I've been working on the muscle-up for about a month and a half. In fact, I made it a June goal to get a false-grip kipping muscle-up. I kept going back and forth between practicing the transition, getting up from that deep dip, and on the rings itself. Seems like every time I tried it, I either did not kip enough, flared my elbows out, or got into the receiving position but could not press out. There was always something I missed. I got used to hearing "You're sooooooooo close!"
Today, Trevor suggested that I try a strict muscle up. I thought he was crazy since I did not think I was strong enough to do so, but I decided to try anyway.
While waiting for the rings to be available, I tried to come up with a list of things not to forget while under those rings. "Keep the rings closer to your body." "Pull the rings towards your chest." Chalk. "Don't spend a lot of time kipping beforehand." "Oh wait, I'm not going to kip this one, scratch that." Chalk. "Stop thinking, just do it." "Quick, fast transition." Chalk. "Shit, I can't stop thinking. I'm an engineer." Chalk. Chalk. Chalk.
"Chill on the chalk," said Dheeraj. "Sorry, I can't. My palms get sweaty just looking at the rings," I responded. Soon enough, it was my turn to give my best attempt.
I got under those rings, and thought, "shit, I don't even know how to do a strict muscle-up." I turned to Trevor and said, "how to do a strict muscle-up?" "Just do it, Jes, pull yourself up and press out." "Uh, alright," I murmured. Here goes nothing. I placed my hands on the rings, making sure to lock in that false grip. After I checked, double checked, and tripled checked that I did indeed have a false grip, I began to pull myself up. Mid-way through I thought, "holy crap, I'm actually pulling myself up!" Half a second later, I made it to the receiving position of the muscle-up and pressed out. Seems like my body just knew what to do naturally. I was in complete shock. It took a couple of seconds for me to fully press out, but the encouragement and cheering from my friends sealed the deal.
"Congratulations, Jes!!!!!!!!" "Awesome job, Jes!!" "I knew you could do it!!!" Everyone was congratulating me while I thought, "did I really just do a muscle-up?? Am I dreaming???" It took a few seconds for me to fully digest that I indeed just did a muscle-up. I excitedly screamed, "Ahhhhhhhhhhh, Jes got a muscle-up!!!" My mind went blank and for a moment. I felt like I just won the lottery. Words can't even describe how proud and happy I was while locked out on those rings. Mickey took out his iPhone and documented the moment.