Video exampler: coming soon…
Video tutorial: coming soon.
Recommended prerequisites: kneeling forward roll, kip-up
Description: Maybe you've toyed around with some rolls and some kip-ups. Although the rolling kip-up isn't insanely useful for anything outside of, well, doing rolling kip-ups, it does blend together two beginner skills in the forward roll and the kip-up. And it's fun. And easy. Hooray for movement complexity and learning…or something?
Slide by slide breakdown
Start on all fours, just like the kneeling forward roll. There's nothing special you need to do in the early goings of this trick, so just think forward roll for now.
Still forward roll. Head goes to ground, chin tucks to chest, weight shifts to the arms. Tuck your chin and aim to land your upper back on the ground after the roll.
My head is gone.
In the roll, you just let you momentum wheel over here. Now though? This is prime time. After the roll, you want to tuck tightly with your knees to your chest, as this is the coil before the kick in the kip-up.
Kick hard and to the sky — straight up, just like the kip-up. With the roll, you'll have more momentum and likely feel a more powerful kick. The angle of my kick is a lot more behind (towards my head) than in the regular kip-up because of the angle of my body when I actually kicked. That's just an artifact of the roll. With the roll, you want to kick at the right time. If you kick too late, you'll kick more straight than up.
We're looking very kip-up right now. If you compare these slides with the kip-up slides, you'll notice one primary difference: my hips are higher. And that should make sense because the kick happens when the hips are higher in the air — lots higher.
After the kick to the sky, hook the legs under. If you're familiar with the hollow body, start arching throughout the back so that you land more upright.
Squeeze the glutes! Thrust your hips skyward! Push violently with your hands!
And now breathe. Wasn't so bad, was it? Because of the roll and momentum, the rolling kip-up should actually be easier than the normal kip-up once your brain wraps around the technique.
Troubleshooting:
Landing on your back? If you delay the kick into the air, you'll go more forwards rather than up, and I'm sure you've had many kip-up toils that taught you the importance of up if you're trying the rolling kip-up. Kick up to the sky.
Landing on your feet, but falling back? Keep most of the weight on your hands and push the ground hard. If you're doing that, then it's likely either (a) timing or (b) hollowing out the lower back. Both are technique, so keep practicing.
Your next conquest:
The land of basic tricks:
- Tornado kick
- Butterfly kick
- 360 crescent