- What's up Elite ThenX athletes?
It's Chris Heria.
Welcome to another video of Official ThenX.
I'm here with Jason
and we're gonna learn how to muscle up,
so bust out those ThenX apps
and go to the muscle up technique guide.
Let's do it.
(upbeat electronic music)
- All right so we're here with Jason
at the ThenX fitness studio.
Now Jason was telling me
that he's working on his muscle ups.
He's already got the app.
He's went through all the techniques
and now you are at, basically?
- I've been doing the master work out four times a week
and I'm right to the point
where jumping muscle ups
are getting kinda easy but I just can't pull over.
- Cool, have you tried it with a resistance band?
- I have.
- And what do you think?
- For whatever reason I feel like
the resistance band muscle-up is a little more
difficult for me.
- Okay, okay, so I've never seen his form,
I've never even seen his attempt to do a muscle-up before.
Actually Jason just walked in here.
We were about to get a workout going
and he's just like, "Hey, before we get started,
"I need to know how to muscle up, Chris."
'Cause that was part of the workout.
And I was like, "Oh, well, let's bust out the cameras
"and let me teach you right, really quick."
So let's go for it.
So you've already checked the steps on the app
and the muscle-up technique guide,
so you've done the magic button,
you've done L-sit pull back,
and you've tried the lay over the bar, right?
And you're already at like 17 pull-ups you would say?
- Yeah, seventeen.
- Let's check out your pull ups really quick first.
Wow, all right, that's really good.
Okay, let's get down.
Well, before we begin let's just recap over the steps first.
I'm gonna need a magic button,
so let me get a resistance band really quick.
All right, so grab the bar.
Is this bar comfortable?
- Yep.
- All right, cool.
So walk out as far as you can
so you're just touching the tip of your toe
and there it is.
So let's try the first step, which is the magic button.
Let's see how well you do with this step.
Okay, that's pretty good, try again.
All right, one more.
Nice, all right, stop.
You can improve on this step, too,
and what I want you guys to take from this as well
is that this guy's big and he's strong
and he's doing it all correctly,
but you can always improve your form more and more.
Even me, I can always try to strive
to improve more and more.
So what I'm gonna tell you right now to improve this,
and when you improve this you're gonna find
it's gonna get a lot easier.
So first step, magic button.
You guys are trying this with the app,
you're trying it like him,
this is what I want you guys to do.
When you're coming into the magic button, step in more.
D'you see that?
And when you step in more do it
with your feet together more.
So when you step in your feet should be
stepping in together, see that?
And it should go, boom, yeah, exactly.
And it should be like a jerking motion.
Not jerking motion, but you know, more pressure.
Yeah, more aggressive.
Exactly.
So step a little harder into it, boom, exactly.
So you feel it more now, right?
So go again and then it should feel like that.
- I see.
- Good, that's it.
So I want you guys to check this out really quick.
As he steps down with his foot,
you see the indicator is in his chest.
Then you go boom, he seems to stretch in his chest
for a second and then comes back.
That's how you know you're getting
really good form into this.
All right, so now we're ready to go on to step two.
After that we have L-sit pull backs,
so we're gonna just focus on this movement.
So let me see what your L-sit pull back looks like
going from the magic button
to the L-sit pull back, all right?
That's pretty good.
So as you can see, he squeezed it from the top,
controlled it on the way back.
All right, some little tips I can give you for this
is try to hold it a bit longer when you're coming down
and then when you basically reach this point
then you start to release your legs back down
into the same exact spot. - Hold the L-sit.
- In a controlled manner, yeah, as you come down.
Also when you're coming up
try to lean back a little bit more
and do more of a lat pull down,
and try to be more explosive.
Like, you're doing the move and you're doing it solid
but try to just like, boom, you know?
So as soon as you get down, this down point,
and you feel that momentum start to stop going this way
and start to build up going this way,
when you feel it coming this way, boom.
It's all about the timing for you
'cause you're strong as hell.
So for you, just think about the timing.
It's down, boom,
down, boom.
All right?
Now I'm gonna help you with this timing a little bit
so you can figure it out.
So down, and then boom.
Down, boom.
Good.
All right, excellent.
That's pretty damn good!
Damn, this guy's a fast learner.
All right, so when you're going up
another trick is to squeeze the bar.
When you squeeze, squeeze, squeeze
and you have a really tight grip
it's gonna make it a lot easier.
And when you train like that as well
it's gonna get just more natural
and it's gonna be a lot easier to hang on the bar.
So the next step we have, it's the last step.
Lay over the bar.
So this step is gonna be all you, man.
So what we're gonna do
is you're gonna put all three steps together.
You're gonna magic button, boom, the way I taught you.
Get tight.
From that moment when you're stepping in, boom,
and you feel that chest, (exhales forcefully)
that's when you really need to lock down everything
as a unit from that moment.
