Skipping

I’ve finally ordered a rope after much deliberation over which cardio equipment to spend money on during lockdown (quite easy in the end as the rest were too expensive or out of stock...) - a bit late now but hopefully I can start to undo some of the excessive boredom cake eating.

Any guidance for those starting out? I am going to be very bad...
 
Participant said:
Well after 4 months of skipping almost every day I have made incredible progress with skipping, both in terms of endurance and the tricks I can do.

I have however gotten through 3 ropes of increasing cost, as I tend to skip on the garden patio and the ropes wear out really quickly.

First one was a plastic Reebok speed rope - plastic wore out and it snapped.
Second one was the kids' rope with plastic beads - dragged through the air too much as I got faster.
Third was one like iMacMart posted above - wore out and the wire started fraying, flaying my shins when I made a mistake.
I've now just ordered this one from Amazon - hopefully it lasts longer.

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The main thing with skipping is that I absolutely love it for some reason. Very important in terms of getting you off your bum to actually do some cardio.

What I don't love is that all the ropes have increased in price by about 100% recently; still great value for the workout it gives though.
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ropes are meant to wear out. when i used to do boxing. we were told just to buy several pairs of the cheapest all plastic one we could find. they were like a quid each back in the day.
 
Still loving skipping and have recently been skipping with this heavier rope (it was cheaper before and there's now one that looks identical for £12):

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From not being able to string two jumps together a year ago, this is me a few weeks ago bouncing the moobs and trying some tricks I'm learning (not professing to be an expert - it's damn hard to learn new tricks):


I've now almost got the 'fast skip' down. It's so satisfying learning new tricks, and it's been incredibly good for my left leg's muscles after I broke it in a motorcycle RTC a few years ago.

It's such a good workout but most importantly, I love doing it so am getting consistent cardio.
 
Nice, didn't know we had a skipping thread, was about to start one.

While in a youtube fitness video hole last week I came across some skipping videos. I was sleepy so let them run and it piqued my curiosity, I happened to order the same rope @Participant mentions above for £7. It came, I tried, found it had no real weight to it combined with my lack of co-ordination I promptly got frustrated. Back on youtube, watched a few beginners guides which recommended heavier ropes to start with, you can feel the movement more and work on co-ordination.

Again, happened to order the same rope as @Participant mentions above, guess they've also been checking highest rated ropes on amazon :D

Came Sunday and used it the last few days, definitely easier as a beginner than the 'washing line' rope I had originally. One thing that shocked me is how fast you tire out, I barely managed a few rounds of 30 seconds at a time before co-ordination went poor and out of breath.

I can also immediately see why this is such a quick intense calorie burn, I guess most swerve it as skipping is for little girls ;)

@Participant are you still skipping regularly?
 
SixTwoSix said:
Nice, didn't know we had a skipping thread, was about to start one.

While in a youtube fitness video hole last week I came across some skipping videos. I was sleepy so let them run and it piqued my curiosity, I happened to order the same rope @Participant mentions above for £7. It came, I tried, found it had no real weight to it combined with my lack of co-ordination I promptly got frustrated. Back on youtube, watched a few beginners guides which recommended heavier ropes to start with, you can feel the movement more and work on co-ordination.

Again, happened to order the same rope as @Participant mentions above, guess they've also been checking highest rated ropes on amazon :D

Came Sunday and used it the last few days, definitely easier as a beginner than the 'washing line' rope I had originally. One thing that shocked me is how fast you tire out, I barely managed a few rounds of 30 seconds at a time before co-ordination went poor and out of breath.

I can also immediately see why this is such a quick intense calorie burn, I guess most swerve it as skipping is for little girls ;)

@Participant are you still skipping regularly?
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Yes I'm skipping more than ever. I got Crossrope's 0.5lb, 1lb, and 2lb ropes (b-grade stock) with heavy handles for my birthday (JumpRope Dudes are good salesmen) and have been doing it every other day-ish for about almost 2 years now.

