DNF : The Muscle Up

       Everyone wants to be good at everything at life.  Best at school, work, competition then balance all that with your family and friends and all that life throws at you.  That pretty much sums up CrossFit.  You have to be good at everything.  Period.  Sure everything is scalable.  But everyone doing band assisted pulls ups wants to eventually do a "real" pull up.  Can't do power cleans yet?  Suck at double unders?  Well now you have an agenda and a mission, thats what keeps things fun.  
       For me, trying out for the Regional CrossFit Affiliate team made me realize something I wasn't prepare to do (tired): a muscle up.  Sure I can do muscle ups.  But on day 2, the 3rd workout of my tryouts, my muscles were failing.  Maybe I relied too much on muscles versus a strong kip or good form.  But I came a long way, it took about 9 months of CrossFit until I can even do 1 muscle up fresh, but my technique and confidence was not built up to the level I needed on this move.  
       The day of the tryout, I was staring up at the rings completely exhausted I just needed to do one muscle up to stop the timer.  BUT I couldn't.  75% up, then 50%, then 85%, almost there....everyone cheering me on.  I wasn't about to give up. One more and I'm done.  But 20 minutes later, nothing.  The 1 muscle up put me in my place.  That means a DNF : did not finish.  And now its a focus of mine.  I already have burns on my triceps from all of the ring work.  Love it.

Example WOD from 5/21 (focus on muscle ups while in recovery mode)

Run 1 Mile

5 Ring Muscle Ups

Run 1 Mile 

5 Ring Muscle Ups
Run 1 Mile

Max Muscle Ups in 5 min 

Still trying for a muscle up?  These are some of my favorite references:

Click here for photos and FAQ on how to do bar and ring muscle ups


Click here for CrossFit Video Instruction