Yesterday I was coaching a CrossFit class and I told the athletes that I do not allow kipping with a band. If you aren’t strong enough, use a band to do strict pull ups, I told them. I am a firm believer in not kipping until you can do at least a few strict pull ups because of wear and tear on the shoulder joint. They looked at me strangely, and during the WOD, one athlete switched from kipping pull ups to the band, and then proceeded to kip with the band. I told him to stop kipping- and that if he needed to take a break between reps, to take a break, or to get a stronger band to assist him. He said, “But I am just trying to get over the bar any way I can.” I told the athlete that he needed to slow down and break up his reps and stop kipping. He didn’t seem too pleased. This whole incident got me thinking a bit more…Is the point of kipping pull ups merely to throw yourself over the bar, irregardless of your form or how you got there? What is the point then of this exercise? Sure, it looks cool to kip, everyone wants to do it, but if your hurling yourself over the bar with bent knees, no core or global engagement, and legs swinging every which way, you need to ask yourself what you are accomplishing, besides looking silly, putting a ton of strain on your shoulders and asking for an injury. I thought I would share this great article called “Why I Haven’t Taught You to Kip”. It is a great article that summarizes why kipping is dangerous if you don’t have the strength to do dead hang pull ups, never mind kipping with a band.
To quote the article. “If you aren’t strong enough to do at least 5 dead hang pull-ups, you should abstain from kips and build up the dead hang using bands, negative, jumping, bands + weight, etc. And once you are strong enough, kips should never completely replace dead hangs. Never.”
Check out the full article here:
Train smart, and train safe, and the results will follow! Happy Training!
