Can you perform a muscle up?  If not, it is probably due to a strength deficit.  Sure, there are one or two of you who have the requisite strength but are still lacking the fundamental technique to effectively transition from under to over the rings but for most of you, the issue is strength.

When we talk about strength days, most people think about weightlifting.  But whereas barbells, dumbbells and other lifting implements have loads that can be adjusted to match the user’s strength levels, gymnastics movements require you to move your entire body weight.  That’s one of the reasons why gymnastics movements are so challenging and are consequently one of the best ways of developing exceptional strength.

That’s why today we will be approaching benchmark workout Zoe, 30 muscle ups for time, as a strength development day.  Okay, I hear a few of you groaning.  Maybe you are firmly fixed on the self limiting belief that you will never be able to perform a muscle up (not with that attitude, you won’t;).  So what if you never do?  What if in the process of working toward and failing to master the muscle up you happened to master pull ups and ring dips along the way?  That wouldn’t be such a bad outcome now, would it?

Well, those are exactly the strength skills we will be working on today: upper body pulling and upper body pushing.  We are going to set you up with a 30 minute timer and invite you to tackle today’s WOD as an EMOM.  For example, if you have muscle ups, try to perform one rep every minute on the minute.  If you don’t make it, we will time cap you at 30 minutes and record how many reps you successfully completed.  If you can perform more than one per minute, be my guest but please do not continue past 30 reps.  Once you reach 30 Rx’d muscle ups, we will move you onto our special finisher.

For everybody else, who is still working toward the Rx’d muscle up we will offer up strength development options suited to your level of athletic development to make sure you are progressing your upper body pulling and pushing strength.

If you already possess strong pull ups and ring dips (10-15 consecutive), you may consider using a muscle up progression.  Here they are in order of increasing difficulty:

1. 4 stage muscle up with feet on floor
2. Jumping muscle up (make sure not to skip the transition)
3. Muscle ups seated in the band

If you are still working on your pull ups and ring dips, here are some options in order of increasing difficulty:

Pull Ups
1. Alt Kettlebell Gorilla Row
2. Ring Row
3. Banded Pull Up
4. Pull Up
5. Chest-to-Bar Pull Up

Ring Dips
1. Heavy Dumbbell Floor Press
2. Knee Push Up
3. Push Up
4. Ring Push Up
5. Band-Assisted Ring Dip  
6. Ring Dip 

If this is the game you are playing, you will want to perform an upper body pulling movement plus an upper body pushing movement every minute on the minute.  For example, 1 pull up + 1 ring dip.

A note on loading:
If you are using dumbbells or kettlebells to substitute for bodyweight exercises, you will do reps x loads equal to your bodyweight.  For example, if you are doing dumbbell floor press with 25lb dumbbells (total 50lbs) and your bodyweight is 200lbs, you will need to perform 4 reps (4x50=200) every minute on the minute.

Monday

Warm Up
Part 1 (1 min/station):
A. Banded Shoulder Pass Throughs
B. High Ring Support
C. Hammer Halos CW/CCW
D. Low Ring Support (with feet on floor if required)

Part 2:
4-Step Ring Muscle Up
1. False Grip Full Extension
2. Pull Rings to Chest
3. Over Rings
4. Ring Support

WOD
Option #1
Strength Development Day
30 min EMOM
MU Progression or Pull Up+Ring Dip Progression

Option #2
Rx’d Zoe
30 Muscle Ups for time

Finisher
Rest 5 mins post WOD, then:
Barbell OHS EMOM
5 reps/min