Kip-up (鯉魚打挺 Liyudating) is one of several names for an acrobatic move in which a person transitions from a supine, and less commonly, a prone position, directly to a squatting position by propelling the legs, and consequently the entire body, away from the floor. The move often incorporates the use of the arms and shoulders. It is used in activities such as martial arts, acro dance, breakdancing, professional wrestling, gymnastics and Parkour & Freerunning. Because of the flashy appearance of this move, it is often shown in fighting and action movies. The kip-up is also variously called a rising handspring, kick-up, Chinese get up, kick-to-stand, kip up, nip up, flip-up, and carp skip-up.
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From a supine position, the subject draws his or her legs into his chest (either straight or bent), rolls back slightly and optionally places his or her hands on the floor next to his ears. The person then thrusts his legs upward and outward while pushing off from the floor with hands and shoulders. The momentum of the thrust carries the body into the air feet first and, with sufficient back arching, all the way up into a squatting position. This is commonly seen by former WWE superstars Shawn Michaels, Rob Van Dam and actor The Rock. It is also performed by current WWE superstar John Morrison.
From a prone position, the subject positions their body face-down and pushes their fists (or palms) into the floor, while kicking back their legs with sufficient force, transferring kinetic energy through the thighs, which is then capitalized on to allow their body to rise to a squatting position. The soles of the subject's feet should not come into contact with the floor and the feet should not be utilized for push. Former WWE superstar Bret "Hit Man" Hart, who would also occasionally perform the supine Kip-up, regularly performed this move during the early 1990s.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| 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 Kip-up | 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. |
| Prone Kip-up | This involves lying face down and pushing off the ground with fists, or palms. The legs are simultaneously kicked back with sufficient force, transferring kinetic energy through the thighs, which is then capitalized on to allow their body to rise to a squatting position. The feet may not be utilized. |
| 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. |
| Kip-up 180 | The difference between a normal kip-up and a kip-up 180 is the rotation added while floating in the air after pushing off the ground. The 180 indicates a rotation of 180 degrees. A harder variation that works the same way is the Kip-up 360. |
Hop back variations all involve the practitioner starting in a standing position, possibly jumping in the air and landing on their shoulders/back to spring back up by way of kip-up.
| Name 1 | Name 2 | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Standard hop back to kip-up | Continuous kip-up | The practitioner crouches down and back as if sitting down on an imaginary chair. Then they hop backwards in a similar manner to a back handspring. 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 body coils like a spring and a kip-up is executed. |
| Rubber band | The rubber band is a bboying (breakdancing) move which consists of repeated kip-ups which do not go all the way to standing position. 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. | |
| Ditang breakfall | The ditang breakfall is a variant 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 fall straight down to the ground and land on the upper part of their back and slap their hands to the sides to break their fall. The practitioner pauses on the ground momentarily after which they kip-up. They may repeat this whole procedure multiple times. This kip-up is normally done straight legged with the legs split a bit off to the sides. | |