Do kipping pullups...

astronomicals
astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
help to strengthen your rotator cuffs?

What muscles would be activated more by doing this motion versus a regular pull up?

Does anyone do both regular and kipping pullups? If so, have you noticed benefits as opposed to just doing one or the other?

Say whatever you want to contribute...

Replies

  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
    I personally haven't tried them ( I can do unassisted pullups in case you were wondering). I think they probably have value like many forms of controlled cheating. Doing slow negatives seems like it could be beneficial, but, I never see that in the videos of people kipping.
  • Vonwarr
    Vonwarr Posts: 390 Member
    Kipping is generally not a great idea. If you HAD to do a large number of pull-ups for some reason, kipping could help you accomplish that. However it can be exceptionally hard on your shoulder joints. Especially if it is being used to go beyond what you could do with strict pull-ups, as your shoulders get looser when they get tired and the joint becomes more prone to injury.

    If you are strength training, you will get more benefit to the intended target muscles using strict form. If you really want to work on your rotator cuff strength, OHP is a great way to build it. You can also do external rotations as an assistance exercise. You would do much better for your shoulders in general with those than by introducing kipping pull-ups.

    Here's a pretty good article on it: http://www.tonygentilcore.com/blog/all-the-hype-behind-kipping-pull-ups/
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
    ishygddt
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    There is a great deal of strength involved in getting AROUND the bar.

    You have to be very careful- check out Kstarr's mobility on the "butterfly kipping shoulder issue" will give you some insite on how to do them without tearing your shoulders to shreds.

    I mostly do straight pull ups- but I'm training for muscle ups- so I include a little bit of a swing to help with my "explosive" pull- since I'm such a straight hanging puller.
  • Pinkranger626
    Pinkranger626 Posts: 460 Member
    Most of the kipping pull-ups that I've witness are not controlled cheating... just cheating straight up. It's really bad for your rotator cuff to do such jarring movement so quickly (muscle stretch contractions and such) and it greatly increases your risk of injury as those muscles are small . Plus, kipping sort of negates the muscles that are meant to be engaged when doing pullups, which sort of defeats the whole point of doing pullups IMO. I'm sure there are techniques that will make kipping safer, but I'd prefer to just use an assist if I need it and do proper pull-ups.

    If you're looking to strengthen your rotator cuff muscles you can do W's with a resistance band, Sword Pulls, Lat raises, Pushups, Standard Pullups, negative pull-ups, Cable crossovers and pulldowns, side planks, seated rows. Like I said before, the rotator muscles are very small so a lot of the major exercises that involve the larger muscles groups do include rotators as they help with different movements.
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
    Pullups of any sort aren't good rotator cuff exercises.

    Kipping to increase your rep numbers is dumb and largely pointless.

    Kipping is very useful though if you are trying to pull high to get over the bar.
  • Leadfoot_Lewis
    Leadfoot_Lewis Posts: 1,623 Member
    Most of the kipping pull-ups that I've witness are not controlled cheating... just cheating straight up.

    LOL - Well said!
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    How can you cheat on something that's completely made up? Pull ups are made up. Kipping pull ups are made up. They are two different things. A push press isn't a cheating OHP , it's a push press. Is a chin up a cheating pull up too? Do them or don't do them, but don't act like one of them was created from the whispered words of a burning bush
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    I like to do them from a dead hang, with a false grip and concentrate on bringing my elbows into my lats (as opposed to pulling myself up). I read this somewhere once (could have been something by Pavel maybe?) and have done them this way ever since.

    I have a bum shoulder, but doing them this way seems to give good protection to the shoulder and also seems to emphasises lat activation (at least for me).

    Having a dodgy shoulder, I just don't like the look of those kipping whatchamacallits.... but I have no evidence to suggest they are actually harmful to your shoulder. Just to be on the safe side though.....
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    Pullups of any sort aren't good rotator cuff exercises.

    Kipping to increase your rep numbers is dumb and largely pointless.

    Kipping is very useful though if you are trying to pull high to get over the bar.

    Pretty much this.

    Great in a gymnastics setting, not so much for your average fitness punter who could easily use different methods to accomplish the same goal much more safely. Of course, they don't quite look as sexy...
  • jimmmer
    jimmmer Posts: 3,515 Member
    help to strengthen your rotator cuffs?

    Missed this bit first time around. It's primarily a lat exercise.

    Good stuff for shoulders includes (but is not limited to): TGU's, windmills and Indian Club drills. I had massive success just by chucking windmills and TGU's into my warm-ups so that I was doing them everyday. After a year of that, my (18 year) hate affair with my shoulder seems like a distant memory. YMMV, but I wouldn't look to pull ups (kipping or otherwise) to deliver a trouble-free shoulder.

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