Buying Your First Rope

Inexpensive plastic jump ropes are available any sport gear store and some toy store as well. You can always purchase another a different type of rope as your skills improve and you get a feel for jumping rope.

Follow these steps to make sure that the jump rope is the right size for you:

1. Hold your jump rope handle so rope sways by your feet
2. Place one foot on the ground and on the middle of the rope.
3. Pull the handles up.
4. The rope end of each handle should reach to your armpits.
5. As your skill improves, you can tie a not in the rope near the handle to quickly make your rope shorter.

Learn to Swing the Rope without Jumping

Practice swinging your rope overhead like a helicopter and to the side like a propeller. Rope swinging will strengthen your upper body and give you a feel for handling the rope. With practice your rope will sing and your heart rate can go into your training zone.

Start Slowly with a Few Jumps Only

It may seem very easy when children are skipping across the ground. But don’t be fooled – jumping rope is strenuous and you should start every new exercise slowly. Don’t jump hard and hurt yourself. Try to do up to 25 jumps in one repetition and don’t jump for more five minutes on your first few days.

Here are brief description of a few beginner, intermediate and advance jumping techniques.

Two-Foot Forward Jump – Beginner Level

Stand with the rope behind your feet. Use your wrists to swing the rope over your head. Jump over the rope with both feet together.

Two-Foot Backward Jump – Beginner Level

Stand with the rope in front of your feet. Use your wrists to swing the rope over your head. Jump over the rope with both feet together.

Jog Step Jump – Beginner Level

The Jog Step is the same as the Two-Foot Jump, except that you alternatively land on one foot each time the rope goes around. Learn to perform the Jog Step in forward and backward directions.

Arm Crossover Jump – Intermediate Level

Cross your arms every second jump. Repeat the two-jump pattern cross-uncross. You can perform the Arm Crossover with the Two-Foot and the Jog Step in the both the forward and the backward directions.

Double Under – Intermediate/Advanced Level

Turn the rope around twice with the Two-Foot Jump step. Performing the Double Under repeatedly in both the forward or  the backward directions is an advanced level skill.

Whatever you do make sure that you’re having fun while you’re at it.

1.  Jumping Rope is Fun

Children jumping rope are too busy having fun to think about getting exercise. There is something inherently fun about jumping. Try it right now and see for yourself. Stand up and try one or two little jumps. You don’t even have to get your feet off the ground, just pretend. Wasn’t it fun? Did a smile come across your face? Four hundred years ago the famous Maharal of Prague wrote that jumping makes people happy. It’s good to be physically fit, but it’s more important to be happy. Jumping rope gives you both.

2.  Jumping Rope is a Total Body Workout

Jumping rope is a cardio workout that shapes all the major muscle groups in you body. It’s easy to imagine how jumping rope works your calves, quadriceps, hamstrings and gluts or butt. What you may not realize is that swinging the rope firms and strengthens all your upper body muscles – from your neck, shoulders, arms and back down to your abdomen.

2.  Jumping Rope is Easy to Learn

A few gifted athletes can simply view a short video like this on YouTube and then make the own custom full body workouts. The rest of us need instruction that you can find here. Basic techniques start with rope swinging without lifting your feet off the ground. Virtually anybody with at least one arm can learn several basic rope swing moves while sitting on a chair!

3.  Jumping Rope is Great for Beginners and Athletes

After learning basic rope swinging and jumping steps there is a tremendous variety of steps, jumps and tricks that you can incorporate into your workout. Jumping rope will always be motivating and challenging as you learn new skills and develop your own personal workouts to meet your individual needs.

4.  Jumping Rope is Inexpensive and Portable

All you need is a rope and 6 foot by 6 foot area to begin your jump rope workout. A room in your house, apartment or hotel, a gym and a park are all fine for your workout.  You can carry your jump rope in your pocket or in a suitcase when you travel. Also, you can afford to buy several ropes and always have one at home, at the gym and ready for travel. You don’t even need shoes or a shock absorbing surface to get a full body workout with the basic swing and step-through moves.

5.  Jumping Rope Makes You Look Cool

Just learn the basic swing and step-through moves and you’ll be sure to attract a lot of attention and admiration at the gym, hotel, park, beach or party where you perform your routine. You’ll learn how to make your rope sing with speed and power, without even breaking a sweat or launching yourself off the ground. Jumping rope is a great way to make new friends at the gym, the neighborhood park home or on the road. Jumping rope gives everyone the esteem that only athletes enjoy and jumping rope distinguishs athletes among their peers.

