How to Do a Muscle Up or Die Trying?

If you are one of those people who are still trying to do their first muscle up, please join the club! I know for sure that there are a lot of people who are in good shape, but still cannot overcome this challenge.

Why does it matter anyway? Why is this exercise so damn important to so many people?

Maybe it is because it is so popular. It is almost a status symbol for people who are into street workout. But that is not my reason why.

Motivation

Why is a 41-year-old guy like me so hung up on this? Is it going to change my life for the better if I succeed? What possibly could I want to prove with it?

Here is the thing. Since I heard about calisthenics 6 years ago, muscle up was that challenge I knew I had to master. It was Love/Hate at first sight. I knew it was “the thing” I was looking for. As you can see, it was an intuitive decision, but nevertheless, the right one for me. And I still believe that.

Facts

These are the facts: I am 40 years old, 190 cm/90 kg(6.23 ft./199 lb.) with 12% body fat, in an overall good shape. On paper, it sounds good enough. I should be able to handle this exercise, right? Then again, there is more to muscle up than meets the eye.

They say that 3 things are needed to do a muscle up: 1. Strength — 10 proper pull ups 2. Technique 3. Explosiveness.

So, I fulfill the first condition: 10 proper pull ups — check! The third condition is also covered because I can do at least a few pull ups pretty explosively. The problem presents itself with the second condition, namely the technique.

The reason why muscle up is hard to do is because you actually have two exercises in it. One of them is a pull up and the other one is a dip done on a single bar. Between them you have to change the grip (at least up to a point), so you can do the dip. That is the part that makes a lot of problems for me. I can do a pull up with explosiveness and proper dip on a single bar. But doing that all together, with a change of grip, is still a challenge for me.

There is also one thing that is a disadvantage. It is harder for taller guys to do muscle ups, front levers and other advanced calisthenic exercises. Taller people (usually) have got longer legs and more weight so you need more strength to pull it off.

That is a fact. But that also sounds like an excuse. Yet that excuse will not discourage me and neither should you. It just means that in this case you have to work harder to reach the goal.

Well, boo-hoo! The world is unfair! How awful!! As if you did not know that already :)

But as some of you may have heard, it is not about the hand you have been dealt: it is about how you play your hand.

Bottom line

When I finally do my first muscle up, what will that mean to me? It will be a huge boost for my confidence, although I do not lack it. It will be a huge boost of motivation for other challenges in life. This physical challenge itself is important to me because it used to look sooo far away. And now it is so close, almost within my reach. With that accomplishment under my belt, I will have another proof that anything is possible.

You see, there are almost no boundaries to what you can do, if you put your mind to it. But we need these confirmations in life, even if we are confident enough. Sometimes you just get tired and lose your momentum. That is exactly when you need that boost from the outside world, to get you on the track of fulfilling your dreams and reaching your goals. So, be brave, persistent and Carpe diem!