rope skipping

Skipping is a healthy and fun form of exercise and can benefit everyone. You can use it for high-intensity bursts, long periods at a low intensity or anything in-between. It's also cheap, portable and accessible to most, it can be done about anywhere!

The problem with traditional rope skipping is it becomes dull and repetitive very quickly. But if you ever watch boxers skip you’ll notice their dance with the rope looks anything but boring. 

Skipping with different stances and swings will produce significant health and performance benefits, while also keeping the interest and fun of skipping. Try implementing both of these tricks into your skipping to keep things fun and exciting while reaping the rewards skipping gives you.

The Boxer Skip
When a boxer is skipping during training, the main focus is mimicking their footwork used in a fight. Instead of jumping up and down in place with even weight distribution, they’ll jump slightly side to side, shifting their weight every jump.
With this particular style, the feet are taking it in turns every jump as to which one is going to take more bodyweight. This footwork provides efficiency while also allowing you to move in any direction.

Skipping this way will also fend off shin splints as it produces less impact as you land, and you can conserve energy and skip for longer durations. Imagine lifting your feet off the ground to create a jump instead of pushing them off the ground.

Crosses
Being able to crisscross the jump rope is impressive, but difficult to learn. Crosses will be especially tricky if you jump into trying them without mastering the timing of regular skipping first. These progressions will teach you to cross the rope in no time.

Cross the rope with a jump:
Only jump once and don't worry about what the rope does after you jump it. Reset, and repeat this drill until you're familiar with how jumping over a crossed rope feels.

Cross and uncross the rope:
Once you’ve mastered the single crossover, try uncrossing the rope on the second jump, then stop, reset and repeat.

Stringing together crosses:
Now you’ve nailed the cross and uncross, try going into a standard skip from there and then randomly adding the crosses back in. Have fun and experiment, see how many crosses you can string together!


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