Anon Practicing Kip at home

[mazz642]

Hi all!
My daughter is an (AU) level 4 and is learning her Kip. She is super strong, one of the strongest in the levels program at her gym (and I do not say this as a bias parent but rather been told/seen for myself). She is struggling to get her Kip and has started to practice at home on our little bar. I do not want her to push this and then end up with bad form but she is so determined and she asks me for help but I am not a coach so I do not know how to help her. It SEEMS as though she loses it at the point after her feet pike to the bar and then she just drops herself off once she tries to pull up and can't. There are girls in her group that already have theirs and they are not as strong so I am not sure what is holding her back. From videos I have watched those who have just learned it are often forcing themselves up at the end whereas she just drops herself off the bar when she can't get it so it seems like that part is all about strength but she gives up and doesn't keep pulling?
Any tips on how I can help her or do I try to discourage her from practicing at home at all?

 

[GymnastPotterhead]

Practicing at home would probably develop bad habits. If she is working on it at the gym, leave it to the coaches. A kip is a hard skill to get, takes a long time for most people. The rhythm and timing of this skill is super important - so "less stronger" girls may have gotten it. Its better to not compare though, everyone gets it at different times

 

[GymDadWA]

My DD was super strong like yours and I built her a bar to learn her kips on, instead of a kip she self taught herself a muscle up she then had to take a whole year to unlearn it and learn a proper kip so that she could cast properly out of it. Spent more time unlearning and learning then just learning it correctly from the beginning.

In hindsight I would have never built her the bar.

 

[Anonymous (8516)]

Home practice is best for refining skills rather than learning new skills. Work on improving existing skills like casts, hip-circles, glides, pullovers, leg lifts, etc at home. This will improve strength and timing, which will help with learning the kip. Once she gets her kip inconsistently at the gym, then practice it at home to build consistency.

Kips are all about timing and practicing doing it wrong at home will move her further from the goal rather than closer. You can Google “conditioning exercises for kips” if she really wants some kip-focused homework.

Good luck!

 

[mazz642]

My DD was super strong like yours and I built her a bar to learn her kips on, instead of a kip she self taught herself a muscle up she then had to take a whole year to unlearn it and learn a proper kip so that she could cast properly out of it. Spent more time unlearning and learning then just learning it correctly from the beginning.

In hindsight I would have never built her the bar.

Thanks for sharing. That's good to know as better she takes longer to get it and gets it properly.

 

[mazz642]

Practicing at home would probably develop bad habits. If she is working on it at the gym, leave it to the coaches. A kip is a hard skill to get, takes a long time for most people. The rhythm and timing of this skill is super important - so "less stronger" girls may have gotten it. Its better to not compare though, everyone gets it at different times

That makes a lot of sense. Perhaps her timing is off so her strenth isn't the factor here.

 

[mazz642]

So an update (in case anyone ever searches kip like I did).. she has it! It just suddenly came. Interestingly so can do it at gym but not at home on our bar so there's that. I guess because it's not 'bouncy' like a normal bar/maybe chalk etc. Now she doesn't even try at home as she says it feels too different which I thought was a pretty mature decision for a 7 year old.

 

[Anonymous (23a2)]

So an update (in case anyone ever searches kip like I did).. she has it! It just suddenly came. Interestingly so can do it at gym but not at home on our bar so there's that. I guess because it's not 'bouncy' like a normal bar/maybe chalk etc. Now she doesn't even try at home as she says it feels too different which I thought was a pretty mature decision for a 7 year old.

Yay! That makes me happy for her!

Mine has said the same thing about our home bar. I was anxious about whether she should be practicing skills and she said “they won’t be as good because this bar isn’t bouncy like the gym” and decided she will do drills only.

I thought a bunch of girls in her group had their kips but she corrected me and said they don’t because they aren’t straight-armed and they’re muscling up, so the coaches don’t count them.

 

[Anonymous (65e6)]

Yay! That makes me happy for her!

Mine has said the same thing about our home bar. I was anxious about whether she should be practicing skills and she said “they won’t be as good because this bar isn’t bouncy like the gym” and decided she will do drills only.

I thought a bunch of girls in her group had their kips but she corrected me and said they don’t because they aren’t straight-armed and they’re muscling up, so the coaches don’t count them.

It was an exciting moment. The whole gym apparently stopped and cheered hehe. She loves it when the big kids egg her on. It's nice when they come to these decisions isn't it? Mine doesn't even really do drills at home, she just mucks around on it hanging upside down, back hip circles etc, which is fine.