Anon Kip Development

[Anonymous (0fc4)]

Is there any kind of typical progression gymnasts take when it comes to learning and mastering their kip or is it really all over the map?

Last summer during off season my 6 year old DD’s group started light heartedly working kips as they were up training for the next level even though kips aren’t necessary in this level either and much to everyone’s surprise she got it the first day they tried them. Over the next few weeks she would make them more often than not. They weren’t straight armed and pretty but they were all right. Then they started working routines as they moved into fall and up training hasn’t been as emphasized through the season. They still occasionally give kips a try here and there but they haven’t been drilling them or giving them much focus. Now she only makes maybe 1 in 10 and they’re pretty muscled up.
Is this to be expected on the kip journey (the regression and lack of consistency)?
She seemed to be understanding the motion fairly well last summer and she’s now six months older and likely more coordinated and stronger so I guess I just assumed it would be getting easier not more sporadic. I’m sure it’s also very possible that they just aren’t working them enough for her to keep progressing with it but I’m just wondering if people with more experience on how kids develop and progress in this sport can weigh in on what to expect? It sure seems like an elusive skill for many kiddos but so far she hasn’t had much experience with skills coming and going so this is new to us.

 

[Anonymous (1db2)]

For a lot of kids the first kip is a muscle up as they don't have the timing down yet and are rushing to get over the bar.

There are a lot of drills for the kip that don't seem like they are training kips, but developing core strength, extending, and understanding the timing can be done while not trying to kip per se.

 

[Dahlialover]

This is 100% normal.

 

[Anonymous (8744)]

Normal. But…. a kip is one of the most important skills in gymnastics-it is much better you take the time to teach correctly. It’s very hard to fix bent arm/leg/muscled up kips.

 

[Anonymous (762e)]

Someone posted this years ago here so I can’t take credit for it, but during the time when it seemed like a kip was never going to happen and then when it came and went and came back, I found solace in this video:

 

[Anonymous (0fc4)]

Someone posted this years ago here so I can’t take credit for it, but during the time when it seemed like a kip was never going to happen and then when it came and went and came back, I found solace in this video:

Haha I’ve seen that and it always makes me laugh.
I am really just wondering if it’s normal to get it for a while and then have it become less consistent as a good bit of time passes instead of more consistent. She’s very young and has plenty of time but with most skills six months after the first time she did it the skill has improved. Kipping seems to be the exception.

 

[Dahlialover]

I am really just wondering if it’s normal to get it for a while and then have it become less consistent as a good bit of time passes instead of more consistent.

It’s so common for kids to lose their kips that there is even a polite term for it: “their kip went on vacation”.

 

[Anonymous (0fc4)]

It’s so common for kids to lose their kips that there is even a polite term for it: “their kip went on vacation”.

Ha!
Good to know! There’s only one other kid in the group that has a kip and she hasn’t experienced any coming and going so this is all new for me! Thanks for the reassurance.

 

[Anonymous (762e)]

It’s so common for kids to lose their kips that there is even a polite term for it: “their kip went on vacation”.

My kid’s kip went on vacation during the summer gym break. The coaches joked that it must have booked a separate return flight from my daughter’s.

Somewhere on her I saw something about the number of drills/attempts it takes to get a reliable kip. Maybe it was 2000 or maybe it was more, but it was a huge number. The year my daughter was working on hers, she latched onto that number and made me help her calculate how many practices it would take to get that many reps in. Then she made up her own drills at home to accelerate the process and figured out the new date. Her kid became reliable within a week of that date. I don’t know anything about gymnastics except that it did seem to take a certain threshold of reps to get the timing just right.

Her teammates who got their kips instantly or naturally were exceptions to that, but then they had a season and a half of bent arms and missed kips at meets.

 

[skschlag]

It’s so common for kids to lose their kips that there is even a polite term for it: “their kip went on vacation”.

So true! My son used to pretend he lost it under the mats, or in the pit. He would go looking for whatever skill seemed to be missing at the time.

 

[Anonymous (9b41)]

Someone posted this years ago here so I can’t take credit for it, but during the time when it seemed like a kip was never going to happen and then when it came and went and came back, I found solace in this video:

I was just thinking of this video! Its common for my husband and I to tease our (level 10) daughter at the dinner table asking her when she will start kipping? Its been a long standing running joke now for years.. she hates us lol.

As far as learning the kip, totally normal when learning it to lose it several times and takes months for it to get nice and consistent.