How To Perform the Butterfly Muscle up by Paula Leyes. Video Tutorial is released
The butterfly muscle-up is a very important movement in the sport of GRID as it gives a team a huge advantage in speed when a player is performing them instead of regular kipping muscle ups.
The movement was fairly unknown until this clip below went viral on Paula Leyes Instagram in 2019.Â
Others have brought the movement to life in the past such as CrossFit Games athlete Alec Smith shown here performing them.
When Paula was first learning the butterfly muscle-up she tried to find resources online about how to do it and none existed. So we made one with her!
Video introduction:
Learn how to perform the butterfly muscle up with Florida Grid League MVP Paula Leyes of the Miami Freaks. She breaks down the movement into portions and walks through a 6 step progression to master the movement.
The butterfly muscle-up is one of the most sought after movements in the sport of GRID and in the Florida Grid League. Paula is the first female ever to perform them in the League. She is also the first-ever female MVP in the Florida Grid League.
Huge thank you to our official equipment sponsor Valor Fitness for making this video and our League possible – Website – http://valorfitness.com/Â
Watch the video here:
Here is the video transcript for those that cannot watch with sound at the moment or to reference while in the gym:
“The butterfly muscle up is a movement used in the sport of GRID. Be safe and only attempt it if you are proficient in other forms of muscle ups. It is for competition, not for everyday training.
The difference from a regular muscle up is the elimination of two parts of the movement which speeds it up. The first is the dip press out which you can see here. The butterfly MU is already at the top while the regular has yet to press out.
The second elimination is the backswing. You can see after the top of the muscle up on the butterfly side, I go directly into the forward swing for the next one while the regular kip first has a backswing before beginning that motion.
A regular speed comparison shows how you can perform 2-3 butterfly muscle ups in the time it takes to do one regular. This speed is a huge advantage in the sport of GRID.
Let me break down the butterfly muscle up into parts so it’s easier to understand what you need to develop.
- The first part is a full body arch that leads to the front swing. Don’t break at the knees to keep full body tension.
- Then at this point you see an aggressive ring pull towards the hips
- Ride that momentum to the catch at the top in the L-sit position
- While at the top… kick backward, leading with the heels
- as you reach back start to push out with the rings and open them up
- As you start to open the rings push your chest forward and lead with it to continue into the next full body arch and subsequent pull
I recommend a 6 step progression to build up to the parts of the movement you will need.
The first thing is to practice your L-sit hold on the rings until you can hold it for at least 15 seconds
The next step is eliminating the dip portion of the kipping MU. Focus on aggressively achieving height with your kip so you can land at or close to the top of the dip
to develop the feeling of skipping the back swing start at the bottom of the dip, swing the feet back leading with the heels and push the rings out and chest forward to swing forward into another low catch.
As you start to get used to that, try catching higher and higher but only using that front swing at the bottom. Just one rep at a time
Then start looking to catch in that L-sit position at the top so it is easier to swing the feet back and start the next one and string them together
Then put it all together and you have a high speed butterfly muscle up!”
Here is Paula’s information including her core workout programming:
Check out her Core From Home Program – https://www.corefromhome.com/
Follow her on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/pau.leyes/
And on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/user/paulaleyes
