This technique guide will help you master the most common gymnastic exercises that you are likely to encounter in Crossfit.
BAR MUSCLE UP
For many Crossfitters, this gymnastic exercise is one of the most desired goals within the long-term training process.
Not only do muscle ups look impressive, but they are also an amazing way to build great upper body strength and explosive power from the hip drive. This article will explain what you need to do in order to complete your first few muscle ups.
How to achieve your first bar muscle up
Your glutes and hips are essential for generating power !
LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS
The bar muscle up is clearly not a suitable exercise for someone who is totally new to gymnastics. The exercise combines a strong Pull Up with a stable Dip, a dynamic kip and perfect timing.
The following numbers for body weight exercises provide a good guide of what level you should aim for before you begin to learn the technique for Muscle Ups:
- 7 – 10 Strict Pull ups
- 10+ Kipping Pull ups
- 10 – 15 Dips
- 3-5 Strict Chest2Bar-Pull ups
These numbers should only serve as a rough guide.
Check out the next page to learn how to master the other kind of muscle ups…
RING MUSCLE UP
This year (thanks to bar muscle ups) athletes were able to avoid facing the ring muscle up…What about next year, though? What about your next local competition? If you want to leave the scaled division behind and start hitting muscle ups- listen up!
Ring muscle ups require specific training, dedication, and persistence.
They are a fantastic display of strength, coordination, and skill. However, if one of those three requirements is missing, you might end up on the next edition of ‘Crossfit Fails’. Use these articles to help perfect your technique, movement and strength.
Slow down to muscle up: 5 Progressions for perfect movement
Getting your first ring muscle up is easier than you think
5 Ways to perfect your muscle up technique
Ates destroying Ring Muscle Ups
Click next to learn how to improve your Handstand push up technique
HANDSTAND PUSH UP
The handstand push up is an important gymnastic movement that often crops up in Crossfit workouts. It can seem daunting when you first begin, as you have to have confidence in your strength, balance and ability to control your body when upside down.
Once you become more confident, and master the basics, then the handstand push up becomes a great exercise for building impressive upper body and core strength, agility, coordination and power.
Scale them with these exercises and you will be repping them out in no time at all!
- Pike push up
- Pike push with elevated feet
- Kick up and hold
- Negative handstand push ups
- Partial range of motion handstand push up
Learn more here:
Tips and scaling options to improve your handstand push-ups
Back to basics for the next gymnastic exercise!
GYMNASTIC EXERCISES – PULL UP
The pull up is one of the most basic, functional and universal exercises around. As a Crossfitter, you need to master strict pull ups first, then move onto chest-to-bar, butterfly and kipping variations.
To be good at doing pull-ups, you need to do pull-ups! Lifting weights and lifting your body upwards are two different tasks. The latter requires a much more complex interaction and motor pattern. Even if you have strong pulling muscles, it doesn’t mean you’ll be good at pull-ups.
Pulling your body up is a motor skill. And to develop a motor skill you must practice it often. Frequency trumps volume and intensity when it comes to motor learning. When you want to improve your pull-up performance you should do pull-ups as often as possible. As gymnastic exercises go, this one is a classic!
Check out these articles to help perfect your training and technique:
3 types of pull ups all Crossfitters need to perfect
5 steps to perfect your butterfly pull ups
6 Hacks to Improve your chest-to-bar pull ups
6 pull up bar complexes to explode your strength and skill
Time to flip things on their head with the next exercise…
HANDSTAND WALKS
Handstand Walks are fun to do but frustrating to master! Use these progression to get yours sorted now!
stay strong!
No matter how much muscle or determination you have – there is absolutely no way to learn the handstand walk without one thing: Practice. Not just any practice. You need to be smart.
- Nose-to-wall handstand holds
- Shoulder taps
- Hip touches
- Off-wall handstand holds
- Go for it!
Handstand Walks: The 5-step progression that works
RING DIPS
A great exercise for working the triceps, chest and shoulder muscles in one movement without targeting any one particular muscle group in isolation.
Get this basic but important exercise mastered
How to perform dips:
- Start in the support position with the elbows locked and hands turned out
- Emphasize a long neck and hollow body position
- Initiate the dip by sending the shoulder forward
- Reach the bottom of the dip with your shoulder below the elbow (just like proper squat position with the hip below knee)
- Press back up and finish in the same strong support position in which you started
Perfecting the technique
The biggest mistake with dips is letting the shoulder move forward as you go down. It protrudes out of its socket. This puts a tremendous amount of stress on the shoulder joint and its muscles.
If you want to make dips safer for the shoulders, make sure to lower yourself while keeping the shoulder joint in its socket. Do that by contracting the upper back as you go down. Pinch your shoulder blades together so that you could clamp something in between.
Crossfit training dips to help you master dips
Now to finish with one of the most advanced gymnastic exercises there is in Crossfit, time to stretch your limits…
RING HANDSTAND PUSH UPS
The Ring Handstand Push Up was first seen at the 2010 Games, but made a comeback earlier this year in the Carson sunshine at the 2016 CrossFit Games®. The crowds watched in awe as athletes such as Josh Bridges, Camille Leblanc-Bazinet and Annie Thorisdottir completed a tough workout that contained Ring Handstand Push Ups – aptly named the separator – in style.
Ring Handstand Push Ups. Dave Castro decides to bring a new exercise into the Games
So now it’s your turn! Of all the gymnastic exercises, this is an advanced movement, but there is no reason why you can’t achieve it. CrossFit® is all about pushing your limits right?
5 Tips to master ring handstand push ups
Before you begin to start learning the Ring Handstand Push Up you should be able to complete the following:
- 3 Strict Handstand Push Ups
- 3 Strict Pull Ups
- 5 second freestanding handstand
The Ring Handstand Push Up requires a good sense of balance, because you are performing the exercise on equipment that is moving and unstable. Your core will be required to work hard to keep you stable throughout the full range of motion.
Good luck with all these gymnastic exercises and have fun!
