Name: Playbook - Jess St John - Glide Kip
Uploaded: 2023-12-13T15:49:49.530Z
Duration: 60 min
Description: Glide Kip

Sarah Herse

Learn the mechanics and practice these drills to get your glide kip

- Jump and catch the bar with hands shoulder width apart and thumbs over the bar
- Pike (bend at the hips), so your toes stay in front and lead the swing
- As you swing in front of the bar, extend your body so you create a straight line from the bar toward the floor on roughly a 45° angle
- Make sure you are in a hollow body position (ribs and hips pulled in, glutes squeezed), and look for your toes
- Do not arch your back 
- Pike as you swing back
- Re-grip hands at the top of your back swing 
- Repeat 3-5 times before coming off the bar (do this 5 times total)

Glide Swing

If you’re struggling with the glide swing, try this.
- Set up a bench or box a few feet in front of your bar
- When you hold the bar, the bench should make contact just under the calf 
- Hold a hollow body position on a 45° angle using the bench to keep you in place
- Lift the toes up by bending at your hips and hold the pike position as you swing back
- Re-grip as needed and swing forward in the pike
- Extend your body so legs reach down in front of the bench
- Do 3-5 without releasing from the bar

Troubleshooting the glide swing

After your glide swing is consistent, we add in the toes
- At the end of your swing you want to think of scooping your toes upward
- Imagine there is a bucket of water you are dipping your toes into and you want to splash it upward toward your face 
- Watch your toes as you swing and watch them as they lift up and in towards the bar

A very important part of the toes to bar portion is the timing
- Your hips should still be travelling forward as your feet lift up (this is why it’s important not to arch your back)
- The further your hips are in front of the bar when your toes come in, the more momentum you will have to get your body up on top of the bar.
- Imagine the pirate ship ride at an amusement park - your torso acts as the ship and your arms and legs attach it to the point in the centre from which it swings back and forth. The higher your hips are when your toes are at the bar, the higher your shoulders will be when you swing to the other side, making the kip easier.

Toes To Bar

Unlike other toes to bar movements you may have done in the past, the glide kip requires your body to be extended in front of the bar when the toes come in. This is necessary to get as much momentum from the hips as possible, which gives momentum to the upper body when you come up on the other side. For this drill
- Set up a box about a foot in front of the bar so that it reaches your lower back, just above the glutes, when your arms are holding the bar
- Boxes tip over easily so I put a bench behind mine to keep it in place
- Hold on to the bar and extend your body in a hollow position 
- Raise your toes to the bar with straight legs and lower the back down with a hollow body
- Watch your toes throughout the entire movement

Troubleshooting toes to bar

- After you see your toes come into the bar, continue to watch the bar
- You should see your shins, knees, and thighs move closer to the bar
- Aggressively squeeze your glutes and push down on the bar to bring your hips up

Some cues for the timing are
- Imagine you’re shaving your legs with the bar from the bottom of your shin up to the top of your thighs 
- You’re pulling up a pair of pants
- You’re completing a deficit stiff legged deadlift (RDL), and pulling the bar from your ankles to your hips as you stand up 

For a bit more power imagine 
- Your toes are a rocket ship taking off into space, they come into the bar and then blast off upward and forward. Your shins, knees, and thighs follow through until your hips are at the bar

Hips to Bar

If you’re struggling with hips to bar, try this:
- Loop a resistance band over the bar and place both feet in it
- Relax your body into a dead hang (the band will hold you in a V position)
- All at once, squeeze your glutes, push down on the bar, and drive the heels down to pull your hips into the bar
- Do not arch your back, hold a hollow body position at the top 
- Slowly return back to your starting position and repeat

