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Master your toes to bar with these timing drills

By Bodyweight Training, Exercise Tutorials, Gymnastics Training

There are only a few key things to master when it comes to the kipping toes to bar:

  • Shapes
  • Timing
  • Strength

You’ll find other articles on both ab strength and straight arm pulling strength on Ganbaru, but this one is all about the timing component. Timing makes kipping difficult – it’s not obvious for most people!

I’m a big fan of providing external feedback to force the timing issue in multiple ways, so I’ve developed a system of timing drills that hopefully end up working for everyone when learning their TTB.

Exercise Quick Navigation

    Dead stop kipping variations

    I love the dead stop kipping variations because they force an athlete to return quickly to the arch position. One of the most common faults in a kipping toes to bar is a lazy, slow return to the arch, and this messes up the kipping dynamic entirely. Dead stop variations require you to get back to position even faster than on the bar, and the arch must be tight and aggressive or the athlete will get thrown around as their heels hit the box.

    We have 4 variations of this in our toes to bar program:

    1. Dead Stop Knee to Chest
    2. Dead Stop Knee To Elbow
    3. Dead Stop Single Leg TTB
    4. Dead Stop TTB

    Where do I start?

    Set the box up roughly 5-10cm in front of the bar you’re hanging from (it’s important that it’s slightly in front or the timing will suck). With your heels on the box, squeeze your glutes and keep a long body to form something similar to your arch position on the bar. It won’t feel exactly the same, but it’s close enough.

    With an aggressive pull back on the bar (elbows straight), swing your body back into a compressed position. Here you will either do a knees to chest, knees to elbow, or a single or double leg toes to bar. Return quickly to the arch position without any juddering against the box.

    Watch out for these mistakes:

    • Bending the knees on the return to arch to “buy time” instead of driving the heels to the box
    • Failing to push down into the bar with enough force
    • Bending the arms

    Jumping variations

    Jumping variations, in my view, have less utility than the dead stop variations above. However, they are still very good for exposing an inability to move quickly into and out of position, so they can be helpful for some athletes who are struggling with the dead stop skills.

    We have 3 variations of this in our toes to bar program:

    1. Jumping Knee to Chest
    2. Jumping Knee to Elbow
    3. Jumping Toe To Bar

    What is it?

    Just like your dead stop drills, you will need to quickly find the end position of your TTB variation, then return to the power position so you can reform the arch. The floor is a bit more forgiving for this, but the timing is still very fast – faster in fact than with an actual kipping toes to bar.

    Set yourself on a bar that you can reach with your feet on the floor with a little bit of space to push your chest through to an arch position. You can stack plates or boxes up if you need more height.

    Technique

    Keeping a tight body, swing through to a small arch, then as you move back out of the arch, aggressively jump up to the end position (i.e. knees to chest, knees to elbow, or toes to bar) then return to the floor before your body swings to the other side. You should be able to return the feet to the floor, then pass back to the arch as you’d normally see in a toes to bar.


    Kipping timing drills

    There are 4 specific timing related drills in this program:

    1. Single Leg TTB w Half Box Support
    2. Kipping Knee to Elbow
    3. Single Leg TTB
    4. Toes to rings

    Talk me through it, coach

    Each of these forces something slightly different.

    The half box support variation is the friendliest, as it allows you to determine your positions and regulate your timing. As you improve, you can reduce the amount of weight you put through the foot to allow you to do more work with the swing and the upper body.

    The knee to elbow forces a relatively big straight arm pull on the bar and requires a good deal of compression as well. It is my favourite scaling option for the toes to bar.

    The single leg toes to bar keeps the timing of the toes to bar very similar, but is less physically difficult to achieve.

    The toes to rings helps with shapes more than timing for those struggling with compression.

    Technique

    These movements are all fairly self explanatory if you’ve been working through your toes to bar progressions. Watch the videos and make sure you’re using tight body lines, straight elbows and aggressive arch positions.


    Direct scaling options for the toes to bar

    If you’ve got the components of the toes to bar right, but haven’t quite got the movement yet, these are my favourite ways to regress the toes to bar.

