Jumping Skills

Single Rope Jumping Skills (division): Skills where a jump is required so that the rope can pass under the feet.

This division of skills are divided into seven smaller "categories" as illustrated below. The largest category by far is the "Complex" category. These skills combines elements from the other categories during a jump. For example, it isn't difficult for an experienced rope jumper to combine a "Front Cross" (arms cross at the waist in front) with a "360" (revolve 360 degrees), and with a Double or Triple Under (rope turns two or three times during one jump). This example and the former page which showed the major larger skill groups in jump rope begins to give you a peek at its incredible diversity of skills and routines.

If you would like to learn more jumping skills, I would recommend go to the Rope Links page and checking out the products available at the web sites listed for educational products. With any of the instructional materials, I would also recommend that you limit yourself to short durations of rope jumping (5 minutes) or less for a couple of weeks to allow your body to adapt and then slowly increase the amount of time jumping as you progress. (see Ropics Program for the reason and how to use non-jumping skills).

	The Footwork category includes skills where variations in foot movement occur. Here, Kathleen demonstrates a "Front Toe Touch." The Footwork category also includes basic jumping skills like the Two-foot Jump and many others. Although these skills are less "showy," than the other categories, they often require a higher level of precision, i.e. it's easy to miss with these. Go to the Footwork page to learn more.
	The "Arm Action" category includes skills where a variation in hand position occurs that differs from the standard position - arms at their respective sides. The well-known "Front Cross" (a.k.a. Crossover, Criss-cross) is the best known example which I will show you how to learn on the Arm Action Page. I'm demonstrating a Front-back Cross to the left. There are actually 8 different non-standard arm positions that are possible while jumping over the rope. This allows us to systematically name these skills as you can learn at the Arm Action Skills Page. (As a side note, historically the various Cross skills were often named according to initials of the first person known to have done the skill - which can quickly get confusing.)
	Rotations are skills where the jumper changes facing by at least 90 degrees while jumping. The diagram to the left shows a "180" because her turns 180 degrees to face the other direction. Note that the rope in the beginning was turning in a "forward" direction (towards the toes first), and at the end of the skill execution the rope is turning backward (towards the heels first).
	Displacement skills require the jumper to lower his/her center of gravity to execute it. This "Pushup" to the left is one example. The rope will be pulled under the feet as the jumper comes back up.
	Multiples is a category where the rope turns more than once in a single jump. With the "Double Under" shown to the left, the rope turns twice in one jump. Some gifted athletes have done "Quintuple Unders" (5 turns in a jump)!
	Inversions are skills where the jumper rotates the body about the horizontal axis while jumping through the rope. As you might guess, gymnastics training for these skills, like the "Front Somersault" shown to left is highly recommended.
	Complex skills include two or more "simple" skill elements in a single jump. The diagram to the left demonstrates a "Front-back Cross + Leg Swing." In other words, a skill from the Arm Action and Footwork categories are executed in the same jump. As mentioned earlier, this is a huge category since there are so many ways to combine skills.

Be sure to check out the many ways Non-jumping skills as well!