- What's up, guys.
It's Chris Heria.
Welcome to another vlog.
Today, I'm gonna be answering one of
my most asked questions.
How many pull ups do I need to be able to muscle up?
Now, the simple answer is there is no exact number,
but the more pull ups you're able to do
the easier obtaining the muscle up will be.
The muscle up is a skill-based, compound exercise
that involves both pulling and pushing.
And because this is a skill-based exercise,
both strength and technique are required
in order to perform this movement perfectly.
Which means being very comfortable with pull ups
will make it that much easier,
especially when you're first learning the muscle up.
As you will be able to attempt
and train the muscle up more times before tiring out
from the pull up portion of the exercise.
As for how many pull ups are needed
to be able to do a muscle up,
I generally require from an individual
before progressing onto muscles ups 15 pull ups.
Though the 15 pull ups that I consider
may be different from what others do.
There's people that can do 10 pull ups
and be able to muscle up,
and there's people that can do 20 pull ups
and still can't do a single muscle up.
Don't just aim for a number of reps,
but strive for controlled quality reps.
By raising the standard of each rep
where you pull with your elbows in
instead of your elbows out,
and pulling to your chest versus pulling to your chin.
You'll be doing pull ups that directly
transfer to mastering the muscle up.
Remember, practice doesn't always make perfect.
Only perfect practice makes perfect.
Which means that you can practice something
over and over wrong for years,
and you're never gonna get it.
But once you start practicing the right way perfectly,
you're gonna immediately start seeing results.
And that's why you wanna focus on
the quality of your reps versus the amount.
That number isn't gonna give you the muscle up,
your explosiveness and the technique
is what gives you the muscle up.
So, today I'm gonna show you six exercises
that will have you master the strength and technique
required to be able to do a muscle up.
Master these six exercises and you'll master the muscle up,
and you won't have to worry about
how many pull ups you need to do.
So, with that said,
find a pull up bar and let's get right into it.
And to get this routine on your phone
to be able to follow along with me,
make sure you downloaded the Heria Pro App
in the App Store or Google Play Store.
Open up to the YouTube workout section,
find this routine, let's get started.
The first exercise I have for you guys is weighted pull ups.
We're gonna be going for seven reps
and I want you to choose an amount of weight
that's gonna have you struggle to reach your seventh rep.
Now, as I said before,
the number of reps in these exercises aren't most important.
It's just a goal to reach that's gonna
have you master the muscle up,
and specifically master this and each of these exercises.
And so, you're gonna have you achieve your muscle up.
So, if doing the required reps of any
of these exercises are too hard,
you can even focus on just one rep
and mastering that movement perfectly.
Try to do one perfectly every minute on the minute
if you're just getting started.
So, with that said,
let's get into the first exercise for seven reps.
Weighted pull ups.
(upbeat music)
All right, so there we have weighted pull ups.
And the reason why I have you guys doing these
is purely for pulling strength.
By getting your body used to pulling a heavier overload,
when you take this off
you're gonna be flying and super explosive on the bar.
And if you're doing this frequently
and really master your weighted pull ups,
you should be able to pull up way past your chest
and that's why this is the first exercise to focus on.
This is gonna make everything else easier.
If you can do this,
you can do all the exercises I'm about to show you.
Now, the next exercise is gonna be
close grip pull ups seven times.
(upbeat music)
All right, so there we have the close grip pull ups.
Now, the reason why I have you doing close grip pull ups
is because when you're doing close grip pull ups,
you have your elbows in while you're pulling.
And that's the actually movement path
when you're doing a muscle up,
and it also requires your body to be more compact
and utilize more muscles.
Pulling straight to your chest,
which is needed to be able to do a muscle up
versus pulling straight down.
So, if you master this movement,
you'll have the muscle memory of pulling your elbows in
when you go to do a pull up or a muscle up
versus having your elbows flared out.
Also, practicing different grips while doing pull ups
is gonna increase your overall pulling strength.
So, incorporating different grips will also
make you more efficient at pulling as well.
Now, moving on to the next exercise,
we have chin-ups.
I want you to go for 10 reps as clean as possible.
Let's go for it.
Tight, tight grip.
Bring your scapulas back,
we're gonna pull straight to our chest.
(upbeat music)
All right, so there we have the chin-ups.
And if you notice while we were doing chin-ups,
we're pulling again with our elbows in.
Again, the same motion that we need
for mastering the muscle up,
but this time we have a supinated grip.
