Why You Can’t Muscle-Up – 7 Common Mistakes
-Even with a sufficient strength-to-weight ratio, you can still struggle to muscle-up if you don’t have the technique nailed on the head. It tends to be slight tweaks individuals need to make to perfect their form.
There are repetitive inaccuracies beginners make when learning muscle-ups that they are unaware of. These are:
- Your Hips Don’t Thrust In An L-Motion During A Muscle-Up.
- Not Fully Committing To The Muscle-Up.
- Overcommitting To The Muscle-Up.
- Using A Death Grip Prevents Muscle-Ups.
- Linking Muscle-Ups Incorrectly.
- Beginners Train On A Thick Bar.
- Wearing Heavy Clothing During Muscle-Ups.
The Main Reason You Can’t Muscle-Up
The typical error is individuals beginning their muscle-up stationary. Without any kipping or hip popping, athletes result in a chicken wing muscle-up. This is because minimizing the kipping also minimizes your balance, so athletes struggle to synchronize the elbow lift above the bar.
You must first begin kipping (swinging) when you’re hanging. To get momentum to start the swing, your hips should repetitively thrust out into a hollow body position and return to its original position. It’s essential to get the initial part right, as when used correctly, a hip thrust projects your body in the direction of the swing, giving enough force to get over the bar.
Once you have enough momentum, you should start naturally kip in an L-motion – your hips naturally sway out and up. Doing this allows you to swing yourself up rather than pull yourself up (which requires more arm and upper body strength.)
Incorrectly beginning the muscle-up without a hollow body position – preventing your hip thrusting
The correct initial position. Allowing you to kip into the muscle-up.
Why You Can’t Get Over The Bar For A Muscle-Up
Because muscle-ups are explosive, you must rapidly contract your upper body muscles and swing forward. So, when you half-heartedly try, there isn’t enough momentum to sling you on top of the bar. Individuals won’t use their complete ability when they are:
- Fearful.
- Exhausted.
- Demotivated or Distracted.
To avoid this, it’s best to begin training with a friend or family member who knows you well. They can make you aware when you show signs of the above. However, if this isn’t possible, changing your approach is imperative. Below are some tips:
Scared
If you recognize you’re fear, understand it’s one of the safest exercises you can practice. This is because you remain in control throughout the motion as long as your hands grip the bar. Alternatively, you can place a soft-landing mat on the floor for reassurance.
Exhaustion
Only practice at the beginning or halfway through a workout so your muscles are still fresh.
Demotivated or Distracted
The most important factor is your mindset. You must want it bad and have laser focus during practice. If you are getting demotivated or distracted, the chances are that you don’t want to muscle-up badly enough.
A fully committed muscle-up looks like the following:
Why Your Chest Touches The Bar During A Muscle-Up
Conversely, overcommitting muscle-ups results in your chest being pushed against the bar. This happens when individuals time the motion incorrectly.
A large part of perfecting the technique is timing. Once you have enough kip, you will contract your upper body, raise your knees and begin to project yourself up. Doing this too early in the swing directs the momentum in the wrong way, which is why your chest gets flung onto the bar.
To correct this, you should only project yourself up when you’re furthest away from the bar (the backward swing is peaked.) This encourages you to go out and up rather than straight into the bar.
It’s irrational to give you the exact time you should project yourself forward – we don’t even know ourselves! Instead, finding the very moment to lift yourself relies on practice and muscle memory.
Projecting yourself too early, throwing your chest into the bar.
Timing the hip thrust correctly so you have enough space between your chest and the bar.
Why You Can’t Lift Up During A Muscle-Up
A death grip is when you squeeze the bar like your life depends on it! Death gripping during a muscle-up prevents you from rotating your arm around a bar – a necessary step during a muscle-up.
Looking at any clip of a muscle-up, the palms grip the bar differently at the start and end of the video. They should begin facing the same direction as your eyes and slowly transition toward the ground. Death grips stop you from being able to glide your palms as such.
They should rotate while you bend your knees and hip thrust towards the bar. When holding the bar loose, you won’t even have to pay attention to the rotation as it happens naturally.
Death grips prevent you from being able to slide along the bar, making your upper body rigid when it comes to the dip part of the exercise. This can cause a chicken wing muscle-up or, worse, a wrist injury if you put too much weight on it.
The starting position of the palms.
The ending position of the palms.
Why You Can’t Link Muscle-Ups
Linking muscle-ups is when you attempt one straight after another. Linked muscle-ups start on top of the bar rather than dead hanging. Thus, it’s important to bring yourself down correctly, so you can use the momentum to perform one more.
The common error is individuals letting their weight lower them rather than their upper body muscles. This results in an uncontrolled kip and their feet being flung all over the place, so they are off balance! Therefore they find it much harder to thrust themselves back up to repeat the muscle-up.
You can recognize this when their shoulders lead the motion rather than their triceps.
To correct this, you want to slowly bend your elbows to a 90-degree angle (a reverse dip) and lightly push away from the bar to lower yourself down. This keeps you in control and prevents your feet from bending so high that you can’t hip thrust.
Not lifting yourself down with your triceps. If I was to release arm tension, my legs would swing forward and lose balance.
Controlling the downward motion so I have enough balance and momentum to pull myself back up.
External Considerations Why You Struggle To Muscle-Up
We have looked at inconsistencies in your technique; however, if it’s perfect, there are a couple of other factors as to why you may still struggle to muscle-up. These include:
Beginners Train On A Thick Bar
A thicker bar compromises an inexperienced athlete’s hand grip. If their hand can’t wrap around the whole bar, they may position their palms too high or low. Having your palm in the incorrect position makes transitioning from the pull-up to the bar-dips position more difficult.
The ideal position is to have your palms face the same direction as your eyes. This gives you more stability and lets your palm slide around the bar when bringing your elbows above it.
In addition, many beginners aren’t aware that a thicker bar is far more challenging to muscle-up on than a thinner one is. This is because it requires more grip strength to stabilize your body weight, making the initial kipping of the muscle-up difficult.
The two solutions are:
- Using a thinner bar that your wrists can wrap around to master the technique.
- Strengthen your forearm to hold your body weight and position your palms correctly.
Once you have perfected the muscle-up form, try on a thicker bar to see how it differs.
| Diameter | Muscle-Up Condition |
|---|---|
| 0″-1.25″ | Too small – making the muscle-up uncomfortable. |
| 1.25″ | Perfect size for a muscle-up. |
| 1.25″+ | Too large- leading to a compromised grip and greater forearm fatigue. |
Wearing Heavy Clothing During Muscle-Ups
When practicing muscle-ups, you want to be as light as possible. This enables you to focus on the technique – rather than struggling for strength. You want to be wearing:
- Shorts or thin joggers.
- Tight-fitted t-shirts or vests.
- Breathable and light shoes.
However, what you don’t want to be wearing:
- Chunky shoes.
- Baggy, heavy hoodies.
- Backpacks are similar accessories.
Some beginners aren’t dressed appropriately to muscle-up as the clothes they choose don’t provide complete mobility and are so heavy it weakens their projection over the bar.
Once again, when you have mastered the muscle-up, it’s sensible to begin layering up if you want.
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