What is the Correct Length of a Jumping Rope?

If you are going to get the most from any sort of workout, you need to make sure your equipment is right for you. If you cycle, the wrong-sized bike can make the shortest ride uncomfortable and who’d want to run in sneakers that are too big or too small.

So then, when it comes to skipping ropes, why do so lots of people simply pick up whatever rope they find tucked away in the corner of the health club or buy any old length of skipping rope when they head to the sporting goods shop? It’s no wonder that so many prospective skippers find skipping so difficult!

The length of your skipping rope can make or break your exercise. Too short and you’ll constantly trip over it or need to bend forward to give yourself space to get through the loop. Too long and it’s really difficult to time your jumps as there will be lots of rope dragging on the floor and the rope won’t spin as fast or as smoothly as it should.

So exactly how do you choose the best jumping rope length? Great question!

The quickest and easiest way to check your rope is to place one foot on the center of your rope and hold a handle in each hand. Pull the handles up; they should just reach your underarms. If your rope is too long, just tie a knot or more in the rope to shorten it. Make sure you tie the knots below the handles and not above or you’ll interfere with how the rope spins. If the rope is too short, discard it and get an additional one because it will cause you nothing but grief!

If your rope is a high quality adjustable model, just follow the manufacturer’s instructions and shorten or lengthen it accordingly. Feel free to make further minor adjustments after subsequent workouts to get your jumping rope length absolutely perfect. It’s also fine to trim off any excess and unwanted length away but be careful to do this only when you are absolutely positive you have actually got your rope the right length. If you are adjusting a rope for a growing kid, do not trim the excess as they’ll need a much longer rope in a few months time.

Alternatively, if you have a measuring tape handy, you can always use the chart below to size your jumping rope. At the very least, this gives you an idea of where you should be starting with your jumping rope length. You may still need to fine tune your rope length for optimum performance.

Height – Cable Length
5’0″(152cm) – 7’10″
5’1″(155cm) – 7’11″
5’2″(157cm) – 8’0″
5’3″(160cm) – 8’1″
5’4″(163cm) – 8’2″
5’5″(165cm) – 8’4″
5’6″(168cm) – 8’6″
5’7″(170cm) – 8’7″
5’8″(173cm) – 8’8″
5’9″(175cm) – 8’9″
5’10″(178cm) – 8’10″
5’11″(180cm) – 8’11″
6’0″(183cm) – 9’0″
6’1″(185cm) – 9’1″
6’2″(188cm) – 9’2″
6’3″(191cm) – 9’3″
6’4″(193cm) – 9’4″

Getting your jumping rope length right means you’ll get much more out of your workouts as you’ll trip less often and be able to jump faster and more smoothly. Take time to get this aspect right and you’ll appreciate your workouts much more!

Can Speed Rope Burn Belly Fat?

It’s a fact that lots of people are over weight. Eating much of the wrong types of food, sedentary jobs, not walking enough and not doing adequate physical exercise all mean that, day by day, most people have a calorie surplus which is converted to fat.

Fat is much more compared to a mere aesthetic concern as well — being overweight can have a profound effect on your health. Being over weight increases your chances of experiencing a wide range of diseases and a lot of diseases not directly attributable to being over weight are made worse by excess body fat.

Eating a little less and a little better are vital parts of the weight reduction equation but it’s working out that is arguably the most important factor. The problem is lots of people are so busy that finding time to work out is almost impossible as work and family commitments can derail even the most enthusiastic exerciser.

Additionally, joining and then going to the fitness center is expensive — both in terms of money and time. Gym charges can be very high plus joining charges, storage locker charges, personal training charges, car parking charges, purchasing the right exercise clothes … while you may be losing pounds it’ll be costing you £s to do it. Then you actually have to go to the fitness center so all that travelling to and fro means that a 30 minute workout can end up taking you two hours!

So, if working out is so essential for fat burning, yet going to the gym can be prohibitive for a lot of exercisers, what is the alternative? The easy answer is skipping rope.

