Recently our crossfit classes have been inundated with a bunch of young high school aged guys. I enjoy it – they’re a nice group of kids and fun to work out with. But one thing that has become apparent to me is that at that age, reaching their fitness potential is far easier (and far less limited) than when you’re older (in my case, 30). It took me months to get proficient at pull-ups and a half a year to get comfortable with the muscle up. Just a couple weeks into the program and these guys are hitting muscle ups like a pro. Of course, us older guys tend to be a little heavier (and are thus able to lift a lot heavier too), but these kids are able to pick up the technical stuff with ease.
Now that they can muscle-up on the rings, however, we’ve started a little competition for bragging rights – the first to 10 consecutive muscle-ups. I’m already ahead of them as I can consistently get 5 in a row now, but there’s no doubt that these guys are going to catch up in no time. So it’s pedal to the metal muscle-up time. Goal: 10 solid consecutive muscle-ups. Timeframe: ASAP… Ok, so now what’s the plan??
How can one go from 5 to 10 MU’s in just a couple of weeks? What kind of training would be necessary and is there any way to accelerate the process?
At the very least, I plan on attempting either max MU’s or several smaller sets on a daily basis. This, in itself, would probably get me to my goal, but it would likely also be a longer process. So I’ll need to supplement the training. With pulls and presses being the primary movements involved in a MU, I plan on using dips, pull-ups and seated rows as secondary training exercises. So in short, MU training is going to be every day – MU sets plus 2 days per week of dip\pull training (likely Saturday and Tuesday). This is in addition to my already almost every day workout schedule (albeit mostly fairly short workouts).
Not being very certain of how to best approach my schedule, I’m going to try the following the first week:
M: 5×2 MU
T: 3×8 Weighted Dips 40#, 3×8 180# seated row, max MU attempt
W: 4×3 MU
TH: max MU attempt, 5×1 MU
F: 6×2 MU
SAT: 5×5 40# Weighted PU, max MU attempt
SUN: max MU attempt
As for accelerating the process, I’m toying around with the idea of dropping a few pounds before my final max attempt and additionally working on my kipping technique. We’ll see where I’m at next week.
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