To Kip or Not to Kip, That is the Question!
by Coach Tony Kaminski
From the beginning Crossfitters have embraced kipping as a way to move more efficiently, complete more reps in less time, and crank up the intensity of a workout. Conversely, critics have bemoaned kipping as hazardous, sloppy, and as cheating the movement. As is often true when two sides have at it like this, neither is totally right, and neither is totally wrong.
It is true that kipping is more efficient and also more intense. It includes more of your body, and requires rhythm and coordination. It requires less strength, and gets you from A to B quicker. Sounds great, right? Well, it is.
The catch, though, something many forget on their quest to Rx WODs, is that the ability to perform each kipped or kippable movement strictly, slowly, and without any momentum is an essential foundation to kipping. There are several reasons for this. Let’s address each of the hypothetical critic’s concerns.
Is it hazardous? The frank truth is, yes, yes it is. While thankfully it seems uncommon, swinging around on a pullup bar and jerking your weight around when you don’t have the strength to move that same load in a controlled manner is asking for a shoulder injury.
Is it sloppy? Not inherently, but in practice, it often is. Kipping pullups aren’t simply getting your chin over the bar by any means possible (although it may degrade into this late in a WOD when fatigue is a factor, but that is a different story). There is a very deliberate, specific way to do this (hollow body, feet together, don’t bend the knees, etc). If you don’t have that requisite strength required to control your body weight through a slow and simple range of motion you’re going to have a hard time controlling that same load when it has considerable momentum behind it.
Is it cheating? Well, that’s debatable, and it depends on your goals. But kipping without that foundational strength is cheating yourself. Satisfied with acquiring the skill, some athletes will neglect strict gymnastics movement and never bother to develop them. Strict pullups are incredibly functional and valuable. If you have to climb a rope or the side of a cliff to safety, the ability to do dead-hang pullups is going to help you a lot more than your ability to kip. For Games competitors, the standards often change from year to year, and what was allowed once may not be allowed the next time. “Strict” WODs may be prescribed. Finally, it is simply a way to add more variety to training and to be more varied and inclusive with your fitness, a stated goal of Crossfit.
So please, put the effort in during our gymnastics skill work. This time, as well as strength and weightlifting work, is really, in my opinion, the meat and vegetable of what we do here. It is not, and should not be regarded as, an extension of the warm-up. This is what gives you the foundation of both strength and confidence to attack the WODs with fervor. Fran does not make you strong. Diligently doing your front squats, push-presses, and dead-hang pullups make you strong. Fran just takes that strength and adds to it endurance, stamina, speed, coordination, and that wonderful feeling of “I can’t believe I survived that!”
To paraphrase Coach Glassman, speed is clearly vital to many endeavors, from racecar driving, to typing, to armed combat. It is critically important. But it is never more critical than proper technique, and accuracy. Speed without technique would only cause crashes, typos, and injured civilians.
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