Kip-up
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Kip-up is an acrobatic move employed in martial arts, breakdancing, professional wrestling and gymnastics which takes a person from a supine position directly to his feet. From a lying position, the subject draws his (straight) legs into his chest, rolls back slightly, then kicks up. The force of the kick and an arching of the back carries the body all the way up into a standing position. When training to learn this move, it helps to use the hands to give an added boost and/or practice on a mattress.
This move is also sometimes referred to as a Rising Handspring, Kick-up, Chinese Get up or Nip Up.
[edit] Variations
- Straight Legged Kip-up
- While the mechanics to the move are all but identical, the distinguishing feature to this is that the legs remain straight while they are brought to the chest. While it is slightly more difficult, it only serves to be more aesthetically pleasing to some. This variation is more typical of martial arts.
- No Hands Kipup
- This variation is considered more difficult because it generally requires more force to be exerted on the shoulders and neck. A distinguishing feature of the Wushu version of this is normally executed by placing the hands directly above the knees as the legs are brought to the chest. From there the hands push to add extra speed to the legs as they recoil back to land. Practically every variation of the original Kipup can be done without hands and springing up from the shoulders and back of the neck.
- Hop Back to a Kipup
- The main difference with this one is that the practitioner begins standing instead of on their back. The practitioner will normally crouch down and back as if sitting down on an imaginary chair. Then they will hop backwards in a similar manner to a back handspring. The main difference is that the hands are placed behind the back of the neck to protect it from receiving damage. Once the body has landed on the shoulders and hands, the kip-up is executed as normal.
- Another variant of this is the Rubber Band, which is a breakdancing move that consists of repeated kip-ups, but the breaker does not go the whole way up on the feet. A rubber band is more like a back handspring, except it requires gently lowering the neck/upper shoulders to the ground to kip back up.
- Yet another variant is a breakfall from Ditangquan. It consists of the practitioner jumping directly up and almost coiling up the body for a kip-up in mid-air. They then land on the upper part of their back and after which they will kip-up and sometimes repeat multiple times. This kip-up is normally done straight legged with the legs split a bit off to the sides
- Rolling Kip
- A Kip-up executed from a push up or kneeling position. The practitioner starts a forward roll but instead of rolling over to his or her feet, the legs are held back and close to the chest. This sets up the practitioner to push off and do a Kip-up.
- Headspring
- Also known as Head Kip, it is a move that consists of getting in a kneeling position and going on the top of ones head and pushing off doing a forward handspring like Kip-up.
