The pullup is a core gymnastics exercise in Crossfit.  Why the kipping pullup?  Here's what Coach Glassman has to say:

"The essence of it, physically, is I develop momentum in the horizontal plane where it's cheap and easy.  And then I clamp it and I divert it to a vertical direction.  And that's exactly what Evel Kneivel used to do when he would jump a bunch of cars off a ramp on a motorcycle.  He'd get the speed going on the horizontal and the ramp would divert it.  We're doing something very similar with the kipping pullup.  I start a movement in the horizontal plane and I clamp it to the vertical.  And from the top I push away and it creates this momentum that takes me down and I conserve it come back up.  And there is an integration of upper and lower extremities working as a whole that is a gateway, athletically, to a ton of other hip and upper body coordinations.  It's a must have skill for a ton of other things we want to teach and learn.   And it resonates immensely to the things like the clean, and the snatch, and other places where I get this power transfer, this handoff, of effort from the lower extremities to the upper."
- Coach Glassman

The reason we practice pullups with weight is the same reason we any other lift with additional weight.  We want our bodies to get used to moving heavy loads in all directions.  Why?  The ultimate goal is to increase work capacity across broad time and modal domains. If you can pull your chin over the bar with additional weights hanging from you, it will allow you to do more bodyweight pullups.  If you can do more pullups in a shorter time, the more work you are doing.  The more pullups you can do, the better you will be at "other places where I get this power transfer, this handoff, of effort from the lower extremities to the upper."

Translation: You will be better at everything else.

WOD

Weighted Pull ups 5-5-5-5-5

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