How To Muscle Up In 4 Simple Steps

Have you been trying to learn the muscle up and need a breakthrough? If so then this post is for you!

My name is Andrew Aurora and I help traveling businessmen get in shape using calisthenics and resistance training

And in this post I am going to be showing you a simple 4-step routine to learn how to muscle up.

Let's jump right in

The muscle up is a compound exercise that on the surface appears to be a combination of a pull up and a straight bar dip, but in reality is a a combination of a lat pull down, pull up, and straight bar dip

The muscle up is an explosive exercise that requires a lot of base level pulling strength to achieve, so I recommend that you are comfortable with doing at least roughly 15 pull ups before attempting to muscle up.

Once you have achieve that then you can start training for the muscle up

The scapula shrug is going to be the first part of the movement and one of the most important parts to learning how to muscle up

By bringing your scapula down you will be engaging your lats and preparing your body for the pulling motion.

As you continue to practice your scapula shrugs you may find that with enough force your body starts to raise up as if you are preparing to do a front lever, and this is exactly where you want to get to

I've watched a lot of muscle up tutorials, but very few cover this part of the muscle up.

In reality I think this is the most important part, because this is how you get around the bar

When most people are learning the muscle up they will start with a swing to get them in front of the bar and then pull explosively to get themselves around the bar

When doing this, sometimes they will bring their knees to their chest or kip to get some extra momentum 

 
While this is fine in the very beginning, over time you want to remove this from your technique and start mastering the correct form, which is no swing and straight legs. You will do this is by doing the lat pull down swing. 

This allows you to create the swing naturally without having to jump and swing on the bar, and this also allows you to achieve high pull ups, which is a prerequisite of the muscle up

So before worrying about trying to achieve the muscle up, master this movement first

Ultimately a muscle up ends up being a high explosive pull up with a lean to get over the bar and straight bar dip added at the end.

If you can comfortably do around 5-10 high pull ups then you should be able to do the muscle up

 
Basically what you will do is combine the lat pull down swing with a pull up with the goal of aiming below your chest, or even as low as your waist line.

 
Start by aiming for right under the chest, and then start aiming to go a little higher every time you train

 
To help you with this, get a resistance band and put it around the bar and stick your feet through it. This will help you get much higher

 
Once you feel comfortable with that you can focus on the next step to learning how to muscle up

This is an optional exercise, but will really help you develop a strong foundation for your muscle up

This really helps strengthen the eccentric of the muscle up, which will allow you to build strength throughout the whole range of motion before having strength to muscle up

When you start coming down from your muscle ups you may find you don't have a lot of strength in that portion of the movement, and this well help alleviate that, giving you more control through every part of the muscle up

This is a fairly simple exercise. Just hang from the bar and raise your legs up as if you were doing a toes to bar, and from there you are going to pull your body up just like you would on an inverted row pull up.

Once your hips are at a position where you can swing them over the bar without crushing your junk (because trust me, it aint a good feeling) you will roll around the bar, and then - as controlled as possible - let yourself down

It can feel a little weird spinning upside down, but you will get used to it, just hang on tight.

Once you have gotten this exercise and all the previous exercises down you should finally be ready to do a muscle up

What you will do here is jump on the bar, get a slight swing so your body is positioned in front of the bar, and you will very quickly - in one seamless movement - lock your scapula back, do a straight arm push down swing, and pull up to below your chest while leaning forward.

Ideally your legs will be perfectly straight for perfect form, but a slight bend is fine when learning

From here it's just a straight bar dip, then let your body back down in a controlled fashion and use your explosive strength to do it again

Things to look out for is to try not to kip, as this is just sloppy form, and also make sure both arms come over the bar at the same time.

If they don't and you chicken-wing your muscle ups you can do damage to your shoulder. 

You also want to make sure your arms aren't wide, as this will put your shoulders into internal rotation and in a vulnerable position for injury

Keep your arms tucked in to your sides and your shoulders will be fine

Also make sure your wrists rotate over the bar as well. I Still make this mistake sometimes and it puts excess stress on the wrists. Try to avoid this as much as possible

Jump to muscle up: This exercise can be great to help you understand what a muscle up feels like before you can do one. This exercise didn't help me much on my journey, but it may help you so I wanted to mention it

 
Straight-leg Muscle up: This is how I got my first muscle up. You will bring your legs up as you pull (as if you are trying to do an L-sit) and then pull the bar to your body.

This is far from correct form, but you won't injure yourself and it allows you start building the proper strength for the muscle up

 
Weighted pull ups: Though I didn't put this on the list as this was a "How to muscle up" guide, not a "how to build strength for the muscle up" guide, you should definitely include weighted pull ups in your workout. 

This will help you develop the strength you will need much faster

Front lever raises: Building up the strength to do front lever raises will really help you in having a nice and powerful straight arm push down swing so you can get around that bar

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