which reps are good muscle ups crossfit judges course

by Beverly Renner 9 min read

How often should you do muscle ups?

A general recommendation is to expose your athletes to the movement in at least two workouts per month alongside another one to three exposures during skill work in the warm-up, cool-down, or skill practice portions of the class.

How to improve muscle strength?

Goal: Practice muscle-ups within the workout. Focus on maintaining sound mechanics while working a higher level of intensity. In the workout brief, discuss rest and repetition strategies to reduce fatigue and the chance of failure.

What is an athlete who can focus on intensity?

Athletes who can focus on intensity are those who are consistent and comfortable approaching workouts including muscle-ups. The trainer is no longer providing modifications but instead offering strategies to get the athlete through the workout quickly and effectively.

Phil Hesketh

A big moment for anyone who does CrossFit is achieving your first muscle up. But what happens then? How do you increase your efficiency and work capacity when it comes to muscle ups?

Muscle Ups Take Serious Strength

The aim of this four-week program is to develop a base of strength for an athlete to be able to improve his or her muscle up ability. The program is targeted at athletes who can perform five to ten linked kipping muscle ups and two to five linked strict muscle ups.

Progressive Overload Is Key

It is a common thing in any gym to see people following a strength program to improve their weightlifting or powerlifting. These programs are usually progressive, based around percentages, and include a variety of different accessory movements in addition to the major lifts.

Train to Win

If you decide to take on this challenge and improve your muscle up performance, you can track your progress with the testing protocol in week four.

Week One Programming

Check out these simple workouts and fun exercises that can be done at-home with makeshift or no equipment at all.

Specific Warm-Up: Muscle-Up

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Athletes at all levels will benefit from each portion of this warm-up. Assign athletes to partners. Partner 1 will complete the first movement while partner 2 rests. Then the two will switch. Continue through the movements in each section.
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Workout Scaling: Mechanics Stage

  • This first stage is useful for athletes who have not yet completed a muscle-up due to a lack of requisite strength or undeveloped technique. In each circumstance, the trainer should be ready to offer a variation that develops the athlete’s weakness.
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Consistency Stage

  • This level of scaling is useful for athletes who have completed muscle-ups in practice but may not have experience performing them during a workout. It is also appropriate for an athlete who has performed a few workouts with muscle-ups but cannot perform more than a few reps at a time.
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Intensity Stage

  • Athletes who can focus on intensity are those who are consistent and comfortable approaching workouts including muscle-ups. The trainer is no longer providing modifications but instead offering strategies to get the athlete through the workout quickly and effectively.
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Final Thoughts

  • Factors such as how frequently muscle-ups are programmed will have a direct impact on the speed of an athlete’s development. In practice, a new skill (in this case the muscle-up) should be programmed with enough frequency that athletes are exposed to the stimulus on a regular basis. A general recommendation is to expose your athletes to the movement in at least two workouts …
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