Why Aren't 'Muscle Ups' Practiced In The Military?

[heavyarms21]

There are people that can't even do a Strict Dead Hang Pull Up, no way I hell they will do a Muscle Up.

 

[GolovKing]

The Marine Corps pft standard used to only be 3 pullups at a bare minimum. Women didn't even have to do one.

If that's the physical standard across the board, you know damn well nobody is doing muscle ups as a requirement. Pretty pathetic minimum standard if you ask me.

Did it change? That's what it was less than 10 years ago but to be fair most units expect you to be well above that

 

[Frode Falch]

Push-ups are useless?

No

 

[Travis Alexander]

ive worked up to 20 strict pullups no problem, but still struggle to hit 20 muscleups. Interesting that you had the opposite experience. muscleups target more muscle groups than strict pullups, providing a near-complete upper body workout including chest, shoulders, and core. I prefer exercises that require explosive power and recruit as many muscle groups as possible.

Also, repping a lot of pullups aggrravates the tendonitis in my elbow, muscleups dont require as much elbow flexion and i never have elbow pain from them.

Out of curiosity, what is your height/weight?
I’m asking strictly as it pertains to your pull up/muscle up #s.

 

[freakroor]

Out of curiosity, what is your height/weight?
I’m asking strictly as it pertains to your pull up/muscle up #s.

5’9 155lb , my max weighted pullup is +130 lbs as well.

 

[Travis Alexander]

5’9 155lb , my max weighted pullup is +130 lbs as well.

Makes sense. Your a pretty strong guy for your size those are good #s. I am in great shape but at 6’3 205Lbs I can’t get close to your muscle up #s or even dead hang pull up rep#s. Good shit sherbro.

 

[snowbro]

you think its harder to do 20 pullups than 20 muscleups?

Yea. One u use momentum and the other you go limp at the bottom of the pullup then have to re-engage everything. Much harder. Also, you don't have to do so many cos its way harder.

With the muscle ups you get a nice lil rest period at the top as well.

 

[freakroor]

Yea. One u use momentum and the other you go limp at the bottom of the pullup then have to re-engage everything. Much harder. Also, you don't have to do so many cos its way harder.

With the muscle ups you get a nice lil rest period at the top as well.

is your muscleup max greater than your dead hang pullup max?

 

[sakfjgadsyukgf]

As it pertains to doing the majority of jobs in the military they are. I never had to knock out 42 or more push ups in succession in the performance of my regular military duties.

I have friends who were Frogs, RANGER, EOD, SWCC, and all manner of pilot or aircrew. Never have any of them regaled me with tales of how being able to do push ups was useful in real life, let alone operational or combat situations.

It makes more sense to have standards that test cardio and / or endurance like a 1.5 mile or greater run and move on to full body exercise or exercise based on a percentage of bodyweight or actual operational needs. A combat Marine needs to quickly buddy carry a wounded comrade 40 meters more than he needs to knock out 40 push ups.

From what I've heard, doing tons of pushups & pullups is a very American military thing, and other countries with elite militaries like the British put way less emphasis on upper body stuff in their training. They make their guys do lots of running and forced marches and whatnot, but less beach muscle stuff. The US already has much more of a bodybuilding/beach muscle culture than say Europe does..... I mean most of Europe has a terrible military, but the Brits are pretty legit, so it's interesting to see what other elite militaries do

 

[djacobox372]

because in the military you don't save people you kill people.

 

[DoomPatrol]

Did it change? That's what it was less than 10 years ago but to be fair most units expect you to be well above that

It's changed components a few times but I think the run and pullups remained the same.

Either way they started reducing the minimum requirements a long time ago when I thought they were already too low in comparison to the type of fighting unit they said we were.

 

[Hog-train]

ive worked up to 20 strict pullups no problem, but still struggle to hit 20 muscleups. Interesting that you had the opposite experience. muscleups target more muscle groups than strict pullups, providing a near-complete upper body workout including chest, shoulders, and core. I prefer exercises that require explosive power and recruit as many muscle groups as possible.

Also, repping a lot of pullups aggrravates the tendonitis in my elbow, muscleups dont require as much elbow flexion and i never have elbow pain from them.

Well I mean it really depends how you do the pullup. And also how you do the muscleup. A muscleup can be done in a way where it's almost all momentum and swinging.

Each person is different of course - but you can do pullups really hard or easy. Like controlled negatives, zero momentum, kipping or swinging, etc. Try giving sternum pullups a try. Franco Columbu made them famous way back in the days of bodybuilding. Guarantee you it will make your back stronger and more jacked than doing muscle ups.

 

[Hog-train]

Muscle-ups are extremely demanding and require very specific training (except if you are just one of those dude who can do them spontaneously).

Many extremely fit people would have a very hard time learning muscle ups.
IMO.

Not true IMO. I'm almost 40 and learned it from following a Youtube video. And I'm not saying I'm some super fit freak either. It's all momentum and timing.

 

[freakroor]

. It's all momentum and timing.

you can do muscleups from a dead hang too, dont have to use momentum

 

[Hog-train]

you can do muscleups from a dead hang too, dont have to use momentum

Yep - like gymnasts do. Which is much, much harder. But that's not how most people at the gym do them.

 

[JakePaulMMA]

haha, now we're giving the military the same excuse we gave the shaolin back in the day huh?

Wu Tang ain't nuthin to fuck wit

 

[landon]

Yep - like gymnasts do. Which is much, much harder. But that's not how most people at the gym do them.

Learned muscle ups recently but fuck me it's messing up my elbows. I decided I'll maintain the skill by doing high pull ups and dips from now on and only doing 1-2 actual muscle ups per week

 

[badascan]

They're more concerned about including imaginary identities and promoting nonsense?

 

[freakroor]

Learned muscle ups recently but fuck me it's messing up my elbows. I decided I'll maintain the skill by doing high pull ups and dips from now on and only doing 1-2 actual muscle ups per week

tendons take longer to adapt than muscles, ive had tendonitis a few times from going too hard on pullups and muscleups. take time off if you need to, or else it willjust take longer to heal