6.  Jumping Rope Makes You a Better Athlete

Elite athletes from many sports – boxing, martial arts, skiing, basketball, football, tennis, racquetball, squash, badminton, handball and golf – know the benefits of jumping rope. For maximum results each athlete should perform a workout routine that is customized to the needs of the athlete and the demands of the sport. Jumping rope is the most effective way to achieve and maintain many abilities – agility, balance, coordination, strength, explosive power, vertical jumping, speed, flexibility, endurance and timing – that are essential to most sports.

7.  Jumping Rope is Safe and Prevents Injury

Jumping rope is among the safest workout you can find that challenges both your vigor and your skill. Any physical activity can lead to injury and several of the more vigorous workouts such as running, boxing, skiing and basketball more likely to result in serious injury. The elliptical trainer is among the safest cardio exercises, but it doesn’t give you much opportunity to develop new skills. Learn how to jump rope properly and you will be in total control over the degree of impact in your workout – from no-impact to high-impact.

8.  Jumping Rope is an Individual or Group Activity

You can jump rope all by yourself, or in a group, or just beside other beside other people working out on at the gym. Take an extra rope with you to the park or the gym and you’re sure to have company, if you want it.

9.  Jumping Rope is Appeal to Men and Women, Young and Old

Sex and age are not barriers to jumping rope. I take a couple spare ropes with me when I cycle to a park playground to jump rope. It is interesting to note that young boys and active grandmothers are the most likely to borrow a rope.

10.  Jumping Rope Burns More Calories per Hour with Less Pain

Jumping rope utilizes all the major muscle groups in your body so you can burn more calories faster. Only elite athletes can sustain very intense workouts in their trained sport. Runners can burn over 1,000 calories an hour by running, while cyclists, skiers and tennis players can do the same only in their own sports. You don’t have to be an elite athlete to jump rope for an hour. Jumping rope is unique among all workouts because only jumping rope lets you maximize the number of calories you burn with all these benefits.

Several days a week, I get a total-body workout with my jump ropes. I don’t lift weights or belong to a gym, swimming pool or racquet club anymore. And there isn’t any room in my apartment for a treadmill or elliptical trainer even if I want one.

Occasionally I jog less than 10km slowly by the street or through a forest to jump rope at a track or a playground with shock absorbing surfaces. On most nice days I cycle to the playground with several jump ropes in my bag that children and their parents and grandparent borrow to play alongside me as I workout.

I said good-bye to my sports clubs when I left California to come to Jerusalem. Leaving my sports friends and the well appointed facilities was little sad for me because I enjoyed the company and the competition.

With the change, I changed too. I gained few pounds and my muscles got smaller. On the outside I looked pretty much the same because I remained active with running, cycling and some swimming. My competitive focus turned to my Polar Heart Monitor that tracked everything from the number of calories used to my overall fitness. It was good to be free from scheduling court time, tennis elbow and other pulled muscle and chronic sports injuries endemic to the gym and the court. But going to the pool is a schlep, cycling is dangerous and running for high-intensity cardio workout is a surefire way to injure your ankles, knees and back. More importantly, I needed an all-weather always-available activity with the ongoing fresh challenge of developing new skills.  I needed a new total body, portable and flexible low-impact workout solution.

The Wall Street Journal reported that “More people are saying good-bye to the sprawling, machine-laden gym and looking for equipment designed to give low-impact workouts and then tuck neatly in a closet,” on August 31, 2010. I tried all the trendy ideas: from personal trainers to suspension devices, sliding discs and balls and springy boots. There wasn’t any new magic bullet solution invested during my lifetime, so I look farther back in time and revisited my jump rope.

Jump rope proved to be a perfect answer to all my needs. Like you and millions of other people, my first memories of jumping rope are as a kid seeing girls at the playground. My second jump rope experience was in the 1970s when my zaftig wife became svelte in a few weeks of 1,000 jumps a day routine. Not to be outdone by my wife, I learned some basic techniques an jump rope played a small role in my training as a college student. Since in 2008, I’ve perfected my jump rope skills and workout so it’s now easy to learn and can be done by virtually anyone.

Contact me and I’ll share that what I’ve learned with you.