Why does crossfit kip

And even if you did have to perform any such movement, my first argument is that strict versions of these movements will allow you to build functional strength far better than kipping through them.

Performing toes-to-bar, for example, without a swinging momentum will build core strength much greater than kipping or swinging would. And I would say the same thing for essentially every movement that involves kipping verses the strict version of the exercise.

Second, some argue that kipping promotes body control because you must use more muscles in a kipping pull up than a strict pull-up, and you must use them synergistically in the proper rhythm in order to perform a kipping exercise. My counter-argument: If you want to utilize multiple muscle groups in one exercise, there are way more effective ways to do so that also require synergy between the upper and lower body.

Here are just a few: thrusters , burpees , most landmine exercises , sledgehammer drills, wood choppers , wall balls, clapping push-ups, etc. Third, because kipping is an explosive movement, it theoretically builds power because it requires speed and strength to perform it.

Once again, my counter is the same: There are better and safer ways to do this. In fact, many of the exercises I listed above are explosive, power-building exercises, and there are literally dozens of other examples you can engage in without putting yourself at risk for injury. SLAP tear a tear in the labrum, or protective cartilage around your shoulder joint , other labrum issues, muscle strains, etc. These kinds of injuries are expensive and can take you out of the gym for months.

One can argue that with a good base of athleticism and proper form, these injuries can be avoided. But I say the forces on the shoulder and lower spine are extremely high during kipping movements, so the risk is there for even seasoned athletes.

This is especially true if you're repeating this pattern over and over as an exercise versus as an intermittent skill that you work up to. So, if you still aren't sure how I feel about kipping, let me reiterate the main point: There are far safer and more effective ways to reap the supposed benefits of kipping.

Why take the risk? By By Jillian Michaels. Save FB Tweet More. Because in competition sometimes you need to get your chest to the bar as many times as possible in the shortest time possible. Athletes are not performing this movement as an exercise in its truest definition. That is not and never was the purpose of the pitch. Pitching is a sport-specific movement that achieves a specific goal relative to the sport in which it is used.

Tell me something, would you ever sprint just three steps? Barbell rows are so much more effective for building strength. Kipping pull ups are a highly technical movement that, when utilized as an exercise, provide a brutal anaerobic demand on the musculature of the upper body.

Click To Tweet: Used as an exercise, kipping pull ups are the hundred-meter sprint for your upper body. The second common criticism: kipping pull-ups are dangerous and harmful to the joints. Well, sure - if you suck at them. Properly executed technical movements just look pretty see: Rich Froning doing pretty much anything because they are uncommon examples of the human body moving at its highest level of mechanical efficiency. A lot of people who have zero understanding of shoulder mechanics look at the kipping pull up and instinctively know that trying it would hurt their shoulders.

They then decide that because of that initial instinct the kipping pull up must be bad for all shoulders everywhere, all the time. Unfortunately, most of these people are right. Kipping would hurt their shoulders because they have jacked up, mechanically inefficient posture.

Hell, their shoulders probably already hurt just from existing. Perhaps more importantly, kipping pull-ups are a requirement to succeed in the sport of CrossFit for those being competitive. But outside of CrossFit, the kipping pull-up is not necessary.

To be successful in the kip, an athlete must understand and execute the arch and hollow movement. These two shapes are important in creating tension, strength, and form that translate to the kipping muscle-up and the bar muscle-up.

Without the knowledge of a strong kip swing, plus the strength of strict pull-ups, your foundation may not be sound enough to develop higher-level skills properly and safely. In fact, their stance is that all athletes should first develop strict pull-up strength and only after that begin developing kipping pull-up mechanics. By following this progression, the athlete will develop the strength necessary to control the rapid lowering that happens as the athlete descends in the kipping pull-up.

As discussed in this article series I wrote for CrossFit Journal, we kip after developing strict strength just as we learn to walk after crawling.

Any good coach wants an athlete to have good bodyweight squat mechanics before adding extra resistance. And CrossFit HQ wants the same to happen with kipping. CrossFit continues to emphasize the development of strict strength pull-ups even after the athlete. Rather simply a way to use full-body motion to perform more work in less time. This is similar to how a push press allows athletes to lift more weight from their shoulder to overhead than is possible with strict overhead presses.

Jeff Tucker, subject matter expert on gymnastics for CrossFit, further discusses the control aspect in this video. There is one very important thing to note in this argument.

Within any governing fitness body that trains individuals to coach fitness, we will see some followers listen to all recommendations. And we will see others ignore what they were taught. For example, we can find NSCA trainers not teaching proper deadlift form.

This is one that we should seriously consider. Because of their lack of control, they are surely placing unnecessary stress on their shoulder structures. For example, injury rates in individuals running as their form of recreational fitness are going to be higher than those walking.