| But isn’t it cheating? |
 The kipping pull-up (as opposed to the traditional strict dead-hang pull-up) is used in Crossfit for a variety of reasons. By “kipping” we are able to do more work in a shorter amount of time. Typically an athlete can increase his or her pull-up numbers by a multiple of two or more thus allowing them to increase the amount of work they can do in a shorter amount of time. The increase in work and reduction in time increases the overall power output of a given workout. Power is defined as work divided by time or equivalently (Force x distance)/time- therefore decreasing the time it takes to complete a particular workout involving pull-ups results in an increased power output. The reason we care about Power more than strength or endurance or even speed in Crossfit, is that power output is what taxes the whole human system to the greatest degree – and thereby elicits the highest neuroendocrine response- i.e. positive increases in the good hormones (testosterone, growth hormone, IGF, etc.) Additionally, the kipping pull-up requires more overall body coordination, involves more synergist musculature, and is more anerobically challenging than the conventional pull-up. The whole point of our metabolic conditioning workouts (most named workouts and in general those that are timed) is to measure/challenge power output. When we increase an individual’s ability to increase power we observe a corollary increase in absolute strength, speed, endurance and stamina. If workouts are designed to increase absolute strength, strength is the only area of improvement. Strength is good, but we are greedy and want improvement in all areas of fitness! So, Kipping is the way to go most of the time. It is not about what feels/works the best to you, it’s about power output. A great video of Coach Glassman explaining the kipping pull-up: http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_Kipping1-Concept.wmv Eva teaching the Kipping pull-up http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/eva-on-kipping.wmv |