Connecting kips and casts

Hi All,

Today I wanted to talk about connecting kips and casts. We’ve probably all seen our gymnasts struggle to get their kips, then possibly struggle to get it straight armed, then struggle to find the right finishing position in the kip so that they can cast out of it. All-in-all it can seem like a process that takes forever.

I would say when teaching kip-casts is start the process at the beginning of teaching kips. That is, make it really clear what the finishing position for a kip is at the beginning, and that it’s not just “on top of the bar.” The more you drill this stuff while they are still learning their kips, the better success you’ll have.

The thing I really like about short kips and drop kips is that it’s very easy to control that compression shape at the end of the kip.

The second drill is one that really encourages the gymnast to finish the kip in the right position otherwise they won’t be able to cast up high enough to get to the mats.

That being said, Jason Mortimer put together another great video of progressions to teach casting out of kips. The p-bar drill is a great one. I’m actually thinking of starting a list of girls uses for p-bars. They are seriously the most under utilized piece of equipment I see in gyms.

Train hard!