Kipping Pull-up Program

Week 1

Mini-workout 1:
First, test where you stand. If you meet the pre-requisites, complete the mini-workout for the day and then move on to Level 2 for your next mini-workout.
1)
Test - Max Unbroken Push-ups
Test - Max Unbroken Ring Rows
Test - Max Engaged Bar Hang
Test - Max Engaged Ring Support

2)
2 Rounds
Hard Set Push-ups
20-second Rest
Hard Set Ring Rows
3-minute Rest
*A hard set should be about 2 reps shy of failure.

Week 1

Mini-workout 2:
1)
Bench Press
5 Rep Technical Max*

*A Technical Max is the most weight or reps you can do before technique breaks down. In other words, after your max, you should NOT say, “It looked nasty, but at least I got it.”

2)
Bent-over Barbell Rows
10 Rep Technical Max*

3)
2 Rounds
Max Engaged Bar Hang
20-second Rest
Max Engaged Ring Support
1-minute Rest

Weeks 2+

Mini-workout 1:
First, test where you stand. If you meet the pre-requisites, complete the mini-workout for the day and then move on to Level 2 for your next mini-workout.
1)
Test - Max Unbroken Push-ups
Test - Max Unbroken Ring Rows
Test - Max Engaged Bar Hang
Test - Max Engaged Ring Support

2)
2 Rounds
Hard Set Push-ups
20-second Rest
Hard Set Ring Rows
3-minute Rest
*A hard set should be about 2 reps shy of failure.

Weeks 2+

Mini-workout 2:
1)
3 Rounds
5 Bench Press (On Week 2, start at 90% of your 5 RM from Week 1. Add 2.5% every week you on on this level)
20-second Rest
10 Bent-over Barbell Rows (Start with your 10 rep technical max from week 1. Stay at that weight until you can complete all 3 rounds of 10 reps. Then, add 2.5% the next week and repeat)
3-minute Rest

2)
2 Rounds
Max Engaged Bar Hang
20-second Rest
Max Engaged Ring Support
1-minute Rest

Week 1

Mini-workout 1:
First, test where you stand. If you meet the pre-requisites, complete the mini-workout for the day and then move on to Level 2 for your next mini-workout.
1)
Test - Max Strict Pull-ups
Test - Max Strict Ring Dips

2)
3 Rounds
8 Banded Strict Pull-ups (Try and choose a Band that makes 8 Pull-ups as hard as possible)
20-second Rest
8 Banded Strict Ring Dips (Try and choose a Band that makes 8 Ring Dips as hard as possible)
3-minute Rest

*A hard set should be about 2 reps shy of failure.

Week 1

Mini-workout 2:
3 Rounds
10 Bench Press (70% of your heaviest set of 5 Bench Presses from Level 1. Or, if you tested out of Level 1, estimate, but start with about 60% of a 1 RM)
0:20 Rest
5 Jumping Pull-up Negatives (Use a box or a low bar to jump up to the bar, try and hold you chin over the bar and then lower yourself down as slow as possible.)

Weeks 2+

Mini-workout 1:
First, test where you stand. If you meet the pre-requisites, complete the mini-workout for the day and then move on to Level 2 for your next mini-workout.
1)
Test - Max Strict Pull-ups
Test - Max Strict Ring Dips

2)
3 Rounds
Hard Set Banded Strict Pull-ups (Use the same bands as last week, but, once your hard set is more than 16 reps, graduate to a thinner band next week)
20-second Rest
Hard Set Banded Strict Ring Dips (Use the same bands as last week, but, once your hard set is more than 16 reps, graduate to a thinner band next week)
3-minute Rest

*A hard set should be about 2 reps shy of failure.

Weeks 2+

Mini-workout 2:
3 Rounds
10 Bench Press (If you were able to complete 3 rounds of 10 reps last week, then add 2.5% to last week. If you were unable to complete all 3 rounds of 10 reps last week, try that weight again this week)
20-second Rest
5 Jumping Pull-up Negatives (Use a box or a low bar to jump up to the bar, try and hold you chin over the bar and then lower yourself down as slow as possible.)
3-minute Rest

Using software for video analysis, I work with clients remotely to help them fast-track their progress. If you’re interested in me reviewing your videos clips and providing you feedback and exactly what to work on next, check-out the very bottom of this page for the details!

Before you get too far, check in on how you jump up to the pull-up bar! There is an extremely common mistake people make that makes learning kipping pull-ups (and toes-to-bars and bar muscle-ups) almost impossible. Rhythm is everything you don’t want jumping up to the pull-up bar in the wrong way to immediately crush your rhythm and control. Long story short, make sure you are starting directly under the pull-up bar and not jumping forward to it.

Grip and Body Position

In the kipping pull-up your only connection to an external object is the bar. Because of this, your grip is vitally important and often an area athletes put very little thought. Your grip on the pull-up bar matters…a lot. In addition, athletes dump power out all over the place through broken spine positions and loose shoulder joints. The better engaged and braced your body position, the more effectively you’ll transfer power. Knit pick your body positions, it will have a huge boost to your max numbers! It’s the difference between good and great!

A) Follow-along Warm-up for Pull-up Practice ->

B)
15 Second Engaged Bar Hang
3 Strict Pull-ups
3 Playground Dismounts
3 Sets of 3 Kip Swing and Pauses
3 Sets of 3 Hollow to Arch Kip Swings
3 Sets of 3 Kip Swing + Hip Throws

C) C-Kip Pull-up

Once you’ve got some practice in with the priority on the kip swing and hip throw, we can start adding in the actual C-Kip Pull-up. Remember, the kip is the same in the C-Kip and the Butterfly kip! When I work with people 1-on-1, they struggle with butterfly pull-ups because their C-Kip is not yet fully developed, so perfect the C-Kip to avoid the extremely common, and incorrect, comment about butterfly pull-ups: “Butterfly pull-ups use more upper body strength.” They actually use less!!! But, we’ve got to improve the kip for this to be true and it is improved in the C-Kip and then transferred to the Butterfly kip.

D) One Butterfly Pull-up. One? Yes, one;)

Next, work on getting one perfect kipping pull-up and ring dip. Don’t worry about if you are doing a butterfly kipping pull-up or a C-kip pull-up, the way you will perform one pull-up is basically the same. The common practice mistake is to start with sets of 3-5 pull-ups. The issue here is typically, if the athlete has skipped the drill where we do 1 pull-up and start the swing of the next, then the athlete has not yet figured out how to consistently get in position for rep #2. So, the athlete does 3-5 reps all out of sync. By practicing 1 rep and initiate rep #2, not only can the athlete get more practice time in, but it is quality practice time. Start with the Butterfly Pull-up Singles drill before you move on to practicing bigger sets.

Center of Mass Manipulation

At MovementLink, we talk about skill transfer all the time and this is a major concept that can help you become more efficient in many situations. It will help with the kipping ring dip, the muscle-up, but also things that are seemingly less related like box jumps.

The eccentric (the negative or the way down) portion of the ring dip is the most fatiguing. It’s easy for us to imagine kipping the way up in the ring dip, but we can also kip the way down. By kipping the way up and the way down, we are putting more pressure on holding the bottom and top position and way less effort into the actual pressing up and down motions making the kip even more efficient.

Developing the Ring Dip Kip

Kipping up on the ring dip has three phases:

1. Starting with long legs and driving your knees up towards your chest. This accomplishes:

   • Putting your hips into a “jump” position to be used in the next phase and

   • Generates upward momentum.

2. The second phase is using a jumping pattern with your hips to extend them to propel your body up.

3. The third phase, which needs to be done immediately after the second phase, is the actual pressing with your arms.