The bar muscle up isn't the only way to get on top of the bar. Even though they will never be in a crossfit competition it is fun to learn a couple other ways. Below is a video of me doing a bar muscle up, then a glide kip and then a back uprise.

Notice they are a little different. One thing they have in common is the pull down that puts you up on top of the bar. You want to think of your shoulders going behind the bar then pulling down on all of them. Here is a good drill I teach for the bar muscle up. It is also a great drill to teach the pull down and hand shift action for the glide kip.

I allow my shoulders to go back behind the bar before I pull down. That is the key. I know you are thinking you don't have a set up like that. Well you are in luck you can replace it with this drill.

First I just jump to a support - I think of shifting my wrists and getting them on top of the bar. Then I rock under the bar, then back and then jump and pull to support. Pretty simple right? If your bar is too high, place a box below it and start from there.

If we want to then learn a glide kip we should work on the glide. Start on a lower bar, and jump to the bar with your feet in front of you. When you reach the end of the front swing, extend your body. Your feet should be just above the floor. A really good exercise is to try to string a few of these together like in the video below.

That works your abs pretty well doesn't it? I have to say doing just three of them wore me out haha.

Ok after you can do that, we use your mad toes to bar skills. At the end of the glide, bring your toes to the bar. Let your hips rock back then pull down on the bar along your legs. We tell the kids to think of pulling their pants up.

See how the bar goes right up my legs. You should think of pulling down as you open your hips. The timing gets tricky. You need to let the hip swing back a little bit before you begin the open/pull motion.

When our kids are learning these, we spot them A LOT! A great way to spot a glide kip is to put one hand on the shoulder and one on the leg.

When you are learning the kip you will have a tendency to throw your legs down and away from the bar. Getting spotted like above will break that habit. The glide kip is a little more technical than the bar muscle up, but it is a very fun skill to do.

Once you master that you can then do variations of it like the drop kip. Think of rocking back and keeping your legs close to the bar and then do the same pull as the glide kip. It is all about the timing! Good luck and for more tips check out the tutorials or follow me on instagram @coachkeithpettit.

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