- What's up, it's Chris Heria, welcome to another vlog.
If you still can't yet muscle up,
then this video is definitely for you.
I'm gonna be giving you the game plan
and the formula to finally unlock your muscle up this year.
And for those of you that can already muscle up,
using what I'm gonna teach you today is gonna give you
a stronger muscle up and even increase your repetitions.
Now first off, the muscle up is an intermediate
level exercise but in calisthenics, it's a fundamental
exercise that leads to many more advanced
and harder exercises,
like the muscle up 360, muscle up jump on the bar,
muscle up jump over the bar, stuff like that.
I've also made videos on how to do those exercises as well.
You can check those out.
But the muscle up is a complex strength
and skill-based exercise unlike other exercises
like the push up or the pull up.
As a muscle up requires, integrated muscle groups
to work together, with muscles of both your
posterior and interior muscle training
to engage with specific timing for every rep.
Now many people still can't muscle up
after attempting it for years,
even after they've developed the proper strength
in their lats, biceps, chest, and triceps
from doing tons of pull ups and dips.
And the reason is most likely due to not developing
the specific muscular chains and movements
required for the muscle up.
When you see a muscle up, it appears to be a combination
of a pull up followed by a straight bar dip.
And although these two exercises will help develop
the strength required for your first muscle up,
there's a lot of unseen components involved
to achieving your first one, or even strengthening
your muscle to a level where you're not using
any momentum, just pulling yourself straight up.
So when it comes to breaking down the muscle up,
there's four main components: that's gonna be your
pulling strength, your pushing strength,
your grip strength, and your core strength.
If you have strong pulling strength,
of course the beginning of the muscle up
is gonna be easy.
If you have strong pushing strength,
of course the top of the muscle up is gonna be easy.
And if you have a strong core and a strong grip,
then that's gonna help everything else feel
that much more effortless throughout
the entire duration of the repetition.
You're not gonna be stressing to hold on
while you're doing the muscle up,
or even have to lose energy if you have a good grip.
Having a strong core is gonna solidify your muscle chain
and make sure that you're using the right movement path.
Making every movement feel solid from the bottom to top.
So let's go ahead an start with the game plan
on how you're gonna start training to achieve
your first muscle up.
Now your first goal should be building your strength up
to be able to pass the requirements to start
training for the muscle up.
And the bare minimum requirements that you should be
able to pass to do at least 20 pull ups
with perfect form, 20 straight bar dips
with perfect form, a 20 second L-sit hold with perfect form,
and 10 toes to bars.
If you can complete that, you're ready to go.
And if you can't yet pass those requirements,
don't worry, I'm gonna give you the workout routine
today that's gonna build your strength to be able
to do way more than that and prep you
to be able to do a muscle up in the shortest
amount of time by using exercises that simulate
the muscle up movement path, muscle groups,
and techniques used to execute a perfect muscle up.
If you're training like that, you'll definitely
be able to apply it when it's time to use it
for your muscle up.
So if you're ready to get started, all you're gonna
need to do is make sure to download the Heria Pro app
in the app store or Google Playstore,
open up to the YouTube workout section,
you're gonna be able to find this routine
and you're ready to get started.
Now for this workout routine, I divided each
of the muscle up components into its own round.
We're gonna be starting off with pulling
and the first exercise is gonna be weighted pull-ups.
I'm gonna be using the Heria weight vest,
you can pick one up at chrisheria.com.
If you don't have a weight vest, you can always
use a weight belt with some weights,
or even grab a book bag, put some books in it,
fill it up with weight.
So the very first exercise we wanna get into
is gonna be weighted pull ups.
So let's get right into our pull ups,
we're gonna go for six reps.
Weighted pull ups significantly increases
your pulling strength as well as the strength
in your muscle up.
Once you take off the added weight,
you're gonna be able to pull up a lot higher
and it's gonna be a lot easier because you're
a lot stronger at pulling.
All right, so there we have weighted pull ups.
Let's go ahead and pull off our weight.
The next exercise we're gonna get into is
gonna be explosive pull-ups.
So we're gonna be going for 10 repetitions,
we're gonna explode on your pull-up,
you can either let go of the bar,
or just pull as hard as you can.
Let's go for it.
Explosive pull-ups are very effective
and they work similar to the weighted pull-ups.
You're gonna need this explosive strength
to get to the top of the muscle up,
and doing explosive pull-ups frequently
is gonna get you to pull higher easier,
increasing your explosive strength
and make the average pull-up feel a lot easier as well.
All right, so there we have explosive pull-ups,
I did a combination of both just pulling really hard,
and exploding off the bar as well.
When it comes to the muscle up,
you really only need to pull as high as your chest line.
From here you can just transfer over
and your pulling will start to become a pushing.
Now we're gonna be moving onto a different type
of pulling angle.
This angle you're definitely gonna need for the muscle up.
That's gonna be Australian pull-ups.
Now when we're doing Australian pull-ups,
instead of pulling from the top down,
we're gonna be pulling from in front of us
straight to our chest.