Jumping rope with a speed rope means you can exercise without even leaving your office or home. All you need is a few square meters of space and your trusty speed rope and you are off! No expensive equipment, lengthy journeys or costly fitness center charges required.

So if you decide that a skipping rope seems like an excellent way to get healthy and lose weight, what kind of workouts can you do with it? The answer is; lots. Right here are five easy workout ideas designed to get you fit and help you reduce weight using nothing more than a skipping rope.
• Boxing intervals
Jump rope for three minutes, rest for 60 secs. Repeat three to five times for an easy but effective workout.

• 30/30 intervals
Skip for 30 secs and then do a quick set of press ups– 10 or so is fine. Jump back up and skip for a further 30 secs and then do a quick set of squats. Continue alternating using your skipping rope with press ups and squats for 15 to 20 minutes.

• Tabatas
Short of time but still need an excellent workout? Jump rope as fast as you can for 20 secs and then enjoy a leisurely 10 sec rest. Repeat for 8 to 10 sets to total around five minutes. Ideal for when you are in a rush.

• Pyramids
Do 10 skipping rope turns and then rest for 5-10 secs. Next, do 20 turns and rest again. Keep adding 10 speed rope turns until you peak with 100. Then go back down the other side of your pyramid by doing 10 less turns per set until you get back to ten. Total number of skipping rope turns completed equals 1000 and lots of calories burnt too.

• 500 turn challenge
See how quickly you can do 500 skipping rope turns. When you next do this workout, see how much faster you can do it.

Using nothing more than an easy skipping rope, you can get into excellent shape. Exercise can often seem complex but really, it doesn’t need to be. Do 20 to 30 minutes of skipping rope a day and you’ll see how effective but easy physical exercise actually is.

Jumping Rope Workout Routines for Boxers

Boxing is just one of the hardest sporting activities around. Three-minute rounds with one-minute rests means that fighters must be supremely fit. Boxers also have to be strong, powerful, have tremendous core strength, and be fast, agile and skilled. They also need to not mind getting hit but that’s a whole different type of fitness!

There are a number of traditional types of training that most fighters engage in including road work, sparring, body weight and weight training workouts, working the heavy bag and speed ball and skipping rope. Jump rope is good for most people but it is especially useful for fighters.

Making use of a skipping rope can help a fighter develop some critical fitness components and abilities that transfer very well to the ring. Regular skipping rope workouts will…

• Improve fitness
• Improve endurance
• Enhance foot speed
• Improve speed
• Improve coordination
• Help with weight control
• Improve footwork

It’s no wonder then that speed rope and jumping rope training is so commonly connected with fighters and boxing. Heck– there is even a skipping rope technique called the boxer’s skip!

So what are the most effective skipping rope workouts for fighters? Excellent question! When it comes to skipping rope training for fighters you are really only limited by your imagination when designing workouts but to save you having to flex your grey-matter too much, below are some tried and tested boxing skipping rope exercise programs.

1.Three-minute rounds
Skip for 3 mins then rest for one, similar to real rounds of boxing. Mix up your strategies during each round and include tricks like double unders, crossovers and travelling. Make your exercise mirror the ebb and flow of a real fight.

2. Tabata double unders
To really crank up your heart rate, do 20-seconds of double unders (2 rope turns per jump) then rest ten seconds. Repeat 8 to ten times for a short but extremely intense exercise.

3. Heavy bag and skipping rope intervals
Hit the bag for 60-seconds then skip rope for 60-seconds for an active recovery. Continue alternating boxing and skipping for twenty mins or more. Make sure you mix up your punching combinations and also inject some more advanced skipping rope skills to keep things interesting.

4. Burpee and skipping rope descending pyramid
Do ten burpees then skip rope 50 times. Do 9 burpees and skip rope once again 50 times. Keep doing one less burpee until you get all the way down to one. Make sure you skip rope as fast as you can as this exercise is against the clock.

