Thoughts on Kipping Pullups

Hey everyone, like I promised I'm going to talk a little bit on kipping pullups. You either love kipping pullups or you hate them, it all depends on who you are. I believe there is a lot of unneeded hate on them however. It can help you break through a wall in your pullups and help you increase your max pullups where strict pullups couldn't do alone. Let me explain a little more.

During my sets I try and keep them as strict as possible. Yesterday I did a 4x12 of pullups and did them all strict pullups because I didn't need to kip. I believe that no matter who you are, you understand that if you can do strict pullups for your sets, why wouldn't you? Stict pullups are obviously harder, but that doesn't take away from the benefits of what kipping pullups can bring to you. For example, a few weeks ago I did a pullup set where I did 5 pullups on a minute for an hour. For the first 27-30 minutes I was doing them completely strict and had relatively no problems. However, once I started to falter in my form and struggling to do strict pullups no longer benefited me I started doing kipping pullups. From about 30 minutes on, I did 7 on a minute and then the last 15 minutes I did 5 on the minute. My lats the next day were absolutely toasted. I felt great and I believe I benefited from doing that set.

When it comes to the point where you can no longer do a strict pullup, why wouldn't you do kipping pullups? It is almost like doing a burn out set for your legs or arms, where you drop the weight and keep going. It's almost like dropping the weight of your body and continuing to hit your lats. There is a time for kipping pullups and there is a time for strict pullups. I have always been indifferent on crossfit, and their philosophy's on lifting. Do I think that you should do kipping pullups from the start? No. However, if you get 10 strict pullups and can no longer do another one, but then you bust out 10 more kipping pullups, that is simply beating up muscles that would have been resting if you didn't. Why stop when you can keep going! I believe to a lot of people, pullups can be intimidating. So start with kipping pullups if you're not very good at strict pullups yet and work your way up. Do I think being able to do 100 kipping pullups is as impressive as doing 40 strict? No. However, if you can do 40 strict and then 20 more kipping pullups then that is simply helping you break though a wall that you wouldn't have been able to before.

This post is simply my opinion, if you disagree or agree please tell me! I am always looking for feedback on what I post, negative or positive. However, if negative please explain why you think that, even if it's positive explain why! I love talking and trying to help people in their goals and aspirations. That's it for me today, I'll see you all bright and early!

Afro-