How to Do a Glide Kip

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By Janelle Tipton
eHow Contributing Writer

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A glide kip is an essential gymnastics skill performed on the women's uneven bars and men's parallel bars. Forms of a kip are also done on men's rings and high bar. It is the most common bar mount but is also a transition element, used in almost every level of competition. Performing a kip is all about physics, though you need a certain amount of strength and muscle training to achieve it. You use the momentum of snapping your legs to the bar above your body to lever your torso above the bar. From a kip you will be positioned to move on to a number of other elements.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

A sturdy bar
Chalk
Hand grips (optional)

Step 1

Jump up and forward to grasp the bar, swinging your straightened legs in front of you in a pike position. Keep the shoulders open.
Step 2

Open the hips smoothly as you simultaneously glide the feet forward above the floor until the body is fully extended.
Step 3

Snap the ankles toward the bar using the stomach muscles, hip flexors and quadriceps.
Step 4

As your body swings backward, begin to close the armpits so the hips move toward the hands, sliding the bar up along the legs (without hitting them on the bar).
Step 5

Shift your hands to the top of the bar as you bring your upper body over it, remembering to keep your arms straight.

You should arrive in a supported position with your hips at the bar, upper body tall above the bar and lower body hanging straight down below.

Tips & Warnings

V-ups are a great way to train the strength and fast-twitch muscle action needed to perform a kip. Start on your back with a hollow, rounded body---shoulders, head and legs lifted off the floor. Snap the upper body and lower body toward each other, then return to the starting position. Work up to three sets of 20. Chalk and hand grips can help protect the hands from blisters.
Avoid slamming your ankles into the bar. Keep the elbows straight to keep your chest from crashing onto the bar.