Teaching The Kipping Pull Up with Jason Khalipa

My wife, Ashley, helps me to Teach the Kipping Pull Up

[jacktaylor]

The day when people realise kipping and strict pull-ups are completely different exercises with different objectives and results will be a good day for YouTube

[chrisrodriguez]

Short answer: do both. Strict is great for pure strength. Kipping is great for conditioning and full body exercise. It's like the difference between sprinting and jogging. Haters claim it's just flopping but that's not true, it's controlled. If you are flopping and truly lack the strength to do strict pull ups first, then yes, this can lead to injury. A kip should supplement your upper body strength, not replace your upper body strength. But if you really think it requires no strength, or doesn't involve lats, then try doing a few. You have to engage lats to do more than one of these. 

[SgtBenasfre]

Mark Rippetoe:

Kipping chin-ups/pull-ups are a derivative of the jumping version. The movement is performed using the momentum of a slight swing preceding the pull, when the swing is converted into an upward roll of the hips, translating the swing energy into upward movement. The kip distributes the movement over more muscle mass, using the abs, hip flexors, and lower back in addition to the lats and arms, so that more muscle mass is used in the exercise and more reps can be done. The strict versions concentrate the effort on less muscle mass and work it harder.

The strict pull-up is to the strict standing press what the kipping pull-up is to the push-press. Both the strict press and the push-press will get the weight overhead, but the latter way would get it there faster, just as would the kipping pull-up. Think of it from a functional perspective; if you needed to get up on top of a wall as fast as possible would you do a strict pull-up or would you use your entire body to heave yourself up on top of the wall as fast as possible? (and if dogs were chasing you would you even have to consider this?)

Mainly it depends on your goals. I think it's worthwhile for many of us to train as many grips/variations as possible, like thickbar pull-ups, rotating bar pull-ups, ring pull-ups, towel pull-ups, kipping pull-ups, L-sit pull-ups, prone/supine/neutral grip pull-ups, one arm pull-ups, wide, narrow, etc! I don't believe there is any one "best way" to pull our bodies up from a hanging position given the variety of physical obstacles that could fit the bill. These range from tree climbing, to wall climbing, to rope climbing, to sport climbing, to anything climbable. I relate this to the variety of ways that an object can be picked up off of the ground. Sure it would be nice to always lift things up with a straight back, but that isn't always practical, so it makes sense to train with a rounded back too. Ultimately it needs to meet your goals though. So if you just want big strong biceps, do chins, but if you want to climb a tree or use gymnastic rings, better train them all. And if you never have any ambition of competing in Ninja Warrior or scaling the Eiffel Tower there's nothing wrong with that either.

That's really all I have to say about it... I've seen arguments over the legitimacy of kipping go on forever and that's not what this article is about. Look over at crossfit.com and you'll see this already hashed out. It's a personal decision in the end; if you don't like kipping and you prefer to isolate the pulling muscles, do strict pull-ups. It's no big deal.

Hope that clear it up at least a little bit.

[sealwithawkwardness]

I don't know why people are so against Kipping Pull Ups. Honestly, it helped me a lot starting out, and now I can actually do dead hang pull ups because of it. I try not to use the Kip in my workout, but if I'm at my failure point with the dead hangs I'd rather do Kipping than stop with the workout.

[Kevin-cmkc]

'We're not tryin to pull ourselves we wanna pop ourselves'
Haaahahahaha

[gabehorno]

Kipping pull-ups? More like skipping pull-ups.

[kiwidubtee]

It's funny reading some of the comments on here. I used to do a bit of powerlifting; I wanted to get really strong. Whenever I'd do pull ups I would only do them strict and I admit to having a bit of a laugh about kipping. But it's the old "don't knock it til you've tried it" in effect here. I have recently started doing CrossFit and believe me, it is the true test of a real athlete. CrossFit is about muscle endurance, as well as raw strength. The reps involved in any CrossFit WOD are so high that when it comes to pull ups, there is no one on planet Earth that could perform all of them without kipping. In contrast to all the criticism it receives, CrossFit teaches you how to use your body as efficiently as possible when it comes to strength & endurance training. There are guys at my CrossFit gym snatching 100kg+ with ease, so there is definitely no lack of strength among CrossFit athletes. At the end of the day, it is just an exciting and new way to train. It helps you get stronger, fitter, and more explosive. There's people on here saying that kipping pull ups are for people who can't do strict pull ups - believe me all CrossFitters have to learn strict pull ups before they learn how to kip. And before you jump on the bandwagon of hating on CrossFit, remember that these guys and girls squat, deadlift, clean & jerk and snatch a sh*tload of weight for a lot of reps. They also do muscle ups. I know from experience that 99% of average gym junkies CANNOT do muscle ups :)

[xmattzax]

tank u jasen kalipa 4 teching me how 2 krosfitte n i kip al tim but den i kip sum mor n i hav gyud day tnk u jesn kippa 4 teech

[Teerfresse]

Teaching the correct way of doing an incorrect pullup.

[donnelly]

As a 40 year old, I would like to keep my shoulders functional for another 40 years. I have never been a believer in kipping pull-ups. I prefer the dead-hang pull-ups making sure I am activating my upper trapezius, rhomboids, and latissimus dorsi.

[scottbridgman]

Wiki 'pull-up' and you will see many forms, one of them being kipping.  People too often compare kipping to strict (or standard) pullups and cite that they are easier and less work. This is true and is actually the whole point.  Kipping allows someone to do more reps (just like reducing weight in lifting) in a high-rep cardio-induced workout.  If you tried to do Cindy with strict pullups, you will find most of your time was spent resting during your pullups whereas if kipping you could spend little time resting and get a great cardio workout.

[tfpjr]

Jason, thank you so much for sharing this. Enjoyed how you broke it down into segments. Also, congrats on doing so well in the 2011 CF Games!

[jayshizzle]

Crossfit is a sport and style of training. It's not meant to be the best way to bring out your lats. That's what bodybuilding is for. Which there is also nothing wrong with. Do you watch basketball and say its a "joke" because jump shots aren't a real exercise and don't build muscle? No. Because that's not what it's for.

[ilovejforce]

Kipping pull up for dummies! Thanks for this video! I did my first fundamentals class today and the Kipping pull up was so difficult for me. I'm glad I saw your video cuz it made it look a lot easier to learn with the steps. :-)

[azharel]

Thanks for the tips! I am crossfit newbie. This really helps!

[alohakristine]

Awesome tips. Still working on pushing off the bar after I do 1. But its a work in progress. Thanks for the great info.

[carnivaldawgs]

 The purpose of the exercise is to develop power in the core not so much as a lat developer, although your back does assist in the lift. In that regard it probably uses more of the same muscles involved in the hang clean more so than the strict pullup. Just saying.  Yes I prefer doing strict pullups myself. The kipping pullup does have a functional use though. Just an fyi.... Yug Lax,   it's pussies not pussys.  Cody Danielczyk, first time i've ever seen the word  Irrigardlessfully.  I'll try to work that in conversation this week and see if anyone raises an eyebrow. 

[pacifiedfools]

The difference, though, is that the work is generated by different muscles. In the strict pullup the muscles of the back and arms are the prime movers and therefore generate the force of movement. In kipping pullups, flexion and extension of the hips generate kinetic energy that is then transformed into vertical momentum, thus allowing the back and arms to generate a smaller force to perform the repetition. Kip is a full-body exercise, while strict is an upper-body exercise.

[NimW]

How to do the exercise without any of the benefits.

[abefromansausagekingofchic]

I had to pause this video and do some real pull ups just to keep myself sane