Jump rope (also known as skipping) is a great full body exercise made famous by boxers since the beginning of time. Nowadays, it is used by many athletes across multiple disciplies due to its ability to easily crossover. From increased cardiovascular capacity to coordination improvements, skipping is a fantastic exercise to buid a base.
Lets take a look.
Standard Technique
Jump rope is a really simple exercise to perform. Once you find a rhythm, you will be able to perform five to 10 skips in the first two to three minutes. There is a simple baseline technique so just follow the steps below:
- Bring the two handles together with the rope in a “U” shape
- Hold the handles in the left and right hands. Put your arms to the side and bend your elbows 90 degrees
- Put the bottom of the rope behind your heels (the rope is behind you)
- Swing the rope forward over your head and in front of your body making a circular motion
- Before it gets to your feet, jump so the rope goes under your feet.
- When the rope passes, take two or three jumps as you repeat the motion
- Find your rhythm and aim to keep it going
Some might be confused with the second to last point with the two to three jumps in between each skip. The purpose of this is two allow the user to find a rhythm. It can be a little awkward initially to understand the timing of when the rope passes under your feet but after a few minutes, you’re good to go.
Keys to finding a rhythm
Keep your head straight and chest up
These two points are good for posture, keeping your back straight and shoulders in place. One of the hardest things to combat when you are tired is to avoid leaning forward. When you tire, shoulders rotate forward, head goes down and technique deteriorates.
Make sure your hands are next to your hips
When you are jump roping, one of the first body parts to tire are your shoulders. To combat fatigue, keep your hands to your sides.
Rotate the rope at your wrist
The biggest mistake a person makes is when they start using their arms to turn the rope. When this happens, you are using other muscles to help you, accelerating the fatigue process. Always rotate at your wrist.
Jump off your toes with a slight bend in your knee
When you jump off your toes, its less impact on your knees. If you jump flat footed, you’re engaging other muscles and there is more force absorption. Additionally, if you keep your knees bent, it protects them and you can jump easily. You will be light footed.
Variations
Once you establish timing and technique of a “normal” jump rope motion, you can move into variations. I mentioned earlier that skipping is largely synonymous with boxing so a lot of these come from pro boxers. In my opinion, these are some of the best variations I have used to build cardiovascular fitness.
Each of the example workouts are based on a rudimentary level system:
- Level 1: Absolute Beginner
- Level 2: Beginner
- Level 3: Medium
- Level 4: Strong
- Level 5: Advanced
Boxer’s Skip (double and triple taps)
To perform this, you need to shift your weight from one foot to the other each time the rope rotates. Upon each rotation, simply tap the toe of your foot while transferring weight on the other and repeat. To begin, tap your foot two or three times before moving into a single tap. When you graduate to one toe tap, you will need to increase the speed of the rotation and make sure both feet are airborne as the rope rotates over.
Example Workout: You separate these into levels of difficulty based on time:
- Level 1: 2 minutes
- Level 2: 5 minutes
- Level 3: 10 minutes
- Level 4: 15 minutes
- Level 5: 20 minutes+
Double Under
This variation is a double skip and became more poular through Crossfit. You can use a weighted rope to improve strength and endurance in your arms but I recommend a speed rope. The beauty of this exercise is you need to use more force on the jump because you have twice as many rotations to account for.
Example Workout: A good conditioning workout is to complete a number of rotations as fast as possible. I first recognized these in Chipper WODs in Crossfit and used double unders as a fitness builder. The other target is to complete workouts non-stop. I used the number of reps to build a baseline fitness:
- Level 1: 100
- Level 2: 200
- Level 3: 500
- Level 4: 1000
- Level 5: 1500+
Side Swipe
This is the introduction challenging one’s coordination and using the upper body more during a workout. The sequence is skip, side swipe, side swipe. You can choose which side you want to swipe first (left or right is fine) following a single jump rope rep.
- Perform a jump rope with the standard technique
- Bring your hands together
- Swing the rope to the side you want to start with (swipe)
- Repeat the same on the opposite side
- Move back into a standard skip
The level of difficulty depends on the type of footwork you deploy, the amount of time and how much side rotation you deploy.
Footwork:
Beginner: Stop on the spot after a singular rotation then side swipe
Medium: Double footed jump after single rotation
Good: Boxers tap after a rotation
Advanced: Speed boxers tap after rotation
Criss Cross
This variation is the hardest because it involves the coordination of multiple movements. You need to cross your hands at the wrists and jump through the loop. To perform the action, we use the technique below:
- As usual, start in the conventional position and perform a skip rep.
- On the second rep, rotate your wrists and cross them in the overhand position
- After a successful rep, bring your hands back to the standard position
- Repeat
You can add double criss cross reps to make it even more difficult but mastering a standard criss cross is more than enough.
Muscle Groups
Pros
Jumping Rope Burns Calories Like Crazy
If jumping rope is anything, it’s efficient. You don’t need to chain yourself to the treadmill for an hour to get a decent cardio workout. All you need is a few minutes of jumping rope to get the same calorie-burning results. When asking if jump rope is good cardio exercise, you’ll be pleased to know that research has shown that jumping rope can help you burn over 1,000 calories an hour. Jumping rope can achieve a burn rate of up to 1,300 calories per hour of vigorous activity, with about 0.1 calories consumed per jump. Ten minutes of jumping rope can roughly be considered the equivalent of running an eight-minute mile. Compared to other activities, jumping rope is one of the most efficient forms of exercise you can do for torching calories.
Single rope jumping or rope skipping is a popular form of cardiovascular exercise.
The reason jump rope is so effective for developing a routine is because it removes many of the barriers that kill our routines in the first place.
Time and Land Efficient
Long hours or life on the go often inhibit us from attending a gym for a 45-60 minute workout. One of the best things about a jump rope is you can carry your gym with you. A solid skipping workout requires just 15 to 20 minutes. If you are looking to maintain or improve your cardiovascular capacity, skipping is an awesome workout to incorporate on the move.
Additionally, you only need a couple square meters to perform the workout and you don’t need permission. Obviously, you cannot use private land but a pavement or a park are all you need. If you have space in your apartment or backyard, Bob’s ya uncle.
Coordination Development
- Nimble Footwork
- Shoulder Development
- Speed and Agility
- Explosiveness