Friends don’t let friends squat high, but there’s really no point in squatting any deeper than slightly below parallel. …read more

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We all know and love the ring muscle-up. It’s a fun exercise and feels great the first time we accomplish our first rep. On the flip side of the coin, it’s also an exercise that can lead to injury if done poorly.

One of the biggest problems I see with the muscle-up is a lack of guided progression from start to finish. I see a lot of first timer muscle-ups that honestly make me cringe and fear for people’s shoulder joints. Myself and good friend Dave Tilley (Who also happens to be a therapist, athlete and gymnastics coach) have produced a definitive video guide on how to progress from A to Z with the ring muscle-up. We wanted to produce an educational piece that provides athletes and coaches with ammunition to get to their goal of muscle-up mastery. Our goal was to produce a video that could be used with anyone no matter where they were in their level of strength or gymnastics competency. Enjoy.

Dave’s website: www.hybridperspective.com

Muscle me timbers,

And Pope DPT, CSCS

P.S. If you enjoyed this article then sign up for the newsletter to receive the FREE guide – 10 Idiot Proof Principles to Crossfit Performance and Injury Prevention as well as to keep up to date with new information as it comes out via weekly emails.

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The snatch is easily one of the most challenging exercises I can think of. It’s certainly one of my weakest exercises and over time I’ve learned to really appreciate the lift. I’ve had several trials and tribulations with the lift over the years.

From ugly turkey snatches in the grass…

To a slightly less zoo-like environment…

Over time I’ve learned just how important things like mobility, motor control and good old practice are for success in the lift. One of the most important first steps in snatch mastery is to troubleshoot any mobility or positional faults. I’ve made some videos on how to troubleshoot mobility and stability issues with the snatch in the past. You can see the video below:

More recently I wanted to put together my favorite barbell drills for improving the technical aspects of the snatch. These are the drills I perform before every snatch session.

If you’re like me and have difficulty with the snatch I’d give some of these exercises a try. Pick a few of the mobility/stability exercises in the first video that are specific to your weaknesses/restrictions and spend 5-10 minutes working them. Then move onto the barbell warm-up and hammer those out. You can even pick an accessory lift specific to your snatch technical issues and work on a few lighter sets before moving onto your snatch work for the day. (I.E. working some high hang snatches in you have difficulty with a muted hip).

Anyway, give it a try and let me know what you think,

And Pope DPT, CSCS

P.S. If you enjoyed this article then sign up for the newsletter to receive the FREE guide – 10 Idiot Proof Principles to Crossfit Performance and Injury Prevention as well as to keep up to date with new information as it comes,en …read more