Kipping toes to bar. Some of you may be cringing at the thought of this movement. But why is it feared? Well, probably because this gymnastics movement challenges not only core strength, but grip strength, shoulder stability, hip flexibility and also coordination. A deficiency in any of these areas can pose a challenge. Here are a few tips for perfecting your kipping toes the bar.
1. Keep your chest upright.
A lot of times I see people doing ball ups to get their toes to the bar. Wrong. Keep that chest upright and spot something eye level on the wall in front of you. You should stay basically straight up and down throughout the movement. 
2. Think jackknife, NOT pull-up.
It’s NOT a pull-up. Arms don’t bend. Period. Your power is generated from straight arms and your shoulders. Push down through your shoulders and away from the bar so that you end up slightly behind it. Look at the picture below, looks just like those jackknives we do on the floor, right? Tight mid section, hinging at the hips, bringing those shoulders downward to meet your toes in the middle.
3. Forget toes to bar, think: knees to chest!
Don’t think about bringing your toes to the bar. I know, sounds weird because the movement is called “toes to bar” and that is our goal. But, it is less taxing and more efficient to bring your knees to your chest then simply kick your feet to the bar. Keeping knees tight to the body shortens the distance you need to bring your feet.
Side note: This is just for KIPPING toes to bar. I am a huge fan of strict work for building strength. Strict toes to bar is an amazing cashout for building strength in the core/shoulders/and hips and is a very difficult movement. Staying in a pike position and making that angle big is what we want for strict toes to bar. But, for kipping, we want to be fast and efficient making the shortest distance from our feet to the bar as possible!
4. Don’t forget about the bottom
Our feet hit the bar and we are crazy excited we just got another rep! And we let our feet drop. Then we find ourselves doing that awkward re-swing to initiate another one. Now we are tired and cannot hold on for another. Vicious cycle. After your feet hit stay active. I cannot stress this enough. I think of the movement as two little kicks, “kick the bar, kick the floor”. All of your power is generated at the bottom of the movement, so stay tight!
Skill
Rope Climb
WOD
4 Rounds
500m Row
4 Rope Climbs
14 Toes to Bar
24 Wallballs
Level 2- 2 Rope climbs or 4 10 ft rope climbs
Level 1- 6 Pull to stand
Please wear long socks, shin guards, pants or tape cardboard to your leg. Make sure you’re leg is protected for those rope climbs! Also, Oly Shoes will not be permitted for rope climbs as it tends to destroy the ropes!
Conditioning WOD
Death by 10 meters
In minute 1, run 10 m. On minute 2, run 20 m (shuttle style: 10m down and back). Continue until you cannot complete the prescribed distance within the minute.
500m cool down run
Core
3 Minute Hollow Rock Test
AMRAP hollow rocks. Rest in superman hold.
Then 5-10 minutes of banded hamstring & IT band stretching