Dare I say I've gotten pretty good and rarely trip now, my form is much better and my cardio and overall fitness has sky rocketed. I do 45 minute workouts of 40 seconds on 20 seconds rest, with a few longer breaks for recovery. I can do loads of tricks now including the criss cross run in place, which is quite cool. It's great exercise.

I try to go more for the boxer vibe than the little girl vibe ;), whether or not I pull it off is another question!

I tend to do it in the park as it's nicer than the driveway. The pram-pushing mums are often quite interested in watching which is an added bonus ;).
 
Participant said:
Yes I'm skipping more than ever. I got Crossrope's 0.5lb, 1lb, and 2lb ropes (b-grade stock) with heavy handles for my birthday (JumpRope Dudes are good salesmen) and have been doing it every other day-ish for about almost 2 years now.

Dare I say I've gotten pretty good and rarely trip now, my form is much better and my cardio and overall fitness has sky rocketed. I do 45 minute workouts of 40 seconds on 20 seconds rest, with a few longer breaks for recovery. I can do loads of tricks now including the criss cross run in place, which is quite cool. It's great exercise.

I try to go more for the boxer vibe than the little girl vibe ;), whether or not I pull it off is another question!

I tend to do it in the park as it's nicer than the driveway. The pram-pushing mums are often quite interested in watching which is an added bonus ;).
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It's pretty good to hear that you've stuck with it, do you do it in conjunction with other exercise or is this your primary workout?

I subbed to JRD last week, decent videos, well explained, some light humour so it's not monotonous, they claim jump rope is all they do, if so, that's some impressive physiques just from using a rope. I'm sure there is some close diet monitoring as well though.

I'm just doing mine on the back patio at the moment, taken me a few days to get length right so it's not striking the floor. Can't imagine i'll ever have the confidence to do it in public, i'll just aim to increase duration every couple of days for the time being.

I saw the price of the crossropes, eye watering, how much were the b grades?
 
SixTwoSix said:
It's pretty good to hear that you've stuck with it, do you do it in conjunction with other exercise or is this your primary workout?

I subbed to JRD last week, decent videos, well explained, some light humour so it's not monotonous, they claim jump rope is all they do, if so, that's some impressive physiques just from using a rope. I'm sure there is some close diet monitoring as well though.

I'm just doing mine on the back patio at the moment, taken me a few days to get length right so it's not striking the floor. Can't imagine i'll ever have the confidence to do it in public, i'll just aim to increase duration every couple of days for the time being.

I saw the price of the crossropes, eye watering, how much were the b grades?
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About £20 per rope if I recall correctly, but they accidentally sent the 2lb rope that we didn't order and shipping was much cheaper than now as they used to ship from an Irish depot pre-Brexit.

It takes absolutely ages to get good unless you have a natural affinity for it.

I can now do double unders with the 0.5lb rope but can only string 3 back to back at the moment. Those took AGES to get.

It's my main cardio workout and the only exercise I really enjoy apart from sports and bike riding. I also do some bodyweight exercises (used to casually lift weights but haven't picked it back up since COVID).
 
Participant said:
Just checked, the 0.5lb rope was $19.60. You have to scroll down to the bottom of the website and look for the 'Shop Clearance' section:
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Took my brain out, you meant just the ropes, not the handles :) Clearance handles are 40 odd quid.

I'll see how I get on, if i'm still doing it regularly in a few months, i'll look into a more quality product, for now, just using the heavy AUTUWT PVC rope off amazon you linked above.
 
@Participant did you get much shin pain when starting out, been skipping most days but yesterday had to stop a few minutes in as the shin pain was horrid.

I'm using quite cushioned trainers on top of my wifes old yoga mat as suggested if you only have a concrete base to skip on.

I guess I just need to knock it on the head for a day or two, legs just probably aren't used to the 'shock' :)
 
A skipping thread! Whoop!

