Did you know, according to research 10 minutes of skipping rope equals to 30 minutes of jogging?
Skipping is still a very neglected conditioning exercise as many don’t deem it to be important or worth their time. However it is an excellent tool to incorporate with your workout regimen.
I started attending skipping rope classes 3 weeks ago, not expecting much of it, but it has had such an immense positive impact on my overall health and physical ability. It is now a staple part of my work out! But don’t just take my word for it, here is what the research has shown about skipping!
Other than burning a crazy amount of calories, skipping rope has been proven to have a substantial impact on the development of your body's coordination and strength; whether you do it as a warm-up or as part of your workout. It enhances and maintains muscle strength, vastly enhances cardiovascular health, prepares you for sports-specific activities, and improves foot movement.
The benefits are vast including improvement of bone density, lean body mass, lumbar, bursitis, and tendonitis as well as heart circulation, muscle strength, endurance, mobility, flexibility, balance, timing, and rhythm. It is a great cardio interval workout and a great method to warm up for activities that rely on speed, like basketball or running.
Here are my top 5 reason why you need to start skipping right now!
1. Full Body Workout
Skipping is a fun way to make you sweat and work out both upper and lower body by engaging the major muscle groups in your body.
It works your glutes, calves, hamstrings and quads. The motion of moving your hands works your upper body including back shoulder, biceps and triceps and your core to stabilise your body; especially when using weighted rope.
2. Conditioning and Athleticism
There is a reason skipping is a popular workout for athletes and professional boxers. The jumping from skipping improves co-ordination, hand-eye-foot movement, and balance. Skipping skills are essential for improving your performance in any sport or workout.
3. Easy to Learn at Your Own Pace
With some practise, anyone can develop their jumping skills. I've only been to three sessions so far, but I can already tell a difference, and I've started to get more creative with how I incorporate it into my workouts. You can move at your own pace and the strategies are simple to use. You'll be highly motivated to keep going because it's an activity you'll get right away.
4. Great for Your Mental Health
From the rhythmic movement of the rope and endorphins release from moving your body; skipping has a significant impact in reducing stress and boosting your mood! Moreover, endorphins may improve memory, cognitive functions and supports a healthy immune system.
5. Its FUN!
There are such a wide variety of tricks and jumps that you can do! It’s a workout that is fun engaging challenging and motivating. It allows you to be creative by inventing new jumps and combinations.
How to get started!
Finding Ideal Length Rope
The first thing that I learnt when I started skipping training was how to figure out the optimal rope length for me. As Zahra, the instructor explained, if the rope is too long, it will take longer to rotate, limiting your speed. While a rope that is too short may not touch the ground, increasing the likelihood of tripping or falling. You can easily workout optimum length for your rope by following the " Armpit Method"
You want to put the rope under your feet and stand on the mid point.
Hold it up and look at where the handle reaches. If it is between your armpit and shoulders then you have the perfect height
Types of ropes
When you first join the skipping rope session you have a few option of ropes to choose from. They have different designs and purposes. Zahra will help you figure out which is the best option for you. Here a some option and their benefits.
3 main types
The Basic Rope
The basic rope is made of PVC or plastic rope with foam or plastic handles. It is a great and affordable option for beginners ; it's still light weight allowing better control of speed of rope.
The Beaded Rope
This rope gets its name from the beaded segments of plastic on the cord of the rope. The benefits of these ropes are vast! It's is also very inexpensive and comes in difference fun colours.
They are fanstastic for beginners due to their light weight and will not become tangled or develop kinks and twists like PVC rope.
The beads on the rope make more nose when they hit the ground. These feedback is fantastic in helping you better control and speed up your progress to learning more advanced skills.
This one is my go to when trying to learn a new skills and a favourite of many beginners!
The Weighted Rope
The additional weights come from thicker and heavier cable and/or weighted handles. You can get a range of weights to really challenge yourself. A great option for beginners that want a bit more of a challenge and really works those muscle groups.
It's also great for building upper body strength and burns more calories due to the resistants from the weights.
What to expect from your training sessions
Our instructor zahra, will firstly help you determine the level you are at with your skipping. Now don't be afraid if you never skipped before, everyone at the session is at different levels and Zahra is qualified and understand how to teach at each level.
You'll progress very quickly in your first class, the technique that I was working on is called the boxer step. This was extemely challenging for me as it involves a lot of co-ordination of hand-eye and foot movement. I practised this technique over the week and surprised myself on how quickly I seemed to grasp it. By the third session I had moved onto more tricky techniques like the side swings with crossover.
I have implemented both beaded and weighted ropes and all the techniques into my workout and training. It has diversified and elevated my workout routine and training!
Here are some of the skills I learnt
Side swings
Basic jump
High knees jumps
Crossover jump
Boxer jumps
Side swing + crossover
Why not try this 5 min skipping challenge!
Join our class on every Wednesday @ 6.30pm
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