Thursday night we practiced the butterfly pull up. This is the new “standard” pull up in CrossFit.

It took me six months to learn the kipping pull up, the old standard. I can do it, but it has never been easy. Now I’m supposed to learn this? At my age? Puleeeeeze!

There’s considerable debate among those outside CrossFit that the kipping pull up is “cheating,” that it somehow is not a “real” pull up. As Greg Glassman writes:

Kipping pull-ups have the same advantages over strict pull-ups that the jerk has over the shoulder press. Each is a fundamentally more potent stimulus than its less dynamic, less powerful counterpart. Our program’s extensive reliance on the more dynamic, powerful movements holds the seeds of our athletes’ successes. (CrossFit Journal Issue 32, April 2005)

CrossFit Kipping Pull Up

The Butterfly Pull Up

I find the butterfly pull up to be much more difficult than the kip ever was. Maybe it’s because it’s a new skill, or because I’m getting older or it’s just plain harder to do. Even Tim of Flatirons CrossFit says he has a hard time with it.

Even so, it’s something else on my long list to one day be able to do.