    1. TTB Half TTB
    2. Toes to Target
    3. Toes to bar

    What is it?

    The TTB + half TTB allows you to feel the moment of contact and figure out just how hard you need to compress to reach the bar. I do not recommend this scaling option if you struggle to get your hips behind the bar. We want each rep to be rhythmic.

    The toes to target is simply doing the same movement as the toes to bar with as much height as you’re currently able to achieve. Keep squeezing the gap closer and closer to the bar each week so you eventually tap the bar!


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    Make better shapes in your kipping TTB

    By Bodyweight Training, Exercise Tutorials, Gymnastics Training

    Making the right shapes is the FIRST step in getting your toes to bar to work for you, and eventually do them efficiently in a workout setting.

    Exercise Quick Navigation

      Arch Lifts

      Technique

      Lying flat on the floor, squeeze your glutes and lift your arms off the floor. Keep your heels together as you do so. Your legs and arms should leave the ground.

      Do not shove your belly into the ground and hyperextend the low back. This is not part of the arch position and it’s not a good habit to get into.

      A nice arch is long and distributed, with tight lines and no one point in your back doing all the work.


      Kip Swing variations

      The kip swing itself can be tricky and a good kip swing sets up good habits for the future. Hugely bent knees do not contribute much power when moving from arch to hollow, and a longer body line is more helpful.

      To combat common bad habits like a loss of tension and a large knee bend, we can use targeted positioning of resistance bands to make sure you are keeping your shapes all the way through the kip swing.

      1. Beat swing to band (heels)
      2. Beat swing to band (hollow)
      3. Beat swing to band (chest)
      4. Beat swing to bands (both sides)
      5. Beat swing
      6. Kip swing

      How do I use these?

      Try them all. Figure out which ones you find the hardest, and spend time on those. Remember that the things that make this hard are losing tension and length, or starting with a kip that’s bigger than you can currently control. Be okay with a smaller movement to start while you build confidence and ability here.

      Technique

      Set the band up according to the video. Start in a dead hang, and do a small beat swing. The band will throw you out of position, so you will have to fight back with extra tension and intention to make sure it doesn’t cause you to lose rhythm.


      Hollow Rocks

      Technique

      From a hollow body hold, rock back and forth. Ensure that your whole spine rolls across the floor, you shouldn’t be going thud-thud between your shoulders and your hips because there should be a nice curved spine to roll across.


      Entry Jump Sequence

      We have 3 variations of this in our kipping bar muscle up program:

      1. Entry jump (banana jump)
      2. Entry jump to arch
      3. Entry jump to kip swing

      What is it?

      Watch the videos to understand the key components of the entry jump for a toes to bar:

      • Fairly close behind the bar – no need to create lots of extra momentum here.
      • Jump into a small pike position so your toes lift as you catch the bar (your body should not be in a straight line when you catch the bar
      • Swing into a long, tight arch, so that your toes are behind the bar when your shoulders are in front of the bar

      Practice good entry jumps – they will save you a lot of pain when doing higher rep sets in the future!


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      Do these ab exercises to get your toes to bar

      By Bodyweight Training, Exercise Tutorials, Gymnastics Training

      As much as kipping, rhythm, and tension matter for having a good kipping toes to bar, there’s one key thing you need for them to work: core strength.

      This means building strong abs in a deep compressive crunch, strong hip flexors at their end range, and the ability to leverage those muscles in a hang with and without momentum.

      These exercises each train one or more of these components, and are excellent all-rounders for building core strength for toes to bar.

      Exercise Quick Navigation

        Hanging Knee to Chest

        Technique

        From a dead hang, pull your knees toward your chest. Keep pulling until you feel your spine round and your pelvis roll under you like you’re tucking your tail. Control the descent back to a dead hang.

        Don’t stop the rep early – if you stay in a dead hang and your pelvis is spilled forward, you won’t get the gains from this movement that you want!


        Hanging Leg Raise

        Technique

        From a dead hang, pull your toes up with straight legs as high as you can. Keep pulling them upuntil you feel your spine round and your pelvis roll under you like you’re tucking your tail. Control the descent back to a dead hang.

