WAG Can’t get my kip

[haileyyy]

I’m having a real problem that I’ve sort of been avoiding, but it’s really catching up to me. I’m in Xcel Gold and have been for three years. I know 3 years of a level is really uncommon (and I’m pretty embarrassed about it), but I could’ve been platinum a long time ago if it wasn’t for the fact that I somehow still don’t have a kip. I just don’t get it because the skills I have on other events don’t match up with my bars (if that makes sense). At camp, when we were split up by skill level, everyone else in my group could do their kip easily. It feels like one day I just came to practice and realized all of my friends had theirs and I didn’t. But it just seems like no matter what I do, I can’t get it. My coaches, honestly, seem to have given up on me. I guess I’m just asking for advice or if anyone has had a similar experience. I really need to get this solved because pullovers are already not super common in gold, and it’s impossible to get around a kip in platinum.

 

[rd7]

It's hard to say without a video, what do your coaches say you need to do? How is your glide, if you can improve that it will help.

 

[haileyyy]

It's hard to say without a video, what do your coaches say you need to do? How is your glide, if you can improve that it will help.

My coaches say I’m really close but I need to shift my hands. And I agree with them, I just can’t seem to shift them over at the end no matter how many drills I do for it. My glide is decent, but sometimes when I’m doing it into a kip I hit my feet on the floor because I’m 5’6.

 

[rd7]

Not being able to shift your hands is usually because something else is not quite right before that stage. Do you extend your glide before bringing your toes to the bar? Do you shoot your legs up keeping contact with the bar after bringing your toes to the bar? (a lot of gymnasts make the mistake of driving their legs down and away instead of up). Do you have enough strength in the shoulder closing element? If none of the above, have you tried a straddle glide?

 

[haileyyy]

Not being able to shift your hands is usually because something else is not quite right before that stage. Do you extend your glide before bringing your toes to the bar? Do you shoot your legs up keeping contact with the bar after bringing your toes to the bar? (a lot of gymnasts make the mistake of driving their legs down and away instead of up). Do you have enough strength in the shoulder closing element? If none of the above, have you tried a straddle glide?

I’ll definitely try to pay more attention to those things next time I work on them. I already do a straddle glide because everyone has told me I’m just too tall to do a pike glide on the low bar.