Muscle Up Progression: 6 Steps to Mastering the Move

Unless you are already trained gymnastthe barbell pull-up is one of the most challenging body weight movements you can try. Besides requiring a substantial core i upper body strengthlifting muscles requires excellent mobility, body awarenesscoordination and timing.

If you’re determined to add muscle to your gym repertoire, know that there’s a right and a wrong way to develop this skill.

• wrong way: Keep swinging and slamming your body against the bar until you’re tired, frustrated, and possibly injured.
• the right way: Progression of muscle growth.

A muscle-up progression is a series of increasingly difficult movements that gradually develop your muscle-up technique while building your strength. Each stage of progression includes benchmarks that indicate your readiness to move on to the next exercise in the progression.

The final stage, of course, is to safely perform the muscles with confidence and perfect form.

Muscle up progression in 6 steps

Dr. AS John Gallucci, Jr., MS, ATC, PT, DPT, CEO of And physical therapyexplains that lifting a muscle is actually a series of smaller movements linked together:

1. A statue of momentum
2. Knee lift
3. Leg lift
4. From chest to bar pull-up
5. Triceps dip

To do a muscle-up, you need to be comfortable repeating each of these movements. This is where the upward progression of the muscles occurs.

Developed with input from Gallucci and Jeff Waters, Registered USA Boxing Trainer and Owner Waters Performancethe next muscle progression up starts at the beginner level. Depending on your gymnastics experience and current strength level, you may be able to skip.

Step 1: Hanging Knee/Leg Raise

• Grasp the pull-up bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
• Hang at arm’s length with arms straight (a position known as a dead hang) and legs straight and together.
• Bend your knees 90 degrees and raise them to the level of your hips. Hold for one second, then return to the starting position.
• When you are able to perform three sets of 10 repetitions, perform the same movement keeping your legs straight so that your body forms an L shape. Once you are able to perform three sets of 10 repetitions of straight leg raises, move on to the next step.

Tip: “Make sure you’re not swinging and using momentum to lift your legs, and all the work is coming from the hip flexors and core,” says Gallucci.

Step 2: Assisted chest pull to the bar

• Wrap one end of a large resistance band around the pull-up bar. Grasp the bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder width and place one foot on the other end of the resistance band.
• Hang at arm’s length with straight legs and core and glutes engaged.
• Without swinging or skipping (using your momentum to propel you upward), hook your shoulder blades and squeeze your shoulder blades as you pull your chest toward the bar.
• Stop, then drop back down to the dead visor.

Tip: “Start with a thicker band,” says Waters. “If you can do 10 full pull-upsuse a thinner strip. Over time, keep working your way down until you can do 10 strict pull-ups with the thinnest band. Then move on.”

Step 3: Strict chest pull to the bar

• Grasp the pull-up bar with an overhand grip that is slightly above shoulder width.
• Hang at arm’s length with arms straight and ankles crossed behind you.
• Without rocking or kipping, engage your core, glutes and lats as you squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull your chest up to the bar.
• Stop, then drop back down to the dead visor.
• Once you can do three sets of 10 reps, move on. But keep practicing barbells as you work on new skills.

Tip: “At this stage, it is important to work on ‘push‘ feature that you use in lifting muscles,” says Watters.

Suggests inclusion push-ups into your training plan, including push-ups, where you lower yourself all the way to the ground and temporarily raise your arms before pushing into the plank to eliminate any momentum from the movement.

“Start from the floor halfway down, then lower yourself to the ground. This is the hardest part of pushing, which is why we emphasize it,” he says.

Step 4: Triceps dip

• Grab the handles of the dip station and jump or step into the starting position: feet off the floor, arms straight, and ankles crossed. (To make the movement easier, you can loop a large resistance band over the handles and place your knees on it.)
• Keeping your forearms vertical and your elbows tucked in (not extended), allow your torso to lean forward as you lower your body until your elbows form about a 90-degree angle.
• Reverse the movement, returning to the starting position. Once you can do three sets of 10 reps, move on.

Step 5: Kip Swing

• Grasp the pull-up bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
• Hang at arm’s length with straight arms and straight legs together.
• Get into a hollow body position: engage your core and lats to arch (round) your spine and tilt your pelvis back (tuck in your tailbone).
• Use your shoulders to push your chest forward and arch your spine, allowing your legs to swing behind you.
• Use your shoulders, lats, and core to come back into a hollow body position and begin to pull back the same way you do for chest-to-bar pull-ups.
• Once you are able to complete three sets of 10 reps of kip swings that bring your chest to the level of the bar, progress to a full muscle-up.

Tip: Make sure you use your shoulders, not your hips, to create momentum.

Step 6: Lifting the muscles

• Grasp the pull-up bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
• Hang with arms straight and core and glutes engaged.
• Start a Kip Swing: Starting in a hollow body position, use your shoulders to push your chest forward and arch your spine. Then use your shoulders, lats and core to return to hollow body position. (Once you’re behind the bar, lean back and pull the bar down to lift yourself as high as you can.)
• Squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull your hips toward the bar. As your stomach makes contact with the bar, rotate your wrists forward, lean forward and straighten your elbows so your torso is over the bar.
• Hold and then lower into a dead hang position.