        Don’t stop the rep early – if you stay in a dead hang and your pelvis is spilled forward, you won’t get the gains from this movement that you want!


        Single Leg Raise

        What is it?

        The same as the above, scaled down to use just one leg at a time.


        Lumbar Band Hollow body Hold

        Setup

        Secure a resistance band to an upright, squat rack or heavy weight, and stretch it out. Lie down (face up) on the stretched out band, lining it up below your belly button under your lower back. Press down into the band with your back.

        Technique

        Lift your arms straight up toward the ceiling, and do the same with your toes. Reach up so that your shoulders peel off the floor. Now, extend your arms up toward the ceiling and your toes down toward the wall at the same time, lengthening the levers adding weight to your abs.

        Hold this position without letting your lower back lift (if you do, the band will snap away from you). Use the band to help you keep a good position where your bottom ribs are always pulling toward your pelvis.


        Medball Knee Raise

        Setup

        Tuck a big (4-10kg) medball in between your ankles and climb or hop up to a bar in a dead hang.

        Technique

        Pull your knees toward your chest, with the medball staying between the ankles. Keep pulling until you feel your spine round and your pelvis roll under you like you’re tucking your tail. Control the descent back to a dead hang.

        Don’t stop the rep early – if you stay in a dead hang and your pelvis is spilled forward, you won’t get the gains from this movement that you want!


        Single Leg Pike Lifts

        What is it?

        A deep core compression exercise that loads up the lower abs and quads.

        Technique

        From a seated pike position on the floor, walk your hands as far forward as you can. In this position, lift one leg at a time without bending the knee.


        V-Up

        Technique

        Lying flat on the floor, reach your hands and legs toward each other to tap your toes with both hands. This should make the shape of a V with your body. Keep your legs as straight as you can.


        Single Leg V-Up

        Technique

        Just like the above – but only tap one hand to the opposite foot, then lie back down and switch sides as you come back up.


        GHD Sit up

        What is it?

        A great all-rounder heavy ab exercise.

        Technique

        Sitting on the GHD so that your butt and hamstrings hang off the edge, set your eyes on something high on the wall in front of you. Lean back, keeping your ribs pulled down toward your belt line for as long as you can, reaching back at the last minute to tap the floor with your hands. At this point your focal point may be blocked by your own torso. Aggressively throw your hands back toward your feet, crunch your abs and snap the quads to find your way back to a tall seated position as fast as possible.


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        Straight arm strength is *king* for unlocking toes to bar

        By Bodyweight Training, Exercise Tutorials, Gymnastics Training

        Even though a kipping bar muscle up is driven primarily by momentum and good mechanics, it still requires a good strength base to do them well and safely. These basic bent-arm pushing and pulling drills will help lay the foundation for the strength you need to kip to the top of the bar.

        Exercise Quick Navigation

          Baby Skin the cat

          What it does

          The skin the cat, or even a half skin the cat like this one, helps you gently explore range through the shoulders and strength with arms straight.

          Technique

          From a dead hang on the rings, lift your legs in a pike then pull your toes over the top of your body through the rings until your hips are next to your wrists. Carry on as far past this point as feels safe. Then, reverse the movement to come back to the dead hang.


          Straight Arm Pulldown

          Technique

          Set up a band on a bar above you and grab either side of the loop. With locked elbows, pull the band down to your sides. Try to keep a long neck and avoid shrugging in this position.


          Banded Straight Arm Pull

          Technique

          Set up a band in a rack directly in front of you tied to a rack or upright. With your elbows locked, pull the band toward your side. It should be very difficult when you reach your side with your arm straight. Slowly control the band back to where it was.


          Hollow Body Box Slide

          What is it?

          A hanging straight arm pull that is accessible even to those with minimal straight arm strength

          What You’ll Need

          A box and a bar to hang from. Se the box about 10cm in front of the bar you’re hanging from.

