Your Kip is BACK! Well, sort of.
Last month we took the swing away from everyone. We tested your dead hang pull-up strength (as well as pushups, hand stand pushups, and toes to bar) and worked for 4 weeks on basic gymnastic skills in order to improve those strengths -err weaknesses. This week we will re-test your 2 minute max- efforts and see if you are ready to get your swing on.
In order to get that kip back you MUST meet the following criteria:
– 5 (preferably 10) dead hangs
Can you do this 5 times?
Please know that your coaches are only enforcing this new rule with your safety, strength, and training in mind. We want you to get that dead hang. And what better way to encourage you to speed up the process than by eliminating the aid of that violent and catastrophic kip that we have seen you do and FORCING you to go strict?!
But what we REALLY want is to protect you; from that violent swing that you have no business doing unless you have the “DEAD HANG STRENGTH” to do so, from yourself; because we know how badly you want to complete “FRAN” as Rx’d, how cool is it to kip like the rest of ’em, and how much faster you can finish your WOD if you swing like a monkey in that green band. We also know how terrible that lack of “dead hang strength” coupled with a violent elbow + shoulder + hip+ sometimes knee swing can be on your shoulders, elbows, joints, and ligaments. Trust us, we want you to NOT be injured so that you can continue to train with us. We are NOT trying to take the FUN out of CrossFit.
We are not trying to hold you back either. Trust me- we will not be holding you back from making it to the CrossFit games. I can promise you that every athlete that qualifies and/or wins a CrossFit competition can do dead hang pull-ups.
So what does this mean for those of us without the “dead hang strength”?
It means we will continue to scale our pull-ups like we have always done.
It means we will continue to improve our strength by practicing our DH’s (dead hangs).
It means we will thank our Coaches for ensuring the safety of our shoulders and we will respect our Coaches when they tell us to “stop swinging”.
With Rules there will always be Exceptions:
– Toes to Bar & Knees to Elbow kips will be allowed by all (in active hollow body only).
– KIPPING will be accepted in all forms during OPEN WODs only (that’s only 5 workouts)
– Practicing your kipping swing/pullup is acceptable & encouraged (outside of a WOD).
Questions? Comments? Post ’em below!
Karen I think you’re taking a great approach with this. Establishing a foundation prior to more intense, dynamic body movements is critical for not only injury prevention but also the end goal; improved training performance and outcomes.
The dead hang pull-up is an absolute necessity for your athletes to master prior to engaging in higher levels of aggressive movements and motor control patterns. If they jump ahead and bypass sound foundational principles they’re leaving themselves open for an injury.
I’ve worked with numerous athletes as both a chiropractor and strength and conditioning specialist and the ones who stay healthy and perform at elite levels are those who put the time into developing and maintaining solid foundations.
Again, I think it’s great what you’re doing and your athletes will without question benefit from it!
I have gotten much stronger over the last month as a result of working on dead hang pull-ups. I’ve gone from a green band, to a red and blue band, to just a blue band.
One of the things I most like about CrossFit OIB is the concern with safety and using good form. That keeps us all more injury-free.