How many bar muscle-ups should you do in a session when you are new to the exercise?

Once you have one, train them as skill singles: 6 to 8 sets of 1 to 3 reps with a minute or two of rest, twice a week, always at the start of a session. Before you have one, spend those same slots on chest-to-bar pull-ups and slow negatives from the support position. High-rep sets belong to people who already own the movement.

How do I make the bar muscle-up easier or harder?

Easier: jump into the transition from a box, put a band under the feet, or work slow negatives from the top down through the transition, and build the halves separately with chest-to-bar pull-ups and straight-bar dips. Harder: do them strict from a dead hang with no kip, pause in the support before pressing out, wear a weight belt, or link reps without dropping off the bar.

What is the bar muscle-up good for, and who should skip it?

It is a benchmark of upper-body pulling power and a staple of CrossFit and calisthenics, and the training that gets you there builds a genuinely strong back and arms. It is a poor muscle-building exercise, since pull-ups and dips give far more total work, and a poor choice for anyone with unhappy shoulders or elbows, or without at least five strict chest-to-bar pull-ups. Keep it out of high-rep conditioning until it is reliable.

Advanced

Bar Muscle-Up

The muscle-up is really two exercises stitched together by a transition, a powerful pull that brings the bar to your lower chest, then a fast turnover into a triceps-driven dip above the bar. It rewards raw pulling power, timing, and the courage to commit through the sticking point where most people stall. Earn it only after you can rip several chest-to-bar pull-ups and control a clean straight-bar dip.

Equipment: Pull-Up Bar
Body part: Back, Lats
Type: Strength
Browse by muscle: Latissimus Dorsi
Browse by movement: Vertical Press, Vertical Pull

How to do it

1
Grip the bar slightly wider than shoulders with a false grip or firm overhand hold.
2
Initiate with a fast, powerful pull, driving your elbows down and back to bring the bar toward your lower chest.
3
At the peak of the pull, whip your chest over the bar and roll the wrists so your hands shift on top.
4
Catch the turnover in a support position with the bar at your lower chest and the elbows bent.
5
Press to a full lockout above the bar, then reverse the sequence under control to return to the hang.

Tips

Pull as high and hard as you can before the transition; a lazy pull leaves you stuck in front of the bar.
Lean your chest forward and around the bar rather than trying to muscle straight up through it.
Drill fast pull-ups and slow negatives first so the turnover has enough height and control to work.

Variations

Common mistakes

One elbow comes over the bar before the other, the chicken-wing, and the shoulder left behind takes a hard twist at the worst moment; commit both hands over together.
The wrists never roll on top of the bar, so the press-out starts with the hands still underneath and the rep dies in the transition; turn them as the chest passes the bar.
The head gets thrown back to drag the chest over, which arches the low back and hides the fact that the pull was too low to begin with.
The drop back to the hang is taken as a free fall with the arms snapping straight, which is where elbow and shoulder complaints start; lower through the transition on purpose.
Muscle-ups get written into a workout for twenty reps when three good ones exist, and the late turnover on a tired rep is the one that hurts.

Frequently asked

How many bar muscle-ups should you do in a session when you are new to the exercise?: Once you have one, train them as skill singles: 6 to 8 sets of 1 to 3 reps with a minute or two of rest, twice a week, always at the start of a session. Before you have one, spend those same slots on chest-to-bar pull-ups and slow negatives from the support position. High-rep sets belong to people who already own the movement.
How do I make the bar muscle-up easier or harder?: Easier: jump into the transition from a box, put a band under the feet, or work slow negatives from the top down through the transition, and build the halves separately with chest-to-bar pull-ups and straight-bar dips. Harder: do them strict from a dead hang with no kip, pause in the support before pressing out, wear a weight belt, or link reps without dropping off the bar.
What is the bar muscle-up good for, and who should skip it?: It is a benchmark of upper-body pulling power and a staple of CrossFit and calisthenics, and the training that gets you there builds a genuinely strong back and arms. It is a poor muscle-building exercise, since pull-ups and dips give far more total work, and a poor choice for anyone with unhappy shoulders or elbows, or without at least five strict chest-to-bar pull-ups. Keep it out of high-rep conditioning until it is reliable.

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