          Technique

          Jump to the bar so that you’re in a dead hang. Your toes should be able to touch the box. Form a hollow body position by slightly tucking down the ribs and pelvis and squeezing the legs and glutes tight.

          Push down into the bar with your elbows locked. This should cause your toes to slide up the box. Retain the hollow body so that your hips don’t shoot back. Only your shoulders should move further back, the rest of your body should just elevate.

          Common Mistakes

          Letting the hips push back instead of the shoulders. If you stand from the side and draw a line from your shoulders to the floor, it shouldn’t pass through your bum or legs.


          L Sit on Parallettes (Tuck)

          Technique

          With your hands on dumbbells or parallettes, lock the elbows and lift your knees to your chest. Push back on the parallettes so that your hips are next to your wrists, not behind them. This will require you to work harder through the triceps and abs.


          Strict Knee to Elbow

          Technique

          From a dead hang, push down into the bar, lean back, and pull your knees up. Continue pushing through the bar and pulling the knees until they tap your elbow, or tricep if you’re not strong enough for elbow yet.


          Ball Up/Ball up negative

          Technique

          From a dead hang, push down into the bar, lean back, and pull your knees into your chest. Continue pushing through the bar and pulling the toes high until they tap the bar, then descend slowly.

          If you’re doing a negative, you can kip your way to the top and catch your feet in the bar. Then, unhook them before you slowly descend.


          Low bar lever (regressions)

          Technique

          Attach a barbell to a low rack so that it doesn’t roll around. Attach a third band to the middle of the bar and loop it under your low back.

          Hanging below the bar with the band strung around your back, push down HARD into the barbell so that your shoulders drift behind the bar and your hips lift to the height of your shoulders.

          Hold that position as well as you can!


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          The 10 Best Core Exercises You’re Not Doing

          By Bodyweight Training, Exercise Tutorials, Gymnastics Training

          Let’s move past boring old planks! While they have their place, we can also spice them up and add elements to challenge your abs and involve other muscles to help you get full-body strong. These gymnastics ab exercises will help you improve your strength as well as your coordination.

          Exercise Quick Navigation

            Hollow body hold with Lumbar Band

            What You’ll Need

            A small, light band, and something to attach it to (like a heavy dumbbell or kettlebell, or an upright on the rig or squat rack.

            Technique

            Stretch the band out and lie down with your back on top of the band. It should be placed directly below your belly button or slightly lower. You should have to push your lower back down into the band to prevent it from snapping away from you.

            Reach for the sky with your hands, pulling your bottom ribs down toward your hips. Then lift the feet off the floor into a tucked position without losing the pressure down into the band.

            Extend the arms up and the legs out as far as you can WITHOUT losing any pressure down on the band. this tucked position is important to achieving a good hollow body position. Hold this position for as long as you can – it should feel burny on your abs!

            Common Mistakes

            The most common mistake is losing pressure into the band and letting it slide away as the set goes on. Another mistake is trying to reach too far, too soon – it’s okay if you need to be tucked for a while until you are strong enough to do the full hollow body in the correct position.


            Planche pulse

            What is it?

            The planche pulse is a gymnastics drill that strengthens your abs, shoulders and wrists while improving your ability to maintain tension in a rigid plank position. It forces you to manage the force of the band throwing you out of position so that you have to maintain your body line. And it’s fun!

            What You’ll Need

            You’ll need 1-2 thick resistance bands, and a squat rack where you can set the j-hooks at mid-thigh height.

            Technique

            Climb into the band so that both feet are together. Initiate the first pulse by kicking off the band slightly, or driving the hips down. Now, make your body rigid from the shoulders down as you bounce up and down in the band. Increase the amount of bounce by pushing down into the floor, getting your shoulders further over your hands, and by slightly whipping your legs down into the band. You will have to be super tight as you stretch the band downward otherwise the rebound will break your body line.

            Common Mistakes

            Not staying tight! Lots of people break at the hip in this drill, or try to use the hips for momentum – this is a movement that the shoulders initiate and the abs prevent movement. Think of being in a plank, and only your shoulders change where they are.


            Plank on Box Alternating Legs

            What is it?