To get the most from these or other skipping rope workouts, you need the ideal equipment which means getting the most effective skipping rope you can. Speed ropes are ideal and wire ropes are even better as they fly round very quickly and smoothly. A good boxing skipping rope will certainly make your workouts more effective as you will trip less and be able to skip rope more smoothly.

Reasons to do Jumping Rope Exercises

In fitness and physical exercise, trends come and go but jumping ropes have been around for hundreds of years and will probably be around for plenty more. Using a speed rope might seem like “old-fashioned” but this simple kind of exercise is still around for one reason and one factor only; it works!

Skipping isn’t just for boxers and school kids either; it’s an effective form of exercise with so many benefits that really, the title of the article ought to have been why everybody should do speed rope exercises!

In no particular order then, below is a short list of reasons why you need to get yourself a new speed rope and get skipping …

• Jump rope exercises can help you reach and afterwards maintain your ideal weight. Skipping will certainly elevate your metabolism and burn calories which when combined with a reduced calorie diet will certainly lead to increased fat burning.

• Using a speed rope will certainly improve your coordination and balance. This means you’ll be more nimble and athletic and less prone to suffering a fall — important for older exercisers and sportsman alike.

• Jump rope can help increase your bone mass. As you age, your bones start to lose density and can become weak. Workouts like skipping strengthen your bones and can help reduce, remove and even reverse bone loss.

• Skipping improves the condition and for that reason the health of your heart and lungs. This lessens your danger of suffering numerous diseases including coronary heart disease, strokes, cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure.

• Skipping is not weather-dependant. Running or cycling in the rain and snow are at best uncomfortable and even worse dangerous. You can use a speed rope in the comfort of your garage, lounge or at the fitness center without having to worry about facing the elements and freezing your butt off!

• Jump rope are very fairly priced. Costing less compared to one average-quality running shoe, speed rope represents excellent value for money. Hardwearing and portable, very few exercise options offer such an excellent exercise for so little money.

• Jump rope exercises don’t just strengthen your legs; they also work your arms and shoulders as well! Skipping is virtually a full-body exercise as it uses many of your major muscles. Your chest, shoulders and arms get an excellent workout along with your hips and legs. This is why skipping is such an effective calorie burning activity.

• Once mastered, skipping will certainly provide you with countless exercise variations. You can skip fast or slow, do techniques such as double unders and cross overs, move forward, backward or sideways, use one or two footed landings, skip to music, do interval training … all with nothing greater than a speed rope. There is no need to ever get bored with skipping!

• Skipping is an excuse-free exercise. All you need is your rope and some space and you have everything you need to get in and stay in excellent shape. No fancy or pricey equipment needed, no pricey gym charges to pay, no need to buy specialist clothing … just grab your rope and skip your way to fitness and health!

Skipping could just well be the most effective exercise you aren’t doing so why not get a rope and jump in? You have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain from joining the ranks of regular rope skippers all around the world.

Pros and Cons of Jumping Rope versus Running

Of all the workouts you can do for your heart and lungs, running is arguably the most popular. Running is just one of those activities that is pretty instant– you lace up your shoes and head out the door and that’s really all there is to it. Left foot, right, foot, breath and repeat.

That’s part of the allure of running– it does not require much in the way of ability. Another benefit of running is that you can run pretty much anywhere and at anytime; no need to sign up with an expensive health club or hire a personal trainer.

There are, however, a couple of drawbacks to running that are worth taking into consideration, especially if you are only running for wellness and weight control. If you are running to become a much better runner then you really need to run but for the rest of us, maybe these drawbacks mean that running isn’t the best way to keep fit and lose weight.

• Weather — running in the rain is all right if a little uncomfortable, but snow, ice and strong winds can make running unsafe. If you live somewhere that the weather conditions are frequently bad, maybe running is going to be a seasonal activity.

• Lighting — running in the dark can be unsafe. Traffic, uneven sidewalks, bad road surfaces and other road users can become major hazards when it gets dark. You may well be in the right however an altercation with an automobile will also result in a car: 1, runner: 0 score line.

