The muscle-up is a pull movement ( a high pull-up) combined with a transition and a push movement (a dip).
Whether it be the Push-pull-leg split or the tradition Bro-split, if you're like me and many others, you probably like to split up your pull and push movements on separate days.
So the question is:
Should you train the muscle-up on a push day with your Pushups, Shoulder press and bench press? Or should you train it on your pull day with your pull-ups and rows?
Performing it on a push day could lead to impeding your back recovery (if you just had back day the day before) or fatiguing your lats for the upcoming back day.
And Performing it on a pull day could lead to impeding your chest/shoulder recovery (if you just had push day the day before) or fatiguing your chest/shoulder for the upcoming back day.
Luckily there is a variation that allows you to solve this issue!
This variation involves the high pull-up, performing the transition to get your chest over the bar, but not performing the dip to get your arms straight.
Instead of performing the dip, you just come back down to the pull-up dead hang position and repeat.
This means this muscle-up variation is essentially just a pull movement and can be performed on your pull day!
The hardest portion (or the weakest link) in your muscle-up is always going to be the pull-up and transition. Once you are over the bar, the dip is very easy. Therefore there is no need to train this portion.
As the great Louis Simmons says, "You are only as strong as your weakest link".
Being able to just train the hardest portion of the muscle-up will allow you to train more repetitions in the hard portion without fatiguing and will allowing you to strengthen the weakest link better than if you focused on the entire range of the muscle-up.
This means this muscle-up variation is essentially just a pull movement and can be performed on your pull day!
The hardest portion (or the weakest link) in your muscle-up is always going to be the pull-up and transition. Once you are over the bar, the dip is very easy. Therefore there is no need to train this portion.
As the great Louis Simmons says, "You are only as strong as your weakest link".
Being able to just train the hardest portion of the muscle-up will allow you to train more repetitions in the hard portion without fatiguing and will allowing you to strengthen the weakest link better than if you focused on the entire range of the muscle-up.
The half muscle-up similar to the regular muscle-ups should be performed at the beginning of the workout before your pull-ups and rows and bicep isolation work. This is because the muscle-up is an explosive movement and its always good to be fresh for explosive work.
Yes, the half-muscle-up can also be done on gymnastic rings and suspension trainers.
Just make sure that on your push day you perform the ring dips and go as deep as the transition position of the ring muscle-up.
Make sure to read our comprehensive gymnastic rings guide before making a purchase!
Remy started calisthenics in 2014 and has mastered advanced movements such as the one arm pull-up, front-lever, one arm muscle-up and more.
