Matt during his kip and at the top of his bar muscle up!
This week we want to highlight Matt K. who hit his first bar muscle ups this past week on workout 17.2! Matt has been a consistent face in the evening classes since joining CFH about a year ago. He retested 17.2 to hit not one, but three bar muscle ups. He achieved this through his focus on recovery and technique during the WOD. Congrats, Matt! We can’t wait to see what your next breakthrough is!
What was your experience with the workout 17.2, and how did you feel before and after getting your first bar muscle up?
Last fall, not long after I had started Crossfit workouts during the summer, I attempted a muscle up while on vacation in California. (Picture one of those outdoor beach-side gym setups.) I was still very much working on my kipping technique for pull ups, so I couldn’t yet put the muscle up technique together.
My kipping has improved significantly over the past few months, so when the 17.2 workout was posted I was intrigued by the bar muscle up component. I hadn’t attempted the movement since the fall, but I thought the workout could be a checkpoint in my progress. The tip videos that were posted prior to the workout helped me get a clear idea of how to put the movement together with a proper wrist turnover. While I was warming up for my first attempt at 17.2 I was able to nail a couple of successful attempts, which was a great feeling! To me it felt kind of like being on a roller coaster shot to the crest of a hill, pausing before descending again. (I love roller coasters, so this was definitely cool.)
I wasn’t able to get an official muscle up during my first attempt at 17.2, but I was encouraged by the potential to try it again.
What made you decide to retest the workout and push yourself to hit a movement you’d never done before?
I knew that I had the ability to get a muscle up during the workout if I really concentrated on it. My goal for the 17.2 retest was to hit on one for an official score while fatigued. During my first attempt at 17.2 I did not give myself enough time to recover after the third set of lunges – both my body and mind were tired heading into the muscle ups and I rushed my attempts. About five minutes after my first 17.2 workout was over I was actually able to complete another muscle up once I was relaxed, so I knew I had the movement in me during the workout if I approached it correctly. During my 17.2 retest I focused on recovering for a full minute after the third set of lunges and I was able to keep my mind focused on a strong, compact kipping motion. Once I broke through on the first successful attempt I tried the same approach. All and all I hit three bar muscle ups during my retest. I’m definitely happy I gave it a second try, and I now have a new foundation to build on.