190220 The benefits of skipping rope
Many of us skipped rope during an earlier time in our lives. But as we got older the rope was forgotten while we hurried about in our busy lives. As it so happens it really was great exercise then and it remains an excellent one today.
The main difference now is that it can be an important part of your physical fitness routine-if practiced diligently. It is a great exercise for developing your agility and cardiovascular capabilities.
Skipping rope is easy, effective and straight forward. You either skip or you miss, and when you miss, you receive instant feedback. These built in automatic stops keep you from continuing on with bad form or technique. On the down side they provide a break when perhaps one isn’t really needed.
In the accompanying photos notice how Dawn begins with her heavy handled rope (these handles have extra weight in them to provide an added challenge to her shoulders, arms and body). Her arms are at the sides, rope handles loosely held in each hand, body relaxed and ready to go. She skips one time in between rope hits as the double taps take too long for her to get warmed up. Occasionally she jumps twice in between each rope hit just to keep her speed, agility and coordination in sharp focus.
DO NOT DO THESE EXERCISES UNLESS YOU HAVE DISCUSSED THEM WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL
Here is the front view of her starting to skip
The side view shows her properly aligned with excellent posture at the beginning of her jumps.
Here is a side view of her beginning to skip
With the speed rope she really gets going at a rate of 175-185 skips. These are paced by an electronic visual and audio metronome. At each beep her rope is hitting the ground in front of her feet as she prepares to skip over it.
One thing to keep in mind is soft landings. Keep it quiet. Her pace is rapid but the only sound heard is the rope hitting the surface. Her knees are kept in line with her feet, i.e. there isn’t any valgus or varus showing up on her landings or takeoffs. She stands tall as she skips; there is no hunching over or wild flapping of her arms during these dynamic general warm ups.
Once you are comfortable skipping with two feet challenge yourself by hopping on one foot at a time for several minutes on each one. Try and maintain the same pace as you do with both feet.
Jumping on one foot at a time
DO NOT DO THIS UNTIL YOU HAVE CONSULTED WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL AND YOU BOTH AGREE THIS WILL BE BENEFICIAL TO YOU.
A rope training schedule (now before you get into a dither, I realize this is repeated, but it is important to follow the directions as to how fast you progress each day).
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| 50 skips | Rest | 50 skips | Rest | 50 skips | ||
| 75 Skips | 50 Skips | Rest | 50 Skips | 75 Skips | ||
| 75 Skips | 60 Skips | 50 Skips | 75 Skips | 100 Skips | ||
| 125 Skips | 65 Skips | 125 Skips | 65 Skips | 125 Skips |
125 skips will take you about one minute to complete once you become confident and coordinated enough to do them continuously and with single hops between each rope hit.
Increase an additional 10-20% to your hop numbers each week. Once you are at the 500 mark then, in my opinion you are better off jumping for time instead of hits. Naturally, if you continue to miss and have to stop and start over again the benefits of continuous activity is going to be lower than would be expected compared to just keeping on skip after skip for five to ten minutes.
As can be seen, and felt, this is an excellent exercise to help build up or maintain your agility, balance, coordination, and cardiovascular endurance Additional benefits come in providing much needed stress on your bones which in turn makes them stronger.
ActivelyFitSeniors 