CrossFit utilizes kipping variations of gymnastics movements because of their ability to maximize power output and performance in conditioning workouts. In essence, we can complete more reps consecutively and finish our workouts faster, in addition to the added benefit of full body coordination, to achieve a task. However, it must be reinforced that we absolutely recommend mastering the strict variations of gymnastics elements prior to performing their kipping counterparts.
Does that mean athletes who can currently perform a movement like a kipping handstand push-up should discontinue performing them until demonstrating capacity at strict handstand push-ups? Well … yes — at least as part of moderate to high-volume conditioning workouts. If the urge is still there to perform the kipping movements, these athletes may still practice the kipping as part of the specific warm-up as long as they demonstrate control on the movement’s eccentric (negative) phase. This might be a little disappointing for some of your athletes and hard for coaches to enforce, however, as stated in the CrossFit Journal article “Stand Before You Walk: Gymnastics Foundations”: “When we require a baseline of prerequisite strength for body-weight movement and capacity in strict requirements, we create a culture of excellence within our boxes.”
The recommendation for developing a strict movement before kipping is primarily for safety as well as long-term performance gains. When prerequisite strength and control are lacking there may be excessive stress on the muscles, tendons, and ligaments which may increase the likelihood of injury. In the case of a handstand push-up, not meeting the prerequisite strength demands could even place excessive stress on the neck/cervical spine. In addition to reducing the risk of injury, athletes who spend time developing strength and control in strict movements will build a broader foundation from which future gains can be made while, at the same time, reducing premature performance plateaus.
Now, simply knowing athletes should demonstrate capacity in a strict movement before kipping is an easy standard to measure, but a question many coaches have is, “What do I do until then?” A simple solution could be as simple as building a progression from easiest to hardest movement variations. When athletes demonstrate capacity at an easier variation, they can move on to the next variation and so on. For example, a sample handstand push-up progression might look like:
- Pike handstand push-up.
- Pike handstand push-up with knees on box.
- Pike handstand push-up with feet on box.
- Pike handstand push-up with one foot on box and one foot placed above the hips.
- Negative handstand push-up.
- Strict handstand push-up.
- Kipping handstand push-up.
*While progressing through these movements athletes can also continuously refine the fundamentals of a tripod position and handstand hold variation.
To avoid getting stagnant with scaling options for daily workouts, we can also provide athletes a variety of options relative to their current ability levels to help drive long-term growth and reduce boredom. Luckily, the CrossFit Training Instagram page provides routine tips and ideas for scaling movements. Below is a sample of this creativity in action:
If you feel you may have rushed your athletes to kipping movements to get them to the Rx’d version of workouts too soon, you are not alone. We’ve all made the same error with ourselves and with our athletes. Fortunately, it’s never too late to take a step back and refine proper positioning and strength development with strict movements. As a coach, you are responsible for holding this standard with your athletes. While some athletes may experience frustration from slowing down and returning to the basics, this feeling can initially be mitigated by emphasizing the reason for this strategy. Then, when performance improvements inevitably occur, your proud, elated athletes will not only thank you, but they will have developed an even deeper trust for you as their coach.
Additional Resources
The following four-part series is an amazing resource for proper implementation of gymnastics elements:
Stand Before You Walk: Gymnastics Foundations
Comments on Strict Before Kipping?
The Muscle Up link isn’t working for me.
I do fully understand, support and apply the strict-before-kipping policy. Especially the shoulder girdle should be fully developped before we expose the shoulder joint to high intensity dynamic kipping variations such as the HSPU. But... are we really insisting on mastering the strict muscle-up before permitting the kipping one? Could we be satisfied when athletes demonstrate sufficient capacity in the strict+kipping pullup, t2b and dip to let them directly go for the kipping muscle-up?
Awesome read!
Simple, easy to read article that deserves some thought by coaches and athletes alike, thank you!
Appreciate the thoughts. But I wonder how universally true this is for all movements that can be "kipped." Is there a downside to kipping on a dip if that is what allows you to practice? As a coach with MS and HS level girls, many of whom are not even close, teaching them to kip a toes-to-bar gives them a measure of success that they might never achieve if the rule was that they must always master a strict before moving forward. Even a pull-up may seem way out of reach until a student learns to kip. This success often leads to more practice, which ultimately leads to success with a strict movement. I don't claim any expertise in this discussion, I just know that for some of my athletes, the injury risk is low (they come with high mobility, and we work to carefully build their kip movements up little by little). In some movements, the frustration level can be high with "strict" expectations. So, I ask the question just how universal this "rule" is or are there movements or different athletes that can be approached differently?
Interesting question. I think the root of the article boils down to safety. I see toes to bar as the "safest" kipping movement as there is no significant up or down motion that can add excessive stress to the joints. Ring dips are not as explosive as the pull-up or handstand push-up due to the limited nature of assistance from the hips, and therefore require the most strength. As the article says, practicing these kipping movements is not wrong, but using them for moderate-to-high volume workouts should be delayed until proper strict strength is shown.
Awesome article. Sticking to the basics and building a strong foundation will always set you up for success. In this case, with your gymnastics!
Very true, for coaches who can always reinforce this concept in their classes. Yet, we as CrossFit Coaches and athletes are under the massive attacks (all these social media reels and videos mainly) from the Calisthenics folks simply because of our "kipping" movements, especially butterfly pull-ups/ CTBs. I know I know, we should not pay any attention to these clowns who can't lift the way we do, like a snatch and C&J, and if every element is to out together for a workout, we'd always have the edge, because there shouldn't be any comparisons at all. But by having those "bad form" movements posted on social media, we are not helping ourselves in a way to let people know how great CrossFit is in general, too. It's just so sad that there are ways to defend ourselves, but it is also either 1. they won't listen, they refuse to learn, and they refuse to educate themselves; or 2. there are coaches who just simply don't care and do not have the right and correct knowledge to teach our athletes the "standards" of the movements...
Strict Before Kipping?
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