I was watching one of the athletes at the gym practice bar muscle ups and I couldn't help but chime in. At the end of the day it reminded me of the basics to understanding and ultimately executing the movement well. 1. 1. Having a surplus of strict pulling strength is very helpful and seemingly largely transferrable. 2. 2. Kipping, although fun in practice, seems to have a negative effective on learning "the flow of the movement." Contradictory to what we might think. 3. 3. Knowing how to execute hanging leg raises and front lever practices seem to aid in the proficiency and efficiency of bar muscle ups. 4. 4. Too many cues and not enough trust change the course of the session dramatically...sometimes you do need to bury your head in the wall. Where are you at with your bar muscle ups, and if you have them what has helped you?

Hey Yall 👋🏽 Would love to use this as a section to share your favorite physical feats! Come one, come all!

Context: In one of the group classes I was coaching this past week we were going over Handstands. It was a skill development session where we were given a short-moderate amount of time (~10:00 minutes) to accumulate quality attempts at Freestanding Handstands/Handstand Walking or wherever someone was on the Handstand learning continuum. Additionally, we would perform some sort of run preparatory movement i.e. tib raises, calf raises, and hops of choice in between each of the attempts of Handstand. In our warmups, not entirely particular to this Handstand session, we are developing a base for building a greater range of thoracic extension and arm flexion by pairing the traditional DB Pullover with Scapular Pull Ups and Push Ups with varied grip width/hand placements. As I took the class through this, I noticed how most people are look to "pump out" the movement, and unlike other larger compound movements where that might be the intent-that is not the case here. With movements like these we must acknowledge that they are inherently covering a small range of motion and we are seeking to "squeeze the juice out" and increase the range at which we are able to operate in i.e. movement within the shoulder capsule. Similar to learning how to walk when we are young and we learn how to coordinate balance through the musculature of the foot and the hip, we must go through that same progression in the Handstand with the hand and the shoulder. Consider, I can rock my weight far on to my toes and heels without falling and maintaining my balance in what we would call a zone. I must apply this same concept to the hand and shoulder when inverted. Now, as we learn to stay within that zone and stay upside down, albeit longer that most would care to do, we are able to build a sense of confidence and wherewithal so that the duration of the practice can improve and consequently the quality of our practice has an opportunity to improve. At the end of the day, this is a reminder of how increasing the capacity of the parts allow for greater performance at the whole. When it comes to larger scale movements i.e. a deadlift or a squat and the concept of improving mobility, we aren't necessarily trying to make the movement much larger unless a fair amount of range is missing to the point that the intended movement is no longer effective. We are looking to make these larger movements at their start and at their end positions clear and stable, so that the "road along the way" is less about "finding our way" and more about moving from point A to point B with good intent.

For those that have managed to train within the realm of endurance training. What are some key takeaways you've learned along the way?