• Equipment — enjoyable, safe running requires a considerable financial outlay. You’ll require proper footwear, the appropriate kind of clothing, warm weather gear, cold weather gear wet weather gear and then, after spending all that money, you might find that you don’t even enjoy running!

• Benefits — there is no question that running is good for your heart, lungs and legs but actually, running trains your physical body to be good at one thing — going forward. This means that some muscles become very well developed while others are all but ignored. There is no side to side motion, twisting or turning so if you are running to boost your sports performance after that you may need to include additional kinds of workouts into your regular training schedule.

• Injuries– running is hard on the ankles, knees, hips and spine. Each step you take leads to a tremendous amount of force being shot up though your body and this can be injurious.

If you are starting to think that maybe running isn’t for you, you’ll also be asking “well, exactly what’s the alternative?” Good question! You could do a lot worse than jump rope training.

Unlike running, you can jump rope in the comfort of your own home, far from unsafe traffic and out of bad weather conditions. You can pretty much wear exactly what you wish and it doesn’t matter whether it’s light or dark outside — you can jump rope pretty much any time. An excellent jump rope costs less than you’d spend for just one cheap running shoe too so it’s an affordable activity to get into.

Jumping rope uses more than one simple technique so it can help develop a more all round kind of physical fitness and many of the moves in jump rope will certainly develop coordination and agility as well as cardiovascular fitness. Overuse injuries, so common in joggers, are far less common in jump rope workouts because there is less impact associated with jumping rope compared with running.

Overall, the effect of running and jump rope are very comparable but if running isn’t your thing or you feel the drawbacks outweigh the advantages of heading out for a run, think about buying a jump rope and enjoying all of the advantages this safe, convenient and simple type of workout has to offer.

How to Jump Rope for Beginners

Call it skipping or jumping rope, working out with a speed rope offers an effective, fun and easy way to manage your weight and get fit. You can jump rope almost anywhere so foul weather conditions need never unhinge your best workout intentions and it’s also great for your upper body, your bones and can help keep you healthy too.

Of course, you’ll only experience these advantages if you a) know how to jump rope and b) do it often enough. 20 minutes 3 times a week is a great place to begin however if that seems a little beyond you right now, don’t worry — just start off with whatever you can manage and build up gradually over the coming weeks and months.

Before you begin skipping, you have to make sure your jump rope is the right length for you. Too long or too short a rope can make skipping far trickier than it has to be.

Stand on the center of your rope and pull the handles up and under your arms. The handles should just reach your armpits. Hopefully you have an adjustable rope you can easily shorten or lengthen it but if not, if it’s too long tie knots in it and if it’s too short, discard it and get a brand-new one.

Safety Measures

Jump rope exercises are 99.99 % safe however to remove even the smallest danger of injury always put on supportive, cushioned footwear, skip in a clear area where your rope can swing freely without the danger of hitting anything or anyone and stay away from skipping on hard, unforgiving surfaces such as concrete.

How to jump rope
• Stand with your feet together and the end of your rope in your hands. Put the loop of the rope behind you.

• Your hands should be at around hip level and a little away from your sides.

• Keeping your shoulders down, your chest and head up and your arms relaxed and using more wrist than arm, flip the rope up and over your head.

• As the rope approaches your feet, jump over it. Do not jump too high — try to just clear the rope by an inch or two, Land gently on the balls of your feet and let the rope swing up and over again.

• Don’t worry if you trip — skipping takes a while to learn and is not always an instant skill. Just reset your position with the rope behind you and try once more. Every trip-free rope turn takes you one step closer to becoming a proficient skipper.

• Keep practicing until you manage ten trip-free rope turns then twenty, fifty and one hundred. This may take a few sessions but its well within most exerciser’s grasp. When you can do one hundred trip-free turns you can progress to other skipping techniques such as heel-toe skipping (sometimes called boxer’s skipping), jogging on the spot and other easy but fun tricks.

