Threshold Training, Part 1: Muscle-Ups

In the four-part series on CrossFit’s charter of mechanics, consistency, and intensity, we defined terms and discussed the training application in the broadest sense. In this article, we will mine the same concepts for a more specific training application.

Trainers often struggle with how to take concepts like “mechanics, consistency, and intensity” and “threshold training” and apply them during a training session. It makes sense in theory: Insist on sound mechanics consistently across reps and sessions, then add intensity by balancing the precision of movement (technique) with the speed at which your athlete is moving (intensity) and the result will be increased fitness over time.

But how exactly does that translate as athletes learn a new skill like the muscle-up?

Mechanics Level: Get Your First Muscle-Up!

Depending on the background and capacity of the athlete, the acquisition of the muscle-up could take months or years. For success, the technical aspects must be coupled with a minimum baseline of pulling and pressing strength.

Technical Requirements:

• Maintaining a false grip
• Pulling position
• Transition

Strength Requirements:

• Approximately 5-10 consecutive, strict ring pull-ups
• Approximately 5-10 consecutive, strict ring dips

To gain the baseline strength in pull-ups and dips (i.e., the organic components of the movement), our first avenue is simply to consistently attend CrossFit group classes. With well-programmed workouts executed at high intensity, athletes will gain pulling and pressing strength over time. In the L1 course, functional movements are described as those “using universal motor recruitment patterns.” There is carryover between these movements. Coming to class regularly (three to six times per week) and gaining exposure to the movements will be the most important factor in gaining basic upper body pulling and pressing strength. After a few months of regular classes, to continue to target pulling and pressing baseline strength, athletes can add in some extra sets of strict pull-ups and ring dips one to two times per week.

For many athletes, getting that first muscle-up will then require more instruction and practice with the neurological components of fitness (increases in coordination, accuracy, balance, and agility). Dedicated practice of the technical aspects of the muscle-up will need to occur. An excellent opportunity to do this is in the warm-up or within the workout on days where the muscle-up is programmed. Occasionally supplementing a short workout with a skill section that allows muscle-up practice, even if muscle-ups aren’t in the Workout of the Day, is another option. The goal is regular exposure to the technique and positions required to complete the skill.

Consistency Level: How Many Reps Before Your Technique Breaks Down?

Once an athlete achieves their first muscle-up, translating repetitions from the lower-intensity warm-up or skill-practice environment into the intensity of the WOD is an additional challenge. Performing the muscle-up in a workout often feels completely different. The athlete is now asked to perform reps close to their 1-rep max relative to their skill level, and often in a fatigued state. Imagine trying to do 95% percent of a 1RM deadlift for multiple sets of 10 in a workout that also contains other movements!

Ultimately, the athlete will need to increase their stamina to be able to do multiple repetitions. They will also need to be able to maintain their technique with a high heart rate or while fatigued. Most athletes have experienced reverting back to a poorly timed transition or a looser and less efficient kip swing halfway through a workout. The consistency of the movement pattern is developed by keeping our athletes right at their technical threshold. This is done by scaling repetition ranges or programming rest within the workout, and by continuously coaching technique when we spot a fault in our athlete’s position.

Intensity Level: Add More Difficulty to Push the Threshold

Once consistency is achieved, the athlete should have an excellent physical grasp of the movement pattern and have been exposed to hundreds of muscle-ups in practice and within workouts that have been scaled appropriately. At this point, we can now continue to push our athlete’s threshold. Because intensity is equivalent to power output within a workout, we increase intensity by increasing the repetitions performed without needing rest, the speed of the movement by adding a kip, or the number of repetitions performed in a set amount of time. As the level of intensity the athlete can handle increases, so do our programming options with the movement.

In the next part of this series, we will discuss how to work with a group of athletes who are at different places along the MCI spectrum.

Related Reading

• Mechanics, Consistency, Intensity: What Does It Mean?
• Mechanics, Consistency, Intensity: Mechanics
• Mechanics, Consistency, Intensity: Consistency
• Mechanics, Consistency, Intensity: Intensity

To learn more about human movement and the CrossFit methodology, visit CrossFit Training.