New Exercise Option: Skipping It

One of the world’s best exercise devices costs less than $15, fits in your briefcase and is easy enough for a child to use.

In fact, jump ropes have long been considered “kid stuff”--but that’s changing. Professional athletes in a variety of sports, particularly tennis and basketball, are adding rope jumping to their training for the same reason boxers have “skipped it” for years. An unparalleled all-around workout, rope jumping strengthens the heart, muscles and bones, promotes leanness and improves agility, coordination, timing, rhythm and explosive power on both sides of the body.

“Jumping rope is definitely catching on” in health clubs across America, says Kathie Davis, executive director of IDEA, a San Diego-based national association of fitness professionals. Jump-rope segments are an integral part of one of the hottest trends in the fitness industry: boxing-based fitness classes, Davis says. Exercise instructors also are incorporating rope skipping into many other kinds of classes, including circuit training and boot camp workouts.

Sports gear giant Reebok is developing an “Aero Skip” jump-rope workout it hopes will become as popular as its Step Reebok and Reebok Studio Cycling classes, says Reebok master trainer Julie McNeney. And a few top clubs, such as Crunch Fitness in Los Angeles, have begun offering workshops in the emerging sport of freestyle jump roping, in which participants jump rope to music and perform a variety of trick moves, such as double unders, arm crosses and turns.

“There’s a misconception that only very fit, well-coordinated people can jump rope,” says Marty Winkler, president of FreeStyle Roping, a Burbank company that markets jump rope products and services. “But we get people of all shapes and sizes and levels of fitness who can complete our one-hour jump-rope class.” Beginners don’t jump through the rope for the entire class, he says, but are encouraged to do “neutral and resting moves”--for example, putting down the rope and miming the instructor’s movements--when they need a break.

“Even klutzes can learn to jump rope if they’re taught properly,” says Ken Solis, an emergency-room physician in Beaver Dam, Wis., who holds the Guinness World Record of 2,411 consecutive double unders (where the rope turns twice for each jump) with an arm cross. A 40-year-old former runner who picked up a jump rope one wintry day in 1979 when bitter weather kept him indoors, Solis is chairman of the education committee for the United States Amateur Jump Rope Federation (USAJRF).

“What really got me hooked was how much fun you can have when you turn on the music,” Solis recalls. “All of a sudden, I was just flying.”

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An extremely versatile sport that the whole family can do, jumping rope burns about 200 calories in 15 minutes--with some variation depending on how fast you go and how much you weigh. And despite concerns that jumping rope is hard on the joints, “it’s easier on the knees and hips than running,” Solis says, “since you land on the balls of your feet so the calves and shins absorb and control the impact.”

Some adult jumpers have been turned on to the activity by their children, with an estimated 1.9 million children in third through fifth grades participating annually in “jumpathons” as part of the booming Jump Rope for Heart program. Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, the fund-raiser generated $31 million for the American Heart Assn. in 1997 while promoting jumping rope as an excellent physical activity.

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Other new jumpers have been attracted by the breathtaking athleticism of jump rope performers, such as the Rebel Ropers, who have appeared in numerous commercials and television programs. Last year, ESPN broadcast coverage of the sport’s national championships during prime time, “and we got 300 calls in one night,” says USAJRF Executive Director Bud Pickett. “People wanted to know how to join clubs, how to start clubs, and what they can do to jump like that.”

The sport is still in its formative years, notes Pickett, who says USAJRF started with 700 members in 1995, when several smaller groups merged. Today the organization says it has 5,000 members, about 75% of whom are younger than 18. The Amateur Athletic Union gave rope jumping official sport status in September, and proponents hope it will eventually become an Olympic event.

Although jumping rope is child’s play, even active people unaccustomed to repeated jumping may find it difficult at first. But with proper instruction and practice, anyone can jump rope, say experts, who offer these tips:

1. Be sure your rope is the right length. When you step in the center, the handles should just reach your armpits.

2. Wear a good pair of aerobic or cross-training shoes.

3. Jump to music that has 120 to 135 beats per minute.

4. Avoid concrete or hard tiles and jump on wooden floors, rubber tiles or low-nap carpeting.

5. Keep shoulders relaxed and elbows in close to your body.

6. Don’t jump too high--unless you’re doing tricks. And turn the rope with your wrists, not your arms.

7. Warm up with five to 10 minutes of light activity, then stretch gently before jumping.

8. If you’ve been sedentary and you’re a man older than 40 or a woman older than 50, check with your doctor before beginning any vigorous activity.

Start by alternating brief periods of jumping with resting moves, such as turning the rope alongside your body without jumping. Over time, do fewer resting moves and more jumping. Your goal is to jump continuously for at least 15 minutes.

Resources:

* United States Amateur Jump Rope Federation, (800) 225-8820; https://www.usajrf.org.

* FreeStyle Roping, (800) ROPE-132; https://www.freestyle-jumproping.com.

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Carol Krucoff is a veteran health care journalist. She writes a regular column about health and fitness for the Washington Post.