WAG Grips, rips and kips (oh my!)

[Vincati]

My L4 DD was introduced to kips this summer at camp and has wanted one ever since. She is really close. She says her closest ones are when the bar is just about at her waist but, her back is arched. How can she be sure to lean over? Also, what do grips do and how do they help? DD has a lot of calluses which really hurt. Her gym won't let them get grips until they have a consistent kip on both bars. She knows two L5s still without grips. But, a few of her teammates have grips at home waiting.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

different system here,

but dd has had a basic guard like this since starting bars


and has now graduated to this style with a dowel.



she has had rips, but not many - if they arn't allowed guards then moisturise, moisturise, moisturise. DD has eczema so I keep a tube of her cream in the car and we apply it after every gym session to her hands as the chalk can dry them too.

'Margo

 

[kwnative]

My DD (L4) also does not have her grips yet. Same as with your gym, the grips are a rite of passage, so to speak, when they get their kip. I don't think our gym will move girls to L5 until they have their kip, though. I think that is the main skill that holds some of the girls back. I remember seeing a lot of the L4 girls getting their kip in the spring last year, so hopefully they will really start working on them soon. It was so much fun watching it happen from the sidelines. Sometimes, when he would see that a girl was really, really close, the HC/owner would go get all the optional girls and have them go sit and watch, and then they would all go crazy, clapping and cheering, when the girl would get it.

 

[Quadqueen]

Grips aren't really for the prevention of rips, unfortunately...girls who wear grips still get rips, although usually not as often. Grips help the girls grip the bar better when they're doing bigger skills, like tap swings, clear hips and giants.

 

[LiveLoveTumble]

Will they allow her to wear tape grips? They don't help you grip onto the bar any better but they do help prevent rips. They're pretty simple to make, and the only thing you need to buy is tape.

 

[Gymmommy71]

My DD started wearing grips long before getting her kip...heck, I'd say the only skills she had before she got grips were a back hip circle and a pullover. The gym she was at when she first got them was actually pretty encouraging of grips for even the really young girls.

Yes, she totally will still get rips. Its not all the time, maybe once every 6-9 months, and it's usually when she starts working on something new...a rip is usually a sign that she is pushing herself to get better, so both her and I actually view them as a good thing ...

Why is it that some gyms want girls to have their kip before getting grips?

 

[GymBeeMom]

We have a "first kip, then grip" gym. Who knows why, but its how our gym does it.

 

[Quadqueen]

our gym typically doesn't let the girls get them till after level 5 (or after their first year of level 5 if they repeat it), with a rare exception for a girl who swings really well on bars in level5. coaches say they simply don't need them before then.

 

[Flossyduck]

Our gym has the girls wear grips from the outset if you make the squad - even in development group from about 6yrs on. Their justification is that grips take some getting used to and they don't want girls to be learning upstarts(kips) and so on and then getting grips and having the skills disappear while they get used to the feel. I don't know if that happens, but it's the rule.

Daughter has actually never had a rip (yet) and she does 18 hours a week, with a lot of bar work and bar conditioning. I don't do anything special to her hands, so I think we've been lucky maybe.

She needs to not arch, that wont be helping, keep her chin tucked in. The kip is about timing and shaping as far as I can see and not really trying to lean forward at some point. She will get there.

 

[Vincati]

Yes, but they come undone from our experience with them and they only wear them if they have a lot of rips.

 

[gymnast98]

Yes, my gym doesn't let us get them till optionals. Mainly because the compulsories have no need for them but also because they have less time on bars and get more distracted and so the coaches think the compulsories don't have time.