I’ve done a bit of a trial of jumping rope for the last 2 months. I’ve decided that in the new year, it is worth trying to develop a consistent practice. Based on these two months, these are my equipment suggestions and the training program I’ve come up with.
Equipment
- A jump rope, Wirecutter recommends XYLsports jump rope
- A jump rope mat
It is worth noting that it is easier to learn to jump rope using a weighted rope. Weighted ropes will also provide more of an arm and back workout.
The mat is necessary to give your legs a little cushion and to help extend the life of your jump rope. Hitting hard concrete can wear down some ropes (and legs unused to the strain) very quickly.
Personally, I am using a Boxer Training Rope 3.0, Heavy Muay Thai Rope 2.0, and a jumping rope mat from EliteSRS. The Boxer Training Rope comes in a 10 foot size, so if you use this, you might need cable cutters and cable stops to fit the jump rope to your height. However, I was lazy and simply added some loops to the rope to shorten it.
Note: Each routine below assumes a six day schedule with one day of rest. If you need more rest, then reduce to a four or five day schedule, as you have need. Target number of jumps in a minute: 120-160. I typically