by Yavor -

Muscle-up Training Tutorial: The Missing Workout Manual for Your First Bar Muscle-up

A muscle up training tutorial has always been something that I couldn’t find online. At least not something that would finally teach me how to do a proper bar muscle up. So finally this summer I got serious about training the muscle-up, among a few other exercises. This article is the result of my experience.

So the question is: why should you bother with the muscle up? Well, it is a complete upper body in itself – the only thing you need is a bar. Getting good at the muscle up will give you an awesome physique. I am convinced that the men with the best upper bodies are the ones that are freaky strong at bar or gymnastic type training.

Besides, mastering this bad boy is plain old fun. Fact is, very few people who workout will come close to doing the muscle up. It’s a shame really.

Here is a video we shot recently showing the muscle up and some tips. I had to do it on a soccer goal cause the pull-up bar was drowned by a recent rain storm. This made it more challenging, but the cool thing is that you get to see the exaggerated swing forward and the timing.

So What Exactly is the Muscle-Up

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by Yavor -

The Sequential Muscle-up: A Missing Link in Your Muscle-up Training?

The sequential muscle-up is an important stepping stone towards achieving a true muscle up. Most people training in gyms nowadays have difficulty doing pull-ups, let alone muscle ups. If you are reading this site however, this is soon going to change for you. If you haven’t read it yet, you may want to start with the article on the sternum pull-up.

There are several reasons why I’m writing a tutorial for this exercise. The cool thing about the sequential muscle-up is that it builds confidence quickly – a thing that is needed when trying to achieve goals that seem “impossible,” such as the real muscle-up. The move also builds strength needed for the transition phase in the real exercise.

Here is a video we shot of the sequential muscle-up. You can clearly follow the three major phases: 1. pull-up, 2. shift of the weight and rotation of the free arm, another shift of the weight with rotation of the first arm.

Note: it is essential to train both sides in this movement – although the video doesn’t show this. As soon as you are able to do the move with the weaker arm (most people have a weaker arm), start practicing it this way.

Speaking of sequences, I chose this completely unrelated photo of a beautiful girl doing the moonwalk on a sandy hill at the beach. I’ve been into haiku lately and found this Basho haiku poem to fit quite nicely with the photo.

I recently finished the last level of my German language classes and was browsing in the German section of a bookstore when I stumbled on this book of haiku poetry translated in German. I was shocked that the translations were so good. Anyway – back to the sequential muscle-up.

So What Exactly is the Sequential Muscle-up

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by Yavor -

Push-up Strength Training: A Guide to Using the Hip Push-up for More Muscular Density and Definition

Push-up strength training? How can the hip push-up help with in your training? In order to train for strength, we need to achieve great muscular tension. In other words the muscles need to contract very hard. The traditional pushup can be used for this purpose, but once you pass a couple months of training, pushups become too easy.

Here is the video on how to use the hip push-up for strength training. Remember to stay tight, lean forward as far as you can, then pick a spot on the ground and watch it to make sure you only go up and down.

So to use them for strength training you need to do them to failure – the last few reps produce enough tension. But there is an easier way. A modified push up, such as the hip pushup which will be described in this article, is substantially harder and can be used for strength training even by more experienced athletes.

The cool thing is that the hip push up can be done anywhere, and will strengthen your wrists and fists. Last but not least – it is great way to work towards a planche push-up, where you support a hundred percent of your bodyweight.

Athletes such as gymnasts and b-boys like the guy above have a ridiculous strength to body weight ratio. Their great relative strength allows them to perform amazing moves. The hip push-up will help you increase your upper body relative strength.

So What Exactly Is the Hip Push-up

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by Yavor -

Pushup Fitness Tests… Or How I Schooled The Competition and You Can Too

Pushup fitness tests and competitions are a great way to measure your upper body relative strength, not to mention that they are plain fun! A few years ago at our gym we had an athletic competition with all kinds of disciplines – pull-ups for reps, weighted pull-ups, sprints, long jumps and so on. The push-up fitness test was one of the disciplines.

People from all over Bulgaria were invited to join the competition. Many enthusiasts came – some were professional athletes, others were just fitness buffs or amateur bodybuilders. The competitors from our gym won most of the disciplines as well as the overall title.

I was the winner of the pushup contest, even though I wasn’t the strongest or most athletic one.  In this article I will share my secrets to pushup greatness. Here is a video we shot showing the first two push-up positions that you can use in your training. You can also see the elbows out push-up. Again – avoid this one.

Here is Why the Push-up is a Great Exercise

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