Which is gonna focus building our strength
on our biceps and our lats,
which are needed to be able to do a muscle up as well.
And as I said before,
the different grips that you use and master,
the easier it is gonna be to pull.
Now, the next exercise I have for you
is gonna be L-sit pull ups.
We're going for five reps as perfect as you can.
(upbeat music)
All right, so there we have L-sit pull ups.
It's something you need to be able to master the muscle up,
that's being able to activate the core while pulling
and while having full control of your lower body.
And doing so will also fix your posture
while you're doing a pull up,
forcing you to use more back engagement.
But that will also improve your pull ups
and how high you pull up over time.
Now, is an exercise that takes a lot of strength and skill.
So, if you need to,
try just doing one every minute on the minute.
Eventually, you'll increase your repetitions.
If you're having trouble with the L-sit pull up,
you can always start off doing tuck L-sit pull ups.
And one of the best progressions that worked for me
was starting off on a low bar,
sitting down on the floor in an L-sit position,
and being as explosive as I can.
And trying to maintain the L-sit position
as I pulled up and off the ground.
Now, moving on to the next exercise I have for you guys
that's gonna be explosive pull ups.
We're gonna go for seven reps.
Let's try to pull up as high as you can,
and try to be as explosive as possible
while remaining in perfect form within the rest of your body
and maintaining full engagement.
Let's go for it.
(upbeat music)
All right, there we have the explosive pull ups.
Now, when you're doing a muscle up
you don't just pull and come all the way up
on your first time with ease.
The muscle up is an explosive exercise
unlike the traditional pull up.
When doing a muscle up,
to initiate the movement properly,
you have to utilize explosive pulling.
That's what allows you to reach higher up the bar
and that's why we need to train it.
So, at the beginning,
if you're just getting started with this exercise,
you may not even be able to explode off the bar.
But as long as you're being as explosive as possible,
you're gonna start to build on that strength
and eventually you're gonna be able to see yourself
starting to pop off that bar a lot more effortlessly.
Now, we're gonna move on to the last exercise
I have for you guys.
That's gonna be high pull ups.
We're gonna go for five high pull ups
to really focus on our power and our technique.
The goal of this exercise is to try to bring the bar
as close to your waistline as possible.
Let's go for it.
(upbeat music)
All right, there we have the last exercise.
High pull ups.
Now, doing a combination of all the previous exercises
I just showed you will improve this exercise.
The weighted pull ups are gonna help you pull a lot higher
as well as the explosive pull ups.
And the other exercises are gonna help you
to be more efficient at pulling,
which is gonna help you pull higher as well.
So, as you start to build more strength and technique,
one of your goals should try to be
to pull as high as you can.
And that's gonna translate directly
into achieving a muscle up.
If you can pull up, up to your chest,
you can already do a muscle up.
But if you can pull past your chest,
there is not doubt you'll be doing them
with multiple reps with ease.
And if you're still having trouble with the high pull ups,
you can always try this movement with a resistance band.
Eventually, you'll be able to work your way down
to thinner bands with less resistance.
And soon, you'll be doing it without any bands at all.
And as I said before,
all the other techniques that you acquire
from doing the previous exercises
helps me to be able to pull higher,
like the L-sit pull up.
When I started doing that from the floor,
that's when I first started trying to pull up
all the way to my waistline
and I feel like that's what helped me the most.
Once you can pull the bar past your chest,
all you really need to do is just lean forward
and do a straight bar dip,
and that's a muscle up right there.
So, there you have it.
There's no exact number that's gonna give you a muscle up,
but these six exercises are gonna give you a foundation
and build your strength required
to be able to do a muscle up.
So, if you're able to follow along with this workout,
that's amazing.
You wanna be able to do a total of three to four rounds
for this to be most effective.
And remember, to get this workout on your phone
as well as full access to all my workout programs
that I've created with specific goals in mind
like burning fat and simultaneous building solid muscle
with minimal to no equipment,
then make sure to download my Heria Pro App
in the App Store or Google Play Store
to have me as a personal trainer in your pocket
and start getting in the best shape of our life.
And if you enjoyed the video,
then definitely smash that like button.
Leave a comment down below.
Let me know what you want the next video to be about.
Share this video with a friend that's still
struggling with their muscle up.
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So, if you'd like to attend one of my workouts in your city,
send us an email to support@chrisheria.com.
And with that said,
I'll see you guys next Thursday, 2 p.m. USA Eastern Time.
Mad love, peace out.
(upbeat music)