            Like the planche pulse above, this drill forces you to maintain your position with your abs while other things are moving around.

            What You’ll Need

            A 20″ x 24″ x 30″ box that doesn’t totally collapse under force (wood is good, or a firm plyo box).

            Technique

            Maintaining a hollow body (slightly crunch your abs) in your plank position, lift one foot at a time. See how little you can shift from left to right while you do this.

            Common Mistakes

            Shifting too much from side to side so that the hips wobble. Your hips should stay square to the ground.

            Letting the lower back sag – you should be slightly crunched down and tight when you do this movement.


            Plank on Low Band with Alternating Arms

            What is it?

            Planking in a resistance band (which is wobbly and unstable), forcing you to create extra tension to resist movement as you shift from one hand to the other and back.

            What You’ll Need

            You’ll need 1-2 thick resistance bands, and a squat rack where you can set the j-hooks at mid-thigh height.

            Technique

            Maintaining a hollow body (slightly crunch your abs) in your plank position, lift one hand off the floor at a time. Your body will shift left to right, but try to keep your hips and chest pointed straight at the floor while you move.

            Common Mistakes

            Losing tension – make sure you stay in a hollow body all the way through this exercise.


            Plank on Low Band with Alternating Legs

            What is it?

            Exactly like the above – but instead of your arms moving, it’s your legs this time!

            Technique

            Maintaining a hollow body (slightly crunch your abs) in your plank position, lift one hand off the floor at a time. Your body will shift left to right, but try to keep your hips and chest pointed straight at the floor while you move.

            Common Mistakes

            Losing tension – make sure you stay in a hollow body all the way through this exercise.

            Single Leg Pike Lifts

            What is it?

            A core compression exercise – training your lower abs in a lot of spine and hip flexion.

            Technique

            With your legs flat on the floor in front of you, place your hands next to your knees. Keeping the hands flat down and legs straight, lift one leg off the floor. If that’s too hard, bring the hands further back closer to your hips.

            Common Mistakes

            Stay hunched over – don’t lean back as you lift!


            Pike Lifts

            What is it?

            Exactly like the above – but this time you’re going to lift both legs! Keep them straight and try to stay curled over to get some lower ab and hip flexor muscle action in this movement.


            Straddle drags

            What is it?

            A core compression exercise that helps you figure out how to push into the floor and close your hip angle. This brings your feet closer to your hands and engages the lower abs.

            Technique

            With your legs wide, place your hands out in front of you. Lean your shoulders and hips as far as you can over the hands. This should make your feet feel like they are lighter on the floor than before. Push into the ground to make them feel even lighter. Now, drag the feet closer to you until they are in line with your hands. Walk your hands out again, and repeat.


            Garhammar raise with bar in rack

            What is it?

            I normally hate a Garhammar raise because all I feel is lats, but the barbell adds stability that I find much easier to manage than a typical Garhammar. The higher the incline, the harder this is.

            Technique

            Set a bar in a rack and a bench on an incline. Make sure your arms can be straight reaching up to the bar. From here, peel one vertebrae off the bench at a time until only your upper back and shoulders are left on the bench.


            Hollow body hold

            What is it?

            A gymnastics classic for training abs with a small compression component.

            Technique

            Pressing your lower back into the floor and pulling your lower ribs and belt line toward each other in a small crunch, reach your hands and knees toward the sky. Then reach your hands as high over your head and your legs as close to straight as you can, without the lower back losing contact with the floor. If you can’t extend that far, extend as far as you can without losing that position on the ground.


            Hollow body rocks

            What is it?

            A scaled up version of the hollow body hold. Attempt these once you’ve got a solid 30-60 second hollow body hold.

            Technique

            From your hollow body position, rock back and forth, making sure one vertebrae at a time rolls across the floor.


            Hollow body lifts

            What is it?

            A scaled down version of the hollow body hold. Do these to find your way into the hollow body if the holds were too difficult.

            Technique

            From a lying down position, lift into the hollow body position, then return. Do as many lifts as you can, extending the duration at the top as you get more proficient at the hold position.

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