1. Strength matters
To master the technical side of a kipping pull-up, understand that strength matters. The stronger you are, the longer you can hold positions and keep up the training volume.
These are the strength requirements that usually take you where you want to go:
- Pull-up: 5 push-ups
- Toes-to-bar: 1 strict pull-up
- Bar muscle-up: 5 strict pull-ups
- Ring muscle-up: 10 strict pull-ups
2. Technique matters
When you are strong, you need to express that strength as a skill. Think of technique as the efficiency of your capacity. The physical foundation is the key, and technique refines it. Technique without a base is useless, but with a solid base you become a master when you apply technique.
3. Combine strength and technique
I recommend training skill and strength back to back, so the new strength supports the next skill level.
4. Master the basics
Beat swings are boring, so why do masters use them as preparation every session? Because of their shape and timing. Master the foundational shapes. This rule applies to everything in life: make your bed to start the day with a good habit.
I practise beat swings before every kipping session. Every session I do the arch to hollow kip explained below: to get in the groove, to activate the lats and to prepare my shoulders for the dynamic work.
5. Warm-ups
Shoulders are fragile, and you do not have time to get injured. No dynamic repetition should hurt during a warm-up. If it does, you are not prepared for the task.
A rule of thumb for warm-ups:
- Do something very simple, such as a slow jog, bike or row, until you notice a drop of sweat on your forehead. That normally takes about 5 minutes in a heated room. Tip: wear a sweatshirt for the warm-up.
- 3 to 5 minutes of global mobility.
- 3 to 5 minutes of specific mobility and prep drills for the day's work.
The warm-up should take 10 to 15 minutes. If you need more, you might not be doing the prep right, or you are too sore from previous practice. Rethink your training plan.
Treat the warm-up as the move from cold to fully prepared, and prepare your mind the same way. At the start you are allowed to yawn. In the middle you switch mentality, and at the end you should be thinking: "Let's do this!"
Done correctly, the warm-up is part of the training.
Exercises
The very first step in mastering the kip is to understand the shapes of the hollow and the arch. Drill these two shapes all your gymnastics life, especially in the beginning.
It is not about strength, it is about shape. If you cannot find the shape lying on your back, there is no way you will find it in a fast and skilful gymnastics movement.
Hollow-up
Lie on your back. Reach overhead, hands shoulder width apart, and straighten your knees. Start the movement by pulling the chest towards the hips with completely straight arms and legs.
Arch-up
Lie on your stomach. Reach overhead, hands shoulder width apart, and straighten your knees. Start the movement by extending the lower back and lifting the legs. Pull the thumbs as high as you can while you lift the feet. Keep your arms and legs straight.
Arch to hollow on the bar
A controlled beat swing: you are not swinging, you are pulling yourself between the arch and the hollow. Push the hands into the bar to activate the lats. With the lats active, your upper body is pulled behind the bar and the feet stay out in front, holding the hollow.
For the arch, reverse the motion. Tighten the posterior chain and keep the legs and arms as straight as you can.
Beat swing
The kip, or beat swing, is an exercise even the elite use. Master it and you set yourself up for success in the long run. When I do it, I try to feel like a stick that I direct back and forth with a gentle beat, tap, tap, tap, where every tap is a push of the hands into the rig.
Start the motion by engaging the lats for a very brief moment. Push, but release as soon as you get motion. Otherwise it turns into the arch to hollow from the previous drill, and that is not the intention. This is a dynamic movement. Tight body, feet together. Hollow, arch, hollow, arch. Tap, tap.
Band-assisted pull-up
The band-assisted pull-up is a great tool if you do it right.
Do the beat swing, and at the end of the hollow, pull with the arms until the chin is above the bar. Here is the key: leave the feet out in front of the bar on the way down. That pulls you into a good, powerful arch that springs into the next hollow, and now you are sequencing the kipping pull-up.
Half pull-up
Almost there. When you have progressed through the band, this is the next step. The keys are the same as with the band:
- Beat swing into the hollow.
- Pull on top of the hollow.
- At the top, leave the feet out in front so they pull you back into the arch.
Practise until you can link at least 5 reps in one sequence.
Kipping pull-up
Practise the half pull-up and pull higher and higher over the weeks. Move to a new height when you can link 5 reps in one non-stop beat sequence.
Film yourself to get a feel for the height and a better sense of your progress.
Did you get it?
Hopefully you now understand the foundation of the first kipping gymnastics movement, why the hollow and arch shapes matter and why the beat swing is worth mastering. The next step is the toes-to-bar.
Questions? Email us at hello@relentlessmethod.com.