Skipping

How to skip

1. Hold the rope with your hands out to the side of the body and elbows tucked in. 
2. Using a circular wrist motion, swing the rope continulously over your head and under your feet, pushing off with the balls of your feet as the rope approaches the ground.

Notes:

• Jump around 2cm off the floor and ensure that the knees are bent at all times. 

Skipping guide

A skipping rope is a cheap and effective investment in your fitness.

Lose weight, strengthen your cardiovascular system, improve your agility and develop the muscles in your legs, abs, back, chest and shoulders. 

...and you can do it just about anywhere. 

Benefits of skipping

Skipping ropes are not just for the playground and there's plenty of reasons to start jump training today. 

• Strengthen the heart and cardiovascular system
• Cheap, ultra-portable and convenient
• Suitable for beginners and advanced trainees alike
• Good for fat loss
• Develops multiple fitness skills - agility, flexibility, coordination & balance
• Medium impact activiy considered easier on the joints that running. 

Skipping for beginners

Skipping is an excellent exercise for beginners and can be integrated into your fitness regime at your own pace and intensity. Combined with strength training, skipping can be a great way to build a high level of fitness. 

Start with a basic skipping routine and build up speed before progressing onto the more advanced skills and tricks. Many beginners will double jump between skips when first starting out so make sure you jump cleanly and only once between each rotation, keeping the core body engaged and tight. Also note that the arms should barely move during jump rope training as the rotation some come from the wrist movement. 

Warming up for skipping

To ensure that the body is fully prepared for a skipping workout -

1. start by perfoming an activity to elevate the heart rate such on on the spot jogs. 
2. Stretch out the quadriceps, hamstrings and calves
3. Rotate the ankles clockwise and anti-clockwise of each leg x 5. 
4. Create arm circles, forwards and backwards x 10.  

Advanced skipping

Skipping lends itself to some impressive skills and tricks -

Crossovers

As the rope passes over your head, cross your armse as far across the front of the body as possible, jumping through the gap and over the rope. 

Double unders

Pass the rope under the feet twice with every jump by jumping a little higher and increasing the speed of the rope. 

Other advanced skipping skills include 

• Bell Jumps - jumping forward and back between skips to focus work on the front of the thighs
• Skier skipping - side-to-side jumps between skips to target the inner thighs
• Running step - keeping the knees up in front to train lower abs.