In the bar muscle-up, the paradigm shift we want to start with is that we are pushing, not pulling.

It is very common for us to want to pull. To at the completion of our kip swing, bend the elbows and use the biceps and forearms to get ourselves over the bar. On the bar muscle-up however, it’s almost the opposite – at least in our minds as we approach the bar. We want to think about pushing the bar towards the ground. Push the bar down.

If you’ve ever found yourself jammed up into the bar, it’s because we pulled. Whether it be too much, too early, or a combination, it’s almost always because we are pulling ourselves into the bar. With rings, we can come through, but on the bar, it’s a fixed object that will end the repetition.

If we dial in the kip swing, maximizing the long, whip like effect our bodies can create through optimizing motions, and push to the finish, we can move closer to efficient bar muscle-ups. The follow drills below first approach the kip swing, focusing on a long body and matching certain positions in the kip. The third and final is a jumping bar muscle-up, where we have the chance to train the push, versus the pull, of the bar muscle-up.

For a visual for the full bar Bar MU

Drill #1 – Jump to Hollow

Drill #2 – Box Swing

Drill #3 – Jump to Bar MU

With each athlete naturally being different, we are all at separate stages of training our bar muscle-up. Spend at most 5 minutes at each today, ability dependent, as you see fit. Identifying our weakest point in the movement will allow us to use one of these drills in the following section, if we do not yet have full bar muscle-ups.