How to get a Muscle-Up, 3 tips I discovered on my self taught journey [Female]

[girdyourloins]

@mtainmn43 You're soooo welcome!

I know the feeling! I wanted to be able to do a muscle up for soooo long, and for ages it felt impossible!

I experienced moments of feeling stuck, overwhelmed and disheartened with lack of progress, and frustrated not knowing what workouts or exercises to do. The weighted movements really changed everything for me! I hope they can help you break out of your plateaus and smash your muscle-up soon!! You got this!!! Keep me updated with how you get on!!

 

[followgodnotman]

@girdyourloins I can only imagine the labor over time it took to get that first muscle up. Great job for sure and thanks for coming back here to share

 

[girdyourloins]

@followgodnotman Thank you so much for your kind words! It’s taken me a long time to get my first one, but it was so freaking worth it! There's something really empowering about showing yourself you can do, what once felt impossible! I've learned so much along the way, and I feel so passionate about sharing what worked for me in the hopes it helps others on their muscle up journey’s!

 

[loveyoudeerly]

@girdyourloins I am going to give this a try! Been trying to do a muscle up and never was able to complete one. Thank you for sharing this. I greatly appreciate you.

 

[girdyourloins]

@loveyoudeerly Yaaaay!!! You’re soooo freaking welcome! I'm sooo stoked you've found this helpful! Keep me updated with how you get on! You got THIIIIIS!

 

[l2becomecl]

@girdyourloins Respect.

 

[avisophie]

@girdyourloins Great post. Thanks!

 

[mayajoy]

@girdyourloins This is such a useful and detailed post! I’m working on getting a pull up and will definitely come back here when I’m ready to progress to muscle ups. Thank you so much for sharing this!!

 

[girdyourloins]

@mayajoy Yay! I'm sooo stoked you found this post helpful! That's so exciting you're working towards achieving your first Pull up! Keep me updated with how you get on!! YOU HAVE GOT THIS!

 

[mayajoy]

@girdyourloins Thank you!! This just made my morning
Will report back in a month or so if I can remember! Let’s gooooooo

 

[roman1982]

@girdyourloins Great post and congrats! It's a HUGE achievement for a woman (sorry, men, not so impressive in your case hehe). I'm on my muscle-up journey as well, and it was really nice to see that I'm doing the exact same things that you suggested: weighted pull-ups, weighted dips, banded muscle-ups. Currently at 15kgx8 dips, 5kgx7 pull-ups and a medium band x3. But I weigh more than you (58 kg), so I think I still have a long way to go. How long did it take you since you started training them?

 

[girdyourloins]

@roman1982 Thank you sooooo much for your kind words of encouragement and I'm stoked you found this post helpful! OMG yasss! That's soooo freaking exciting that you're on your muscle up journey too! Wholllyyyyy shiiiet girl you're doing amazingly, and you are sooo STRONG! I have a few questions for you: 1. Have you tested your 1RMs with Chins/Pull Ups/Dips? 2. How are you progressively overloading your weighted exercises? 3. Throughout the week do you train those movements in the 2-5 rep range with heavier loads? I'm weighing in about 65-66kg, and when I started training the weighted calisthenics, I think it took me about 3 months until I unlocked it (but I'll actually work this out and let you know). The weighted calisthenics was a game changer! Girl, I'm so freaking excited that you're on your MU journey and you best believe I want you to keep me updated with how you get on!! You soooo got this!!!

 

[roman1982]

@girdyourloins

1. No, I haven't tested my 1RM for anything, should I?
2. I'm not following any particular scheme. Basically if I can do 3×8 dips, I increase the weight and stay at this weight until I can do 3×8 again. For pull-ups, I can do 5 kg ×7, 6, 5, I'm thinking about trying 6.25 kg 2×6.
3. No, I only train dips in this rep range (~8) once a week, because they take very long to recover from. And pull-ups I train one time with +5 kg and one time without added weight.

What would you suggest me to change?

And thank you for the encouragement!

 

[girdyourloins]

@roman1982

1. This isn't a must, but I found testing my 1RM for the Chin Up + Pull Up + DIp gave me good feedback as to where I was at, and how close I was to my strength targets to achieving my first bodyweight muscle up.
2. I would recommend one training session is focused on your higher strength rep work example your 8's and either continue your way of progression - if you enjoy that method and are seeing gains from it or you can progress by adding weight and dropping reps across weeks example 8's, 7's, 6's (then starting back at 8 reps using the weight you did for the 7's).

And another session training lower strength rep work with heavier loads example 5's,4's,3's,2's and 1's if and when you want to test your 1RM's.

I hope this is helpful and makes sense, and if you have any other questions please don't hesitate to hit me up!

 

[roman1982]

@girdyourloins Thank you so much for the suggestions!

 

[jeanwiller]

@girdyourloins It sound like I need to lose the extra weight (25 lbs!) for this to be a little easier for me achieve!!

 

[lrxles002]

@girdyourloins Thank you for sharing this and all the details. I’m excited to try it out.

I’ve been going to the gym for 8 months 2-3 times a week and have only seen 4 other women do pull-ups and I’m the only female I’ve met that loves gymnastic rings. I feel like an anomaly being able to do 4 pull-ups in a row.

Thank you for helping me not feel alone in being a female that loves bodyweight fitness. It’s inspiring to know that it is possible for a woman to do a muscle up!

 

[girdyourloins]

@lrxles002 You're soooo welcome! I'm so stoked that you found this helpful and feel excited to try it out! yay!!!

It sounds like your consistency with training is on point, and you have built such a strong foundation in such a short time! Being able to do 4 Pull ups is super badass!

Girl, your comment has honestly got me in the feels. I know what it's like to feel alone and I'm so grateful that this post has helped us to connect! Because I want you to know you're not alone, that women can do muscle ups and that I'm on this journey with you!

Stay connected with me here, and update me with how you get on!

We're in this together!

 

[peitho]

@girdyourloins Nicely detailed write-up. I'll offer a much easier path. Find a pullup bar that is on a wall. Face the wall. Stand on something that allows you full extension but allows you to slightly jump up from. Allow yourself to kick the wall only twice on the way up. After that feels easy, allow yourself to only kick off the wall once on the way up. Keep doing this over and over, several times a week, and you'll get it quicker than any other way - until you don't need to kick off the wall at all. Muscle ups are about technique (understanding how to get around the bar) and explosive pulling (I'm assuming you already have the strength to do 10ish pullups), and this method trains both quite well. It also ensures that when you come down, you don't swing too far forward with your feet and instead, you will naturally bring your chest to the wall, which teaches you to load. Learned it in just a few weeks by doing nothing but these.

 

[girdyourloins]

@peitho Thaaank you so much for your feedback and for sharing your progression that helped you unlock your first muscle up! That's amazing that you were able to achieve the muscle up so quickly!

For me, even though I could do 10 strict pull-ups and dips, I was nowhere close to a muscle-up. I lacked the strength and power to be able to pull high enough.

However, once I shifted away from trying to do more reps with bodyweight, and introduced the weighted calisthenics it was a game changer for me.

I'm not saying that Weighted Chins/Dips and Banded Muscle Ups are the easiest path, the best or only way, but more so want to share what worked for me, and another approach that might help others get their first muscle up.