Strength before Skill

Things I say at the gym on a regular basis:

• “You aren’t allowed to kip if you don’t have strict pull-ups.”
• “You should have rock solid kipping pull-ups before you start attempting butterfly pull-ups.”
• “You should work on strict muscle-ups to get more kipping muscle-ups.”
• “Now that you taught yourself kipping handstand push-ups, go back and learn how to do them strict.”
• “You need to get good at push-ups before attempting ring dips.”
• “Stop bouncing on your pistols and develop your control.”
• “Work on hollow holds to get better at everything.”

Over the last week, we have seen some awesome improvements on the bodyweight skills, with people nailing muscle-ups, handstand push-ups, pistols, and pull-ups left and right. However, there is a danger to doing too much of these movements too early that I want to discuss.

As anyone that has worked to get stronger with the bodyweight movements can attest, it is extremely frustrating and rewarding to put in the effort necessary to perform the higher skill bodyweight movements strict, such as pull-ups, handstand push-ups, ring dips, pistols, muscle-ups, etc. Thus, often times in a rush to get there faster, we quickly jump to dynamic skills before truly developing the proper strength to do the movement strict. While dynamic movements are great for the ego (“I got my first kipping pull-up!!”), we need to take a look at the problems with this reliance on the dynamic motion without properly developing the strength to perform their strict counterparts.

By developing a dynamic movement (often referred to in CrossFit as kipping) before the strict version of a movement, we often expose ourselves to injury by overloading our tissues with forces that we aren’t able to control. A Kelly Starrett reference: imagine trying to catch a barbell loaded with your bodyweight flipping toward you… this is essentially what you are doing when using a kipping movement. Is it better to try to catch the barbell by smoothly cushioning the weight to a stop, or by letting it smack into you at full speed?? This is essentially the difference between having the strength to control your movement or not.

Imagine someone that has a kipping pull-up, but not enough strength to do a strict one. Each time you are doing a kipping pull-up, you are crashing down and hanging on the soft tissue of your shoulder, just asking for an injury. To contrast, the athlete doing a kipping pull-up with the strength to do multiple strict pull-ups will be actively controlling the motion and using their muscles to stabilize the joint during the dynamic portion of the movement. Now, while doing 1 kipping pull-up won’t hurt you, doing hundreds without the proper strength to protect your shoulder will. The same goes for any other movement where you lack the strength to control the movement and end up crashing down on your head/knee/shoulder trying to get a couple more before time runs out.

Things I recommend before using dynamic (kipping) motions on a regular basis:

• 15 perfect push-ups before ring dips
• 5 strict pull-ups before kipping pull-ups
• 30 rock solid kipping pull-ups before butterfly pull-ups
• 3 strict chest-to-bar pull-ups and 3 strict bicep-to-rings dips before a muscle-up
• 5 strict handstand push-ups before kipping
• 5 controlled pistols on both legs before using them in a workout

If you already have the dynamic versions of the movements down, it is time to go back and develop the strength do them slow and controlled with good form. In addition, even once you have hit the prerequisite number of strict reps, you should continue to work the movements strict as well as kipping to continue to develop strength in the full ranges of motion. For example, compare someone who has 10 strict handstand push-ups and another person that has 40 strict handstand push-ups that both can kip efficiently, who do you think will complete 75 handstand push-ups first??

The question is now….. are you going to work to get it?? Post strict bodyweight movement goals to comments!!

Workout of the Day

Level 1

A. Back Squat Test
Find your 3-5RM Back Squat (with good form)

B. Strict Press and Pull-Up Test
Find your 3-5RM Strict Press and Max Strict Pull-Ups (with good form)

C. 2x (Cool-Down)
5 Strict Pull-Ups
10 Strict Push-Ups
15 Air Squats
200m Run

Level 2

A. Front Squat Test
Find your 1-3RM Front Squat (with good form)

B. Strict Press and Pull-Up Test
Find your 1-3RM Strict Press and Max Strict Pull-Ups (with good form)

C. 3x (Cool-Down)
5 Strict Pull-Ups
10 Strict Push-Ups
15 Air Squats
200m Run

Fundamentals

A. AMRAP 12
10 Goblet Squats
30-3 Box Jumps (decrease by 3 ea. round)

B. AMRAP 12
40 OH Walking Lunges
10 Pull-ups
5 Burpees

C. Death by 40m sprint & Push-ups