Complete as many reps as possible in 5 minutes of:
165-lb. squat clean and jerks
Skill Work: 
10×2 deficit handstand push-ups

Check out Ali Minton’s account of Bill’s journey from torn biceps to first muscle-up in one year!
I first met Bill in late July 2014, shortly after his first workout at Roots. Since day one, Bill (aka: Joe Oldenslo on Sugarwod) has immersed himself in Roots. He has taken an active role in bettering himself as an athlete and has become a fixture at Roots social events. His hard work, dedication and positivity have helped him to rehabilitate a torn biceps and achieve one of his biggest goals – the elusive ring muscle-up – in one short year.
Let’s take a walk through Bill’s journey to achieve his goal…
August 2014
Mobility – Bill came to Roots knowing his mobility was a limiting factor. He, along with the coaches at Roots, developed an intensive mobility routine that he commits to doing before each WOD. When he started, he was about 6 inches away from being able to touch his toes, and now his fingers are grazing the ground! He squats like a champ and his front rack is coming along.
October 2014
Private Training – We started weekly 30 minute private training sessions. Our goal was to refine technique across the board, especially in gymnastics and olympic lifting. The muscle-up was a long term goal, and we started hammering away on the basics.
November 2014
Torn Biceps – Bill tore one of his biceps muscle in a freak mishap and underwent attachment surgery in late November. He was determined to maintain his fitness and continue to work on the skills he could do during his recovery. He was back in the gym at group classes about one week after surgery. He and the coaches developed a plan to enable him to maintain (and advance) his overall fitness level while completely avoiding the use of his healing arm.
December 2014 – March 2015
Recovery – For three months, Bill could not load his arm. He came to class and scaled all the workouts with a smile on his face. We kept up our private training sessions and worked on single-arm skills, lower body strength and drilling with PVC pipes.
March 25, 2015
All Clear!: Bill gets the “go ahead” from his surgeon to try everything again! We started reintroducing loaded and dynamic movements very slowly. The muscle-up goal started sneaking into the picture again.
June – September 2015
The Drills: We were able to start drilling the pieces of the muscle-up. First up, mastering the basics. We worked on kipping on the bar, bar pull-ups, chest-to-bar pull-ups, false grip strength, kips on rings, ring pull-ups, etc. Bill had a list of homework he worked on for 5-10 minutes, twice per week.

We created a list of drills he needed to master before we tried the muscle up, including:
1) false grip chest-to-bar pull-up
2) proficient kipping on the rings
3) box muscle up transition drill
He improved in each area week after week as we built strength and confidence.
October 2015
Nutrition: Bill began another nutrition challenge at Roots. He has done several of them in his time here and continued to get leaner and stronger every time!
November 11, 2015 – First Muscle–Up!
Yes! Bill does his first muscle–up! And then he does 3 more that day!
We all have goals, both inside and outside the gym. The achievement of them can sometimes seem like a daunting and overwhelming task. Don’t forget that hard work, dedication, and a consistent focused practice plan can add up to BIG accomplishments! Congratulations Bill!