Within just a few sessions, you should be skipping like a professional and starting to see the many advantages of using a jump rope for yourself. Stick with it; there are very few other kinds of exercise as beneficial and accessible as jump rope.

Choosing The Right Speed Rope

Exercising with a speed rope is one of the most effective ways to get in shape, lose weight and feel great. Skipping is a simple activity that is easy to learn which can be done almost anywhere and any time. All you need is a jumping rope and a little space.

While you could use something as simple as a cut off length of washing line to make a jump rope, that isn’t really ideal and you’d be much better off using a more specialist speed jump rope if you want to make your workouts as effective, efficient and enjoyable as possible so it pays to spend a little time choosing the best rope.

Traditionally, jumping ropes were always made of leather which is great as leather is hardwearing and heavy enough to spin fairly well however leather ropes are not always the fastest or the smoothest to use and are prone to tangles. If you have ideas about doing workouts like double unders (two rope turns per jump) then you may struggle with a leather rope. Also, leather ropes are not usually adjustable so they are difficult to size correctly.

Some ropes are made of PVC. PVC ropes are absolutely faster (and cheaper) than leather ropes however they tend to use very simply hollow plastic handles which means that they too can not easily be adjusted. Of course — you can tie knots in the rope to shorten it however this is far from ideal. And while PVC ropes are quicker than leather ropes, they still lack the real eye-blinking speed needed to do double, triple or even quadruple unders (yes– that’s three and 4 rope turns per jump!).

If you are serious about jumping rope speed, the very best option of rope material is a plastic coated steel wire. With just a flick of the wrist, a steel wire will cut through the air like a hot knife through butter to make your workouts as smooth and efficient as possible. Wire ropes are generally very easy to adjust so you can customize the rope length to your exact requirements.

The best speed jumping ropes also have specially made handles that contain bearings to further reduce resistance and improve your workout. This also means the rope will not twist or tangle which can add unwanted stress to your workout and who needs that?!

So, while you can go low tech and skip with any type of old rope, as even the best speed jump ropes come in at less than £20.00, it makes sense to purchase a good one– one that will last for years and was designed specifically to make your skipping rope workouts as enjoyable and effective as possible. In return, you’ll get a tool specifically designed to get you in great shape in the quickest time possible.

Is Jump Rope Good for Cardio?

Cardiovascular fitness is closely related to cardiovascular health. In a simple nutshell, the fitter your heart, lungs and circulatory system are, the healthier they are likely to be. Having excellent cardiovascular fitness (and for that reason health) means there is a decreased risk of suffering a number of serious health problems and diseases including:

Can a Jump Rope Enhance Your Physical and Mental Endurance?

Endurance means different things to different people. For some, stamina is being able to climb mountains or run marathons but for others it’s the ability to get to the end of the working day not feeling absolutely exhausted.

In reality, stamina can be broken down into 2 physical and one mental component. If you want to become tireless, you need a little (or a lot) of all three!

Cardiovascular endurance: this is about the ability to absorb and transport oxygen to your muscles so you keep them supplied with lots of the right stuff they need to keep working. While you can operate without oxygen, you can’t do so for long — try holding your breath to see! The majority of human activities rely on oxygen so the more efficient you are at getting oxygen into your working muscles, the longer you’ll be able to continue with your chosen activity.

Are Skipping Ropes Suitable for Kids?

It’s a sad however true fact that an increasing number of children are becoming overweight. With fewer opportunities for exercising and a diet loaded with junk food, the number of overweight children is steadily climbing.

Schools don’t have the resources to invest on health and fitness facilities and a lot of parents are too busy working their butts off to spend time doing physically demanding activities with their children so, sadly, it’s all but inevitable that kids are getting fatter.

However, if children need to do even more exercise and facilities are thin on the ground, why not motivate them to take up that old playground classic activity of using a jump rope?

Not so many years ago, you could all but guarantee you would see children skipping at break time in schools throughout the country so maybe it’s time that jump ropes were reintroduced to schools or, better still, made compulsory?