What is everyones opinion on the use of a jump rope as a way to increasing conditioning? Is it possible to get a killer workout from a jump rope?
The jumprope is kickass. I know Coach Davies highly recommends it. In fact, I need to get my arse on one. Bigtime improvements in calves & coordination.
Check out Renegade Rope Training in a previous T-Mag issue. Jump rope as a way of increasing conditioning? Hell, yes.
Agreed, jrope kicks ass!! I do various period lengths for 30-45 minutes every morning with my kbell work and my work threshold and foot speed have improved tremendously. Get to the point where you can turn 175-200 rpm and see how many consecutive minutes you can maintain it, it wont be many if any.
Try it.
Jumping Rope is so brutal that most that try it don’t continue because it is just to hard.
Well, at first it isn’t brutal, just frustrating. That’s why I think most people don’t stick with it.
Oh yessum, it surely is. Renegade Chef 175-200 rpm, that’s going for it, I am pretty consistent at 130.
Great for conditioning. Can’t say that I’ve seen any calf size increase, though.
I believe IronMind sells a kickass speed rope. You can find it at www.ironmind.com Look in the ‘online store’ section.
Jumping rope is great for conditioning, but don’t expect to be good at it for a while. First off, get a good jump rope - cheap ones just get tangled and are hard to manage. Then take some time and learn to jump, it’s pretty hard at first. If you have problems with shin splints, don’t ‘double foot’ jump, try more of a running motion.
amazing conditioning medium. You should be able to find my article in the search engine which contains a “fun” workout. In faith, Coach Davies
I have a problem with jumping rope. I am using the cheap, multicolor plastic ones (like Coach Davies recommends), and I seem to be just in between sizes (or I just suck). I am exactly six feet tall, and I have an eight and a nine foot rope. The eight foot seems to always hit my toes and the nine foot just takes so damned long to come around that I hit the ground, and wait, and wait and then jump again. This is obviously not good for conditioning. What do I do??!!
spread your arms wider
I’m six foot exactly, and use a nine foot rope. The trick to getting the rope speed up is keeping your elbows in, and flaring your lower arm. Use a bit of wrist action too. If this still doesn’t get you up to pace, try a weighted rope. Ironmind have one, but I haven’t tried it.
Stick with the shorter rope. A classic mistake of beginners is to use too much arm motion, and lift the forearms up when spinning the rope. Keep the arms by your side, and simply flick the wrists. This will keep the rope low, and will also allow for a quicker spin.
SRS
Great tool for training. Jumping rope benefits
include: quick hands, quick feet, reactive strength, balance, coordination, endurance and body awareness.
Thank you
Coach Hale
your problem may be that you have your arms low and turning more with your wrists. I pinch my elbows in and try to keep the forearm closer to parallel to the ground. With this manner you will need a longer rope and find speed incredibly faster and bust-up your arms. I hope that helps. In faith, Coach Davies
Thank you.
Coach Davies, as long as we are on the subject of skipping rope, I wonder if you have any suggestions concerning a problem I’ve had recently. First of all, I’ve been skipping rope for a long, long time – I’ve been practicing taekwondo for 30 years and until the last couple of years worked out with seveal nationally ranked kickboxers. I had surgery on my left foot twice in the last couple of years and spent an aggregate of about 12 months on crutches. I’ve been working out regularly for six or seven months now and have been coming back pretty well for a 51 yearold. I can do full range squats with no problem (but only about half what I used to do) and have just about as good flexibility as I used to.
I started skipping rope again a couple of weeks ago as part of my program. I noticed a sharp pain on the medial aspect of my left knee joint about an inch below my patella. The more I skip, the worse it gets. Speed doesn’t seem to make a difference (I average about 140-150 RPM, but slowing down doesn’t really make a difference.) It seems to be aggravated by the impact of hitting the floor with my left foot. It doesn’t interfere with squatting at all, although I do have twinges when I walk and it is tender to the touch. I don’t think it is related to the way my foot strikes the floor, though, as my foot strike feels normal. I have reasonable flexibility in that foot and wear custom orthoses.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Porkchop