And when you're doing Australian pull-ups
using a very similar position and trying to keep the bar
as close to your chest as possible
at the top of every repetition,
and that's why this is super effective
for building your muscle up.
So let's go ahead and go for 15 repetitions.
You wanna make sure that you got your chest line,
come down, all the way to your chest, back down.
When you come up to your chest,
you wanna keep it really close and tight to your chest.
That's really what's needed for the muscle up.
All the way to your chest.
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All right, there we have the Australian pull-ups.
Now we're moving on to the last pulling exercise,
negative muscle-ups, 10 repetitions.
You wanna start all the way at the top of a muscle-up,
you're gonna come all the way down, nice and controlled,
so your chest is to the bar.
And you're gonna keep your chest tight to the bar
as you transition you'll lean back,
put your head back,
the pushing will turn into a pulling
and you control all the way down.
So that's the most important part of the negative
muscle up.
Once you get all the way down, you wanna hold tight,
hold the bar close to your body,
and transfer from a pushing to a pulling,
nice and controlled.
10 repetitions, so I did one,
we got nine more to go.
And like I always say, doing the negative movement
of an exercise that you can't yet perform
is always gonna eventually give you that exercise.
And you're also getting used to the overload
and building the strength for it before you can even do it.
And by the time you've developed the strength
to control the negative movement,
you're definitely gonna be able to do the
concentric portion of the exercise.
(upbeat music)
All right, last one.
All right, there we have the negative muscle ups,
and that's gonna be the last exercise for pulling.
You wanna repeat this round at least three times,
four times if you're more advanced.
And once you finish pulling, we're ready to start round two,
emphasizing on our pushing.
The first exercise is gonna be weighted
for the same reasons that we did weighted pull ups.
We're gonna be doing weighted straight bar dips.
So you wanna come to a flat bar like this,
and straight bar dips is the main pushing movement
in a muscle-up.
So if you have a really strong straight bar dip,
then that portion of the muscle up
really is gonna be effortless.
So we wanna put on the weight and get really strong
at our straight bar dips.
Let's do at least 12.
(upbeat music)
All right so there we have some weighted straight bar dips.
Let's go ahead and take off the weight.
The next exercise we're gonna get into is
gonna be explosive straight bar dips
for the same reason we were doing explosive pull ups.
Now remember when doing the explosive straight bar dips,
you can either push off and let it go,
or just push as hard as you can, still holding on.
You should try both, mix it up.
Let's go for 15 reps.
If it's your first time, definitely don't open your hands.
Just push as hard as you can.
(upbeat music)
All right, there we have some explosive straight bar dips.
Now we're ready for our last pushing exercise,
that's gonna be jumping muscle ups
and I'm gonna need an elevated surface for assistance.
So you wanna get something that you can stand on,
go to a pull up bar and jump.
So you wanna use your legs, use your arms at the same time.
Lean over the bar, push, come back down.
This is gonna get you used to going into
a muscle up position, get you over the fear
of being over the bar, and of course get you
better and stronger at the transition of the muscle up.
You're gonna notice as you jump into your muscle up,
you're gonna turn from pulling,
keep the bar close to your chest,
turning into a pushing as you lean over the bar.
Now when you first start this, you may do it
with a lot of jump, using a lot of legs.
But eventually you're gonna get stronger,
you're gonna be able to use less legs,
more pulling strength.
Core tight, legs straight, perfect form.
Let's go for 10 reps.
(upbeat music)
All right, there we have jumping muscle ups.
Now before moving on, wanna make sure to be able
to do this round at least three times,
four times if you're more advanced.
And once you're done and ready to move on to round three,
emphasizing on your core.
The first exercise I'm gonna use
is gonna be toes to bar.
Toes to bar is gonna give you more than enough
hanging core strength to be able to do a muscle up.
In fact, mastering your toes to bar
will actually be able to give you way more repetitions
in your muscle up.
As I said you need a lot of core strength
to solidify the muscle up movement,
but also when you're first starting to learn
the muscle up, you are gonna use some movement
in your legs as well as strengthening your core
to get you above the bar.
But of course you're gonna start getting into that
once you've built the strength and mastered
this workout routine.
So let's get right into 10 toes to bars.
Remember you wanna keep your body as tight as possible.
Grip tight, feet tight together.
Wanna try to eliminate any swing.
The harder you squeeze with your core and your grip,
the less swing you're gonna have.
All right, there were have toes to bar.
Now we're ready to move on: hanging L-sit hold.
We're gonna try to hold it for 20 seconds
as it is one of the requirements to be able to
start learning the muscle up.
Now when you're first starting to learn the muscle up
and you start using a bit of a kip,
a bit of leg movement, you are gonna find yourself
in a solid L-sit position as you're pulling up
to get to the top of the muscle up.
So having a solid hanging L-sit hold
is gonna make this whole entire movement
tremendously effortless and a whole lot easier.
So let's go for a 20 second hold.
Remember tight grip about shoulder width apart,
bring your feet up, point, squeeze.
Three, two, one.
