The Problem With Your Muscle Up...
So there’s nothing wrong with your chin ups and you can rep out on dips...You can stabilize on rings and your false grip doesn’t feel terrible… So why can't you Muscle Up?
Your Shoulder Extension Needs Work:
- If you struggle to bring your elbows past your torso and back, this will mute the transition
- This muted transition changes the dip part of the movement to a tricep extension
- So instead of smoothly transitioning to a dip and pressing your bodyweight, you are now trying to tricep extension your bodyweight up from the beginning of the transition - the top of your pull...
- This will likely just kill your elbows… That’s not great for longevity…
The Cheat Pattern:
Kipping.
Kipping or having such a strong pull and/or triceps that you bypass the 'need' for shoulder extension during the Muscle Up...
Seriously.
To build strength, we need to do the strict muscle up, and we need to do it slow in full range.
Kipping gets you on top of the rings, and it is certainly more efficient in WoDs, but where you actually get the benefit of the Muscle Up is training the transition... When you train the part between the pull up and dip - that’s all the muscles involved in advanced ring strength - that’s where the Iron Cross, Maltese, the Planche take place…
Kipping every Muscle Up hides your weaknesses and will retard your progress, and kipping a Muscle Up before you can do a strict one is simply adding velocity to a movement that you are not strong enough to do... This will likely just kill your shoulders... This is not great for longevity...
What You Need To Do:
(Assuming, of course, that there’s nothing wrong with your pull, you can rep out on dips, stabilize on rings and your false grip doesn’t feel terrible…)
Work on your shoulder extension… Here’s 1 of several drills I use, demonstrated by my favourite squat machine...
Weighted Shoulder Extension & Shoulder Extension Stretch.
So there’s nothing wrong with your chin ups and you can rep out on dips...You can stabilize on rings and your false grip doesn’t feel terrible… So why can't you Muscle Up?
Your Shoulder Extension Needs Work:
- If you struggle to bring your elbows past your torso and back, this will mute the transition
- This muted transition changes the dip part of the movement to a tricep extension
- So instead of smoothly transitioning to a dip and pressing your bodyweight, you are now trying to tricep extension your bodyweight up from the beginning of the transition - the top of your pull...
- This will likely just kill your elbows… That’s not great for longevity…
The Cheat Pattern:
Kipping.
Kipping or having such a strong pull and/or triceps that you bypass the 'need' for shoulder extension during the Muscle Up...
Seriously.
To build strength, we need to do the strict muscle up, and we need to do it slow in full range.
Kipping gets you on top of the rings, and it is certainly more efficient in WoDs, but where you actually get the benefit of the Muscle Up is training the transition... When you train the part between the pull up and dip - that’s all the muscles involved in advanced ring strength - that’s where the Iron Cross, Maltese, the Planche take place…
Kipping every Muscle Up hides your weaknesses and will retard your progress, and kipping a Muscle Up before you can do a strict one is simply adding velocity to a movement that you are not strong enough to do... This will likely just kill your shoulders... This is not great for longevity...
What You Need To Do:
(Assuming, of course, that there’s nothing wrong with your pull, you can rep out on dips, stabilize on rings and your false grip doesn’t feel terrible…)
Work on your shoulder extension… Here’s 1 of several drills I use, demonstrated by my favourite squat machine...
Weighted Shoulder Extension & Shoulder Extension Stretch.
|
Top left: Weighted shoulder extension - where the arms are raised as high as possible and pushed backwards under tension... This will help build strength through the transition and can be done for reps, or for timed holds.
Bottom left: Weighted shoulder extension stretch - an excellent stretch for improving not just shoulder extension, but hamstring flexibility as well. This works best as a timed hold, paired with weighted shoulder shoulder extension. Right: A deep Muscle Up transition - Ali is showing a decent (although not quite full) range of shoulder extension. Her shoulders and shoulder blades are pressing away from her ears, giving her very stable shoulders, and her body is locked in to a solid hollow position. |
If you are reading this you are likely a CrossFitter, and as such, this needs to be said:
Treat Mobility Work Differently To Lifting And Metcons
You can’t go at everything with maximum intensity. Certain positions need to be eased into, especially if they are restricted. Loaded mobility work must always begin light; over time you can increase the load, but only when all of the tissues of the body have adapted. Heavily loading up the shoulder extension stretch without having ever done it before is a very good way of hurting yourself and earning yourself a rather unflattering nickname...
One final point, Olympic Weightlifters are usually missing shoulder extension... They typically have good flexion, but poor extension... That's an imbalance and should be corrected as soon as possible.
I hope this quick tip helps you out.
~ Coach Collins
Copyright 2017
