Muscle-up
A bar skill that links a high pull-up to a straight-bar dip, taking the body from a hang to locked-out support.
How to do it
- Hang from a pull-up bar with an overhand grip slightly wider than the shoulders.
- Set an active hang with the legs together and the trunk braced.
- Pull the bar toward the lower chest or stomach, keeping both sides even.
- As the chest clears the bar, lean the shoulders forward and turn the wrists over together.
- Press to straight-arm support with the torso stacked over the bar.
- Lower under control through the dip and the hang, then reset.
Key technique cue
Pull around the bar, not into it, and turn the wrists over in one motion.
Common mistakes
- ✕ Pulling straight into the bar instead of creating a path around it.
- ✕ Treating the lift as three frozen steps instead of one continuous path.
- ✕ Starting with a normal pull-up grip that blocks the wrist turnover.
- ✕ Attempting it before strict pull-ups and dips are strong enough to finish.
Benefits
- ✓ Links a high pull and a dip into one upper-body skill.
- ✓ Builds grip, trunk stiffness, and coordination under a hang.
- ✓ Is the competition skill many calisthenics and CrossFit programs need.
Progression: from easier to harder
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Step 6 You are here - Muscle-up
About the exercise
The muscle-up is a pull plus a press on one bar. From a dead hang you pull the chest or stomach to the bar, roll the shoulders over, and finish with a straight-bar dip to locked elbows. Chest, lats, and triceps are the primary muscles, with biceps, forearms, and delts helping. It is treated as an advanced gymnastics skill, not a general hypertrophy lift. It sits at the top of a pull-up-to-dip ladder in calisthenics and competitive fitness.
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