A solution to the few disadvantages of rope jumping as an exercise.

As I discussed in the introduction to rope jumping as an exercise activity, there are two objective shortcomings that must be addressed before more people can reap it's benefits.  Ropics® is a program that I developed in the late 1970's through the 80's to address those problems (See Ropics Principles for more information).  I subsequently have had two books and a video published by Human Kinetics Publishers and produced three instructional videos on my own (which got great reviews from exercise magazines like Shape, and others).  Unfortunately, all of these products are now out of print.*  What follows is an outline of the approach that the Ropics program advocates.

 *Unfortunately, so far it has still been tough to "sell" rope jumping to enough people for anyone to  create a major demand for instructional materials.  A number of books on rope jumping have been written over the years, many that are pretty good.  Although a number of jump rope experts have had successes, none that I know of have become household names!

A. Rope jumping is a skilled activity, therefore, teach skills in a step-by-step method.

As I've stated ad nauseum, nearly anyone can master rope jumping with a little practice and instruction.  One approach that has helped people to learn jump rope properly is a step-by-step approach as illustrated below.

 

Before beginning, make sure that your rope is the correct length.  With one or two feet on the middle of the rope, the ends should come up to about armpit level as it is with Beth to the left.  A shorter rope is a little faster, a longer rope is easier for doing "tricks."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learning to Jump Rope Step-by-Step

Step 1. First, just learn to turn the rope properly at your side with both handles in one hand.  Focus on turning the rope with your wrist and forearm, not from the shoulders.  You don't want to make large circles with your arms. 

Also note that you don't need to look at the rope while turning it, so keep looking forward.  A common misconception is that rope jumping requires eye-hand or eye-foot coordination - nonsense.  I've jumped rope countless times in the dark during my shows during the glow rope and strobe light routines.  It's all a matter of timing and rhythm.

 

Step 2.  Next practice jumping and landing on the balls of your feet so that your feet slightly leave the ground.  Don't worry about jumping over the rope right now.   Avoid the tendency to kick back.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3. Next, put steps 1&2 together so that you are turning the rope at your side while jumping in time to the spinning rope.

Finally, practice actually jumping over the rope keeping the turning and jumping habits that you learned earlier in mind.  If necessary, just concentrate on jumping over the rope correctly just once and then increase the number of times as you gain confidence and skill. 

Yes, at first you might revert back to making big circles with the shoulders and kicking back with the feet to try to avoid tangling the rope around your feet.  If you consciously work towards the ideal form while rope jumping, however, you will eventually achieve it in a short period of time.

For extra credit, jump once for each turn of the rope.  There is nothing inherently wrong about "double bouncing" for each turn of the rope (see below), but that habit will eventually limit your growth with rope jumping since the rope is turning so slow. (Double bouncing is often a habit carried over from childhood where you might have jumped over the slower turning long rope that was turned by two turners.)