2 Questions About Pull-Ups

[Notorious]

For some reason, I can't seem to utilize the stretch reflex at all when doing pull-ups. At the bottom my body swings forward a bit and it seems impossible to do another rep until I am still. Do you know of any ways to fix this?

Also, I can only do about 5 kipping pull-ups, even though I feel I can do many more, due to grip problems. After every rep, my grip slips a bit due to the speed of the movement. Is this just a grip strength problem, or am I doing something wrong? My deadlift grip strength is fine.

Thanks!

[Mark Rippetoe]

Both of these are form problems arising from your failure to control your descent. Get some coaching.

[Notorious]

So I basically need to slow down my descent? I'm a little confused as to how to do this for kipping pull-ups. Isn't the descent supposed to be fast?

[Mark Rippetoe]

"Control" and "slow down" are two distinct concepts.

[justinbass]

So I basically need to slow down my descent? I'm a little confused as to how to do this for kipping pull-ups. Isn't the descent supposed to be fast?

In a kipping pullup, don't think about the speed of the decent, think about the direction. At the top of the pullup push away from the bar. This push will swing your body away from the bar. Then swing forward and back into another pullup. It is a skill, and it takes practice. Watch the videos on the crossfit site again and again to see how people approach the kip, and it'll soon become second nature. If you are able to deadlift over your bodyweight with a double overhand grip, you should have no issues with grip strength when kipping. Just hold on harder.

[Headshrinker]

Thanks for the post - I have just started trying kipping pull ups and found the same thing: the grip issue is the rate limiting factor. I can do 14 pull ups from a dead hang, but only 5-6 kipping pull ups. I thought they would be easier!

Here's a follow up question: Once the kipping technique has been more or less mastered can someone generally do more kipping pull-ups than regular pull ups?

[Mark Rippetoe]

The consensus is that you can always do lots more kipping pullups than deadhang, but I'm not convinced that this is always true, especially among people who never train the deadhang or weighted version. Lots of CFers just use pullups as metcon and never really investigate the potential use of the exercise as an upper-body strength movement. If all you do is kip, you can kip more reps. I, on the other hand, seldom do kipping chins, can do 17-18 deadhangs, and doubt very much that I can do that many kippings in one set.