Troubleshooting hips to bar

If you’re struggling with the timing or forgetting to bring the toes in before the hips, try this:
- Use a cable machine with a rope attachment and set the resistance to a lighter weight (around 30lbs give or take)
- Lay on a mat on your back with your head a foot or two away from the base of the machine
- Raise your legs to the rope and lift your hips of the ground
- Watch the rope move from your toes to your hips, keeping it close to your body
- Squeeze your glutes to get them to the rope 
- Push your arms down to keep your hands at your hips
- Keep your glutes and core tight to land in a glute bridge

Troubleshooting connecting toes and hips to bar

Step 1: Pike to hollow glide swing
Step 2: Scoop toes up to bar while hips stay in front of bar
Step 3: Squeeze glutes and push down on bar with straight arms to lift the hips to the bar
(See the tutorial for each step for more details, cues, and a better understanding)

Step 4: Finishing in front support 
- Push down on the bar with straight arms, think of trying to push the bar behind you to fully engage your lats
- If you bend the elbows it will stop momentum and require you to muscle your way through the rest of the movement, which is ultimately more fatiguing, and more difficult to continue to flow out of
- Look over the bar, keep the core tight and pull shoulders forward (rounding them slightly), to finish in a front support (see front support tutorial)
- Keep the glutes squeezed to minimize and piking (bending at the hips). Piking slows heel drive and therefore makes it more difficult to pull yourself forward over the bar

Glide Kip

- Start with your hips on the bar and hands on the bar right beside your hips
- Lean forward on a slight angle so your upper body is in front of the bar and your lower body is behind it
- Push down from your shoulders to your hands, rounding the upper back slightly
- This should lift your hips above the bar so your upper thighs are now making contact
- Pull your ribs and hips toward each other to keep the core tight and keep the glutes squeezed 
- Squeeze legs and keep them straight for the strongest position 

Note: this is best to learn on a lower bar (or barbell), that you can jump up to.

Front Support

One of the biggest mistakes made during a glide kip is bending the elbows to pull yourself into the bar. This slows momentum and requires you to muscle your way through, ultimately making it more difficult and very challenging to flow out of. If you can relate, try these
- Using a cable machine and a bar attachment, set the weight to something that will be challenging for you (this will be trial and error, the weight will depend on individual strength as well as the weight of the attachment)
- Hinge your hips back with a slight bend in the knee and extend your arms fully forward
- Push the bar down with straight arms 
- As you stand up, squeeze your glutes and core to assume a hollow body position 
- Try to push the bar behind you - this will fully engage your lats
- You mainly want to feel this just below the armpits, with your core and glutes assisting

The more you think of this movement as pushing down (rather than pulling in), the more you’ll be able to do the same in your glide kip

Troubleshooting getting to front support

Try a glide kip on the floor using a wooden dowel (or broomstick, or hockey stick), in place of the bar
- Raise your toes to the bar
- See the bar travel from your toes to your hips as you squeeze your glutes to lift your hips up
- Stay hollow and try to push the bar behind your hips while keeping straight arms
- Slightly round the shoulders forward and try to drive your heels into the floor to finish the movement

Troubleshooting overall timing

Challenge yourself to do a kip from a cast
- Cast back but don’t pull hips back into the bar
- Bend at the hips (pike), and slightly push down on the bar to control the swing
- Keep arms straight the entire time 
- Extend legs and squeeze into a hollow body position
- Continue to kip

Make it stronger: Drop kip

Strengthen your kip with this drill
- Glide into the swing as if you are going to kip
- Stop in the toes to bar portion 
- Keep core tight and look for your feet to come into the bar
- Continue to swing in this position until you lose momentum or strength and come down

Make it stronger: Peach cup swings

After you’ve practiced kips, drop kips, and peach cup swings, add in peach cup kips to make your kip the strongest it’s ever been
- Starting in a front support, cast back as if you were to do a drop kip
- Pike and pull toes to bar immediately 
- Keep your feet as close to the bar as possible while your hips swing under
- Once the hips are in front of the bar, pick up the rest of the kip from the toes to bar portion

Glide Kip

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