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I love jumping rope. I always have. I did it all the time as a child, and rope jumping is attributed to children’s games.
A few years ago, I was looking for a change in my routine. It’s always nice to change things up, especially when you are on a 160 lbs. weight loss journey. Things get old.
Anyway, I bought a brand new jump rope, learned to jump, and I haven’t gone back!
Did you know that rope jumping dates all the way back to the Egyptians and Aborigines of Australia? The playing evolved from a game using vines and flexible bamboo. From there, it spread to the Western world, where medieval paintings show children jumping rope and rolling hoops down European cobblestone streets.
My fascination with the jump rope
There are many types of jumping. Of course, double unders and the basic bounce step are the most well-known, but there are many that work abductors, inner thighs, core, butt and more. You can build an entire jump rope routine to work the full body – without picking up a weight!
It’s so much fun. There is so much variety, and you get a really good workout in a short amount of time. 10 minutes of jump rope provides the same benefits of…
And you don’t have to do it for 10 minutes straight – or at least I wouldn’t want to. You break it up, do different types of jumps, build lean muscle, burn more fat, and be well!
Not only does it have weight loss benefits (which is huge), there are others…
So you can understand my love for this very simple but powerful piece of gym equipment. You don’t need a lot of space, so you can get a good workout at home, at the gym, while on vacation…anywhere.
And to get a good rope, $25-$50. You only need one. Find one that suits your needs and ability.
How to incorporate jumping rope into your weight routine
First why?
Need I say more?
There are a lot of ways you can incorporate the jump rope. You can warm up with the rope. Do your regular warm up of 20 air squats, windmills, lunges, toy soldiers, burpees, and then do 500 jumps, switching between 2-3 jumps (basic bounce, alternating foot step and high step) – which will warm up your legs, your arms, your core and your shoulders.
Tabata are short duration, high intensity exercises that work to speed your heart rate and increase your endurance for a short period of time (4 minutes). For a tabata, you work for only 20 seconds (but as hard as you can) and you only rest for 10 seconds. You would do 8 rounds for a total of 4-minutes.
I like jump rope tabatas. I incorporate them a lot in my routines.
You can do them in two ways, and I have done both. You can do a straight rope tabata, where you pick 8 jumping techniques (or two and flip flop) for the entire four minutes.
or,
If you are working on a body part, say shoulders, you can do 2-rope exercises, 1 shoulder, 2-rope, 1 shoulder, 2-rope. Or you can flip flop, rope/shoulder.
You can design it however you want! The sky is the limit!
I do these almost daily! It’s a great thing!
I would equate condition (at least in my squishablebaby world) to circuits. These are longer than tabata, but are based on a certain amount of work with limited rest. My circuits are in the form of…
45s – 45 seconds of work with 15 seconds of rest – and I have 8 exercises which I repeat twice.
30/60/90s – These have a 2:1 work to rest ratio. 30 seconds of work 10 seconds of rest, 60 seconds of work and 20 seconds of rest, 90 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest – and I repeat these 3x
I would incorporate jump rope and weights into these circuits. It’s a lot of fun, because there are a lot of things I can move around, making the circuit fun, and energetic!
I like these a lot, too. These are quick, high energy workouts that work to build lean muscle and burn fat. These are powerful!
You have 5-6 rounds – depending upon the number of weight training exercises that you want to do. So, for a biceps and triceps workout, what weight training techniques do you want to incorporate? Maybe you want to do the following…
Here are the exercises that I want to incorporate. I’m flip flopping the bicep and tricep exercise. There are 7 exercises there, so you have 7 rounds. Each round is repeated 3-4 times. Each weight exercise is performed for 8-12 reps. Then you just couple that with 100-120 jumps of your favorite jump rope technique. For instance
Round 1
Tricep bench press (8-12 reps)
Basic bounce step, alternating foot step, high step – 100 jumps.
So you will repeat this round 3 times – with a 30-second rest between sets – and the first time, you will do tricep bench press and 100 basic bounce steps.
Rest 30 seconds
Then do another set of Tricep bench presses, but instead do alternating foot step (100 jumps)
Rest 30 seconds
Then do another set of Tricep bench presses, but instead do 100 high steps
Rest for 1 minute
Then go onto round 2.
Create supersets, where you are incorporating two weight exercises back-to-back (either opposing or same muscle groups) followed by the rope.
That would look something like this….
Bicep curl (8-12 reps)
hammer curl (8-12 reps)
Jump rope 120 jumps – basic bounce step, ski step, and backwards rope jumping.
bicep curl (8-12 reps)
Tricep extension (8-12 reps)
jump rope 120 jumps – basic bounce step, ski step, and backwards rope jumping.
LOL.
Been there done that, too!
My point is there is a lot of variety to keep you going for a long time.
Of course when you lift weights, to keep burning that fat and building lean muscle, it’s all about progressive overload. So how do you progress with the jump rope?
Jump rope progressions
You jump longer. Say you start at 50 jumps, then go to 80, then 100, etc. But you can’t go to infinity, can you?
You can learn more complicated jumps. That is always fun! Increase your variety!
Ankle weights! That’s my favorite, and HARD. Okay, so I’m warning you. You put a bit of weight on both ankles. It doesn’t take much. Then over time, increase just a bit. A little bit goes a long way!
I hope this has helped you build your repertoire at the gym or at home. For more ideas on jump rope, or how to buy a jump rope, or ideas on training, I like the Buddy Lee – 101 best Jump Rope Workouts. Or you can email me, and I can give you some more concrete ideas!
This content was originally published here.