I bit the bullet and ordered a set of Crossropes. Yes they are expensive but I wanted to get into it properly.
I find, as a triathlete, they help with upper body massively, especially the heavy ropes! Jeez they take some swinging!!

I found the hardest thing is finding a place to do it! They are quite noisy, and I feel guilty doing it in the back yard very early in the morning. I've resorted to going to a local park.

Oh.....and my god does it hurt when you get it wrong! I've finished sessions looking like Indiana Jones has been attacking me :(
 
Shadowness said:
A skipping thread! Whoop!

I bit the bullet and ordered a set of Crossropes. Yes they are expensive but I wanted to get into it properly.
I find, as a triathlete, they help with upper body massively, especially the heavy ropes! Jeez they take some swinging!!

I found the hardest thing is finding a place to do it! They are quite noisy, and I feel guilty doing it in the back yard very early in the morning. I've resorted to going to a local park.

Oh.....and my god does it hurt when you get it wrong! I've finished sessions looking like Indiana Jones has been attacking me :(
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I might have to consider skipping. I keep looking for upper body activities, but weights just bore me a little.

Would you say it'd cause issues to do it on hard ground? There's a farm road down the side of our house i could do it on which is out of the way from people, but obviously there's the risk of destroying the ropes on the gravel/tarmac as it hits.
 
@Martynt74 Well tbh to begin with, I started doing it on grass, which then wore down to a hard bare patch! But doing it on a solid base is much better.

I was worried about doing it on tarmac, as you hear about people wearing away the 'rope'. I actually do it on a little concrete skatepark, which is very hard but more importantly smooth, so it doesn't seem to do much to the rope itself.

It is a great activity, the time does fly by. And with some proper weighted ropes, you certainly feel it! With the 1LB rope, I can just about manage 2 couple of minutes straight then my arms are wrecked. I mainly do sets alternating between lighter and heavier ropes.

EDIT: you can buy relatively cheap matts to skip on, just don't get the £100 Crossropes one! I think I've seen some decent ones on Amazon for £20 or so
 
I wonder if my length is off on the rope or i'm jumping too high, my rope doesn't hit the ground when I skip, judging by your posts, it 'should' clip the ground?
 
Shadowness said:
@Martynt74 Well tbh to begin with, I started doing it on grass, which then wore down to a hard bare patch! But doing it on a solid base is much better.

I was worried about doing it on tarmac, as you hear about people wearing away the 'rope'. I actually do it on a little concrete skatepark, which is very hard but more importantly smooth, so it doesn't seem to do much to the rope itself.

It is a great activity, the time does fly by. And with some proper weighted ropes, you certainly feel it! With the 1LB rope, I can just about manage 2 couple of minutes straight then my arms are wrecked. I mainly do sets alternating between lighter and heavier ropes.

EDIT: you can buy relatively cheap matts to skip on, just don't get the £100 Crossropes one! I think I've seen some decent ones on Amazon for £20 or so
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Also, is it reasonable to start off with a 1lb rope or is that something you need to be decent at first?
 
Martynt74 said:
Also, is it reasonable to start off with a 1lb rope or is that something you need to be decent at first?
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I don't think it was unreasonable. I found as you are generally skipping slower with the heavier rope, you can just focus on strength a bit more. But you can still do tricks such as cross overs etc. But I would probably start on a lighter one to get the technique nailed down first.

SixTwoSix said:
I wonder if my length is off on the rope or i'm jumping too high, my rope doesn't hit the ground when I skip, judging by your posts, it 'should' clip the ground?
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Yeh it should definitely hit the ground.....I'm still a newbie, but every video I've seen people do it, it hits. That's why I said before about the noise, it's a constant slap slap slap

I started with a short rope, and I found I was tripping up on it a lot more, and also I couldn't do any footwork (moving feet about between swings), as the rope was very short. I think most guides say the rope (excluding handles) should be about nipple height.
Your feet should only come a couple of inches max off the ground too.
 
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