movement. This setup should be mainted also in the muscle up , not only during the pulling phase, but also the transition . You need to tell to your mind : “ i’m always pulling , there is no transition , and to do this i need to keep away my shopulder from my ears” . This will not only cause the right activation and a “smoother” movement, but it will also avoid injuries. Therefore:
No depression in pull ups = struggling in muscle up
grip width = what I also noticed is that many train wide pull ups but then try a muscle up with a shoulder width. If we train the pulling stregth with different width grip , this will involvede different muscle activation, making the stregth tranfer not effective enough.
ADAPT YOUR TECHNIQUE
A good method to get closer to the muscle up is to make the pull up more similar to it.
If you have a look at the video down below you notice how the first part of the movement has many similarities with the muscle up .
There is a first swing , that allow us to be more confindent with this kind of technique . Obviously the swing doesn’t have to be too powerful , if not you lose the control of your pull up.
We also have to make sure that on our way up we don’t get too close to the bar , because this is something that we need to do in the last part of the movement ( typical muscle up trajectory ) .
In terms of volume , we don’t need to do a lot. From 3 to 6 set per week are more than enough , with an intensity that is usually around 60/70 %.
The number of reps goes fro 6 to 8 and make sure that this is one of the first exercises that you do in your training session, when you are still fresh ( phisically and mentally ) .