All right, there we have a 20 second hanging L-sit hold.
Now you wanna be able to do this round
but at least three times, four times if you're advanced
before moving onto the last and final round.
We're gonna be emphasizing on strengthening our grip
which is the last component for the muscle up.
The first exercise we're gonna use is gonna be
scapula shrugs.
Now scapula shrugs are super effective,
not only for increasing your muscle up repetitions
and strength, but also your pull up game.
So that's why we're gonna be training the scapula shrugs.
We wanna grab the bar, nice grip, body completely straight
and tight in this relaxed depressed position
with your shoulders.
You're gonna go ahead and squeeze your shoulder blades back
and try to bring your body up without pulling your arms.
Squeeze your core and come right back down
to a completely dead hang position.
Then you squeeze your shoulder blades back,
shoulders back as high as you can, come back down.
The scapula shrug is the first main gear to the pull up.
This is the first movement that you make
when you initiate a pull up.
Strengthening your scapula shrugs
is not only gonna increase your pull up repetitions,
but it's also gonna increase the efficiency
in which you do them, making your pull up game
so much stronger.
pulling harder, pulling higher, pulling more explosively,
and increasing your repetitions.
There we have the scapula shrugs and this movement
is a huge game changer if you haven't started
doing so already.
Now we're ready for the last and final exercise.
That's going to be just hanging on the bar.
If you can significantly hang on the bar for a time
effortlessly, that's one less thing
that you have to worry about when doing muscle ups.
You're not gonna be stressing about your grip,
and you're not gonna be struggling to hold on,
which is one of the main difficulties
when it comes to executing a muscle up.
So just hanging on the bar is gonna tremendously
increase the strength and performance in your muscle up
but also your pull up game and all other exercises
that involve grip strength.
You're gonna see, once you start training,
hanging on the bar, and grab on,
eventually you're never gonna let go.
So when we're hanging on the bar,
we wanna make sure to have a really good grip on the bar.
It really helps if you have an over grip.
Now squeeze as hard and as tight as you can
like you're trying to get water out of the bar.
We're gonna squeeze our core,
have our feet tight tight tight together,
point our toes, squeeze our hands.
Whole body's gonna be tight.
You're gonna relax here and breathe.
(upbeat music)
Now eventually, once you continue to train this
and get more advanced, you can eventually
do it with one arm.
Train each arm individually.
You can even train the scapula shrugs on each arm
individually and this is definitely gonna help
your pulling strength.
This is actually what I use also to perfect
one arm pull ups, stuff like that.
So that's the last exercise; there you have it.
That's the whole game plan and the formula
with the workout to master the muscle up.
If you can't yet do some of these exercises,
for example, the pull ups, you can always do
one of the progressions, a jumping pull up,
jumping negative pull up.
And the same goes for all the other exercises.
It won't be long until you build your strength up
to be able to do every single movement.
Now your first goal for the game plan
would be to build your strength up
using this workout until you can complete the requirements.
Now once you've developed the strength
to complete the requirements,
then you want to continue to do the requirements
at least three times a week until you can do them with ease.
Once you get to that point, you're ready to start
attempting the muscle up for the very first time.
Now to do so, you wanna know exactly what to train.
So I highly advise you watch my video
How to muscle up the best way.
I take you through the steps step by step.
Exactly what to do to execute the muscle up,
but you don't wanna start trying to do that
until you develop the proper foundation and strength
using this workout routine.
You're gonna see once you develop the proper foundation,
you're gonna be able to do a muscle up
right after watching that video,
how to muscle up the best way.
So use this video to build your strength
and foundation for the muscle up
and use the video How to muscle up the best way
to learn the muscle up step by step
and finally execute it.
So thanks so much for watching and everyone else
that has learned how to do a muscle up
off of watching any one of my videos,
I want you to leave it down in the comment section below
and let the viewers that are watching this
for the first time know that this actually works.
And if you try and train this workout routine,
and watch my previous video and learn how to muscle up,
come back to the video, comment down below,
let us know what your experience was like
and what helped you out the most.
And with that said, if you enjoyed the video
definitely smash that like button,
leave a comment down below,
let me know what you want the next video to be about,
what you're working on, what you wanna achieve next
in this year, and share this video with a friend
that's still trying to muscle up
and that finally needs to unlock their muscle up this year.
And if you haven't already, make sure you subscribe
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I post every single Thursday 2:00pm USA Eastern time,
and if you comment within the first 30 minutes,
you always have a chance to win some free Heria apparel.
In fact, the winner for this episode is gonna get
a piece from the brand new Heria collection
dropping at ChrisHeria.com today.
You can go ahead to ChrisHeria.com right now
and shop your favorite pieces before we're all sold out.
A lot of the pieces in the collection
you've seen from previous videos
like the white track pants, camo windbreakers,
workout shorts, and even the pants
that I'm wearing right now.
Make sure to go to chrisheria.com
and get your favorite pieces before we're all sold out.
And with that said, I'll see you next Thursday
2:00 pm USA Eastern time.
Mad love, peace out.
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