And as you get super tight from your grip
to your forearms, to your arms, obliques,
abs, quads, calves,
pointing your toes, boom, from that moment,
that's when you're just gonna (hands clap) snap.
Boom, from there.
And the only difference between step two and this one
is that instead of doing a lat pull down
you're gonna explode from this position
and you're gonna pull the bar in to your stomach.
Okay, but keeping your elbows in.
So from here you're gonna bring it pulling in,
and bring it into your stomach as you lean forward.
- So you're aiming for the belly button area?
- Exactly.
So as you pull in, so now you see
that it's not just a pull up like this,
but it's almost a lat pull down and then you start to pull.
And then as you start to pull it
you bring it to the stomach,
and as you bring it to the stomach you're leaning,
leaning, leaning, far over the bar,
and the more you lean the more easy it's gonna be
to catch it at the top and just stay on the top.
Also when you're coming up whatever you do,
as soon as you bring your legs up into that L-sit,
don't bring it back down.
Keep it all the way up into the L-sit
until you're already at the top,
then you can lower.
So that's why you need to be really, really focused
and tight everywhere.
So I'm gonna show you what it looks like.
So you go down, lift,
pull straight into the stomach, see that?
From here, push up.
And then to get back down do the same thing, the opposite.
So coming back, down,
back in, pull into the stomach.
All right, let's see you go for it.
So you press down.
Do you feel the spring?
Boom, yeah, dude,
that's excellent.
So there is where you have to (snaps fingers)
be more explosive, exactly.
- Where does that explosiveness start?
Right from the magic button or later?
- It starts right from the magic button.
So like basically even in these videos
where you see me like flying in the air
and jumping off the bar and stuff like that
just from the muscle up,
I know how high I'm gonna go
by how well I went into the magic button,
and then the timing when I (snaps fingers)
popped it out and exploded out.
That timing is like, everything.
You already know how high you're gonna go from that.
So I wanna show you one more time
so you can really get the idea of it.
And this is why here, you're exploding here,
you're not so much exploding here in this part.
So that's why I really want you to just, boom,
collapse almost like a book, you know?
And it's gonna, oof.
So it should look like this.
So down, you see when I feel it coming back,
(hands clap) bam!
Legs up and pull straight into the chest, boom.
See that?
- Got it.
- Boom.
What you're doing is you're waiting too long over here
and it's gonna be too hard to come here.
So just try to make this as quick as possible.
Try it again.
(upbeat techno music)
See how far out you are over here?
- Yeah.
- So you're doing too much of the step two.
You need to bring it in.
- Bring it in, okay.
- You know what?
I want you to try to do a pull up
at the same time as you do the lat,
the L-sit pull back.
So try to do a pull up this time with,
your scapula is rolled forward.
So go like this, so hands down and forward like that.
Go like that and grab the bar.
So like this.
Keep that when you go forward
and then use that to come up
and pull right to your belly button, boom.
Good, good.
You need to use more of your legs.
Let's try again, don't worry, relax, shake it off.
Pop harder with the leg.
Bam, like explode hard, super, super hard.
If you got that and you pull more,
do like more of a harder pull, you'll get it.
Excellent.
So he's almost there.
As you can see, just a tiny push
and he's already meeting the bar.
So what you can take from that is,
"I'm a little bit too far away."
So this little push,
and I'm only giving you like two pounds of pressure,
you know, like that,
and it's more of a reminder, "Oh, keep my body close."
You know?
So what do you do when you're at this point?
I would highly suggest negative muscle ups.
When you start focusing more on negative muscle ups,
'cause the easier you can go down like this
coming up is gonna be (hands smack) super easy.
So now you need to start repping these.
So if you guys find yourself at this moment
you really, really need to focus on negative muscle ups.
So if you guys are taking
the muscle up technique guide on the app,
this is something that you might encounter.
"I'm almost there, I'm almost there.
"I did all the progressions
"and I did all the steps, I know all the steps."
But the thing that you wanna do is you wanna focus
on each step and master it.
Negative muscle ups is one of the steps
in the muscle up technique guide,
but you need to master, master,
really master these movements
before moving on to the next one,
and that is what's gonna get you
doing these things in no time.
I'm sure Jason, you need to master this move.
Once you master this move,
and he's gonna come back 'cause he's already training here
for the rest of the week,
so at the end of the week we're gonna shoot this again
and we're gonna see how your muscle ups improve.
I'm gonna have him master the negative muscle up
and we're gonna re-shoot his muscle up attempt
and we're gonna see where he's at.
All right, we've got Jason back here
so we're gonna go for that muscle up again,
so here we go.
Before we start though I wanna show you
a little technique just so we can feel
what it would feel like to be doing a muscle up,
and you can really focus on that form
without stressing the body of actually trying to,
you know, attempting to do one.
So we're gonna back down to the bottom of here.
So in this position right here, Jason,
this is where you would be coming up
on the L-sit pull back, right?
You're doing fantastic up until this point.
Here's where I really want you to understand
the mechanics of how the arms work
so when you get to here it's gonna be
more of a technique maneuver
that it is trying to muscle through it, right?
So when you get to this point
you're swinging up, boom, right here.
See this leg is gonna be planted on the floor
and you're gonna keep this one to simulate the muscle up.
I want you to bring this bar to your stomach, all right?
So first you're gonna come as close as you can.
At this point you're gonna feel it's hard, right?
Gravity's pulling you this way.
This is the most important part.
Pull in close to your body.
From here, lean over the bar as hard as you can.
This is what it really feels like to do a muscle up.
And keep your elbows in as you do this.
Once you're all the way leaned forward,
I mean, you can just lay there, see?
So from here you regain strength
and come back up.
One more time from here.
I want you to come up,
pull in close to the bar,
come up, and then come back down, all right?
This is to apply, like I said,
he needed to work on his negative muscle ups
so he's gonna go up and then come down
in a negative muscle up.
Let's go for it.
You can take your time with this move,
really understand what you're doing as you come up.
Bring it close to your body,
now lean hard forward, elbows in.
Now push up, yeah.
Now come down in the negative.
Hold it, yeah.
So it'll be like the same movement that you use to go up,
you reverse it to come down.
Right, right.
So when you do this,
I noticed how you were pulling straight up,
try to do it like you're simulating
the L-sit pull back, right?
You're not really pulling straight up.
You're kinda like, doing like a,
exactly.
So let's see one of those, apply that.
So as you're sliding back,
as you're sliding back with your arms,
as you're coming this way, vroom,
you're gonna pull straight into your body.
Try one more like that.
So now sit a little more forward, there you go,
so you're under the bar, a little more forward.
Now try to do a C motion
instead of a straight upward motion.
Pull into the bar right into there, exactly.
One more.
All right. (hands clap)
I think this man is ready to try another muscle up.
Just relax man, this is all you man,
you got this, you got this.
Focus.
Just remember these steps man, you got this.
Boom.
Almost man, almost, you can do it.
Relax.
You have to envision yourself at the top.
Do you see yourself at the top?
- I do.
- You see yourself doing it, right?
So let's do this shit, come on.
You got this, brother.
All right, so, new little technique.
Seriously.
- Yeah, that'd be good.
- When you guys go down
and you're going to hit the magic button,
if you're still having trouble,
just come up with the knee instead of the foot,
and really come up and try to get that knee
to the top of the bar and just use this one move right here.
Coming down, bring the knee as you lean forward.
Just focusing on that.
Let's do one of those one more time
just so you can really understand.
It's gonna help you with the curve, too.
Bam! (hands clap)
Yeah, go as high as you can.
So now is the muscle up, all right?
Focus, only go when you're ready.
Perfect practice makes perfect.
There's no point in doing it if you're fatigued.
(dramatic techno music)
Boom, boom!
Lean, lean! (hands slap)
What am I telling you, man?
Exactly!
It's all about that lean.
And that was so clean!
(Jason chuckles)
And I didn't mean to rhyme that
but that was really exciting, amazing!
Jason, you rock dude, seriously.
So now you guys know why you can't muscle up, all right?
You need to lean of course, but no,
mainly you need to focus on your explosive pull ups
and you mainly need to focus on those negative muscle ups.
Those negative muscle ups is gonna make you feel
what it's like to do a muscle up
without actually going through it
'cause you're going through the negative motion.
So you're gonna be able to adapt to these moves.
Also the explosive pull ups
is really gonna get you up there.
It's really, really gonna get you up there
if you're having trouble being able to get the bar
a little bit higher.
And lastly, this last little tip,
you wanna be able, if you're still having trouble,
to come over here,
hit the button and instead of coming up with your foot
just try to come up with your knee
and focus on just bringing the knee to the bar,
just that one move right here.
Once you get focused on that go back to the technique,
come back down, and you should be coming up
real easy.
And of course to get the whole muscle up technique guide
all broken down for you completely,
get the ThenX app.
Find it on the App Store.
Click the link in the video description,
it's also right there.
And thank you guys so much for watching.
If this video helped you guys at all,
share it with your friends, like, comment,
and subscribe if you haven't already.
Thank you guys so much for watching.
Peace out.
We'll add this in, too.
Here we go.
Jason's gonna try one more just for fun.
You got this, bro.
Bam, (hands clap) boom, oh!
It's no longer a party trick, bro.
Now you gotta do this for reps, man!
- What really helped me was focusing
on getting the knees to the bar.
The ThenX app is great,
it helps you break down all the steps.
If you're not quite ready to start doing the muscle up,
what pre-requisites are there
so you can get strong enough and explosive enough
to start going through these progressions
to master your form.
It just felt incredibly good up there.
It's really like, it is an explosive move
but you're also riding this beautiful flow.
You get on top of the bar and it just feels incredible.
(techno music)