In Part 1, I gave an intro into how to start thinking about muscle ups. The main point being, how to do approach sustainable without injuring joints. Not all of us who start these are young guns like we have all over Instagram and YouTube!
Following on from Part 1, let’s break down the individual areas which need to be adequately prepared in order to achieve a (reasonably) clean and joint friendly movement.
Once all the individual areas are sufficiently strong/ready, the muscle up itself will seem like a by-product; almost happening automatically. So to preserve longevity in the training, it is better to be patient.
Components
“Prepared” can mean, adequately flexible, strong, explosive, warmed up etc. etc. In no particular order:
- Wrist flexibility – as per Part 1, holding a false grip is key. If the wrist joint is flexible in flexion, will be easier to maintain a nice high wrist position
- Forearm – strenght to hold the false grip
- Lats – especially needed at the move initiation
- Traps – especially at the top of the movement, needed to pull the elbows back sufficiently
- Deltoids/Triceps – for the push out in the dip portion
- Biceps – assists in the pull phase, getting the shoulders up towards the hands
- Abs – stabilisation, ideally holding the body in a hollow body position
In the next part, I’ll go through a few training tips.
(further tips to follow…)
