Anyone doing a little bit of workout and exercise considers himself the fittest man around. You might not be the best but you sure are an expert when it comes to athletics and fitness advice.
But most of us fail to realize that fitness is more about being healthy and active and not just knowing how to lift some weights around the gym. The ability to perform various types of gym activities requires practice and regular exercise sessions.
Weight lifting, power lifts, squats, gymnastics, curling and many other similar activities together make you a good athlete in this field. Fitness in different portions of the body can be achieved by performing separately such activities. Kip up is one example of such an activity that most of us only dream of doing when we start going to the gym.
Many of us might be regular gym goers for years but still, might not know how to do a kip up? Many of us might not even know what is a kip up? This article is all about helping such friends of mine in the gym and giving them some information about kip ups.
What Is The Kip Up?
So what is a kip up you might ask? Well, it is a type of acrobatic movement that makes a person stand up from a laying down position but at a very fast pace. Anyone less fit or looking from a distance might consider it to be superhuman activity, but believe me, it is very much humanly possible with a little flexibility and practice.
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The Kip Up Basics:
Kip-up requires lots of coordination and synchronization between the muscles and the overall strength in our body. The person doing the kip up must follow a specialized technique that allows the process to complete without any damages to the bones and muscles.
Kip-up has been given different names in different forms of exercises, martial arts, and gymnastics. More expert trainers regard it as a form of tricking as well.
Tricking, if you do not know, is a combination of movements from martial arts and gymnastics. It involves mastering various types of specialized moves like cartwheeling, hand standing, kip ups and rolling.
Kip-ups are useful for all types of defensive and offensive methods of fighting. It allows the person to stand up at a very fast pace if he or she is knocked down.
So whether you want to carry out a super high training session in the gym or you want to look like a superhero from a Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan movie, Kip up is essential for your workout. If you want to learn how to do a kip-up, the following details will be very helpful.
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The Underlying Technique:
The basic technique of the kip up requires you to lay down with your face towards the sky. You need to keep your hands right beside your head. Your legs should move in the air with a kicking action and curl in under your body to reach an ultimate standing position.
Considerations To Be Kept In Mind:
Some pointers that you need to keep in mind before starting a practice session of kip up include the following:
- Doing kip ups for first timers results in soreness in the abdominal region
- Do not try kip ups with a cold body. Always warm up yourself with some light exercise before indulging in vigorous activities like these
- Stretch your body in different positions before kip ups
- Be ready for crashes and falls
- Finishing off with a complete masterpiece kip up can take weeks and even months of practice. So do not give up and keep trying with determination and courage
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The Kip Up Process:
Let us have a look some of the basic steps in doing a kip up:
Step 1:
The first position that you must adopt in order to start the kip up involves lying down on your back. Place your hands on either side of your head. You can keep your legs in a straightened out position or at a ninety-degree angle. If you have any problem moving your wrists make sure to position your body in such a way that your palm could remain flat on the ground.
Step 2:
In the next stage, start bringing your legs to your head by lifting them off from the floor. In this action, your weight should be concentrated at your middle thorax portion. This position is also known as the chamber formation. This movement at a quick speed will provide the recoiling force and explosive direction needed for the kip up.
Step 3:
In the third step, you will push back your legs up in the air with a straightening movement. It will be like kicking in the sky. The technique that can be followed at this stage requires you to select an imaginary target right above yourself. Then try to hit that imaginary target with full force and at a very fast speed. The key is to move upwards and not just outwards. A handy trick to help build the strength of your abdominal muscles is to purchase the ab machines. Check out our buying guide here.
Step 4:
The fourth step is all about the movement of the upper limbs of the body. At the brink of kicking up with your legs, you have to push your arms in the downward motion and create the force to give you the upward thrust.
Step 5:
If the fourth step is executed in the right manner, you will be in a vertical landing position in step 5 automatically. But this would require you to create the hook. You are supposed to push with your arms downward with a full thrust and at the same time move your legs under your body’s truck portion. It will help you rise up your body and you may land on your feet.
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Final Words:
But this will only happen after many regular attempts. Initially, you might fall on your back and crash. Do not give up at this point and continue trying. This was a simple way to start your kip up practice and take it to a higher level. But the pre-requisite of any acrobatic, gymnastic or tricking movement is good flexibility in body and high level of fitness.
You need to keep your body in good shape before trying to master any of such intense superhuman movements. You can make kip up the regular part of your training sessions and exercise regime. It improves your flexibility and agility to carry out various acrobatic and athletic movements in the long term.
You need to combine it with other specialized moves and activities to achieve the optimum level of fitness. It can be used for dance practices, exercise movements, gymnastic displays and acrobatics or aerobics. If you also have queries or interesting kip up points to share, please feel free to share them with us. You can send in your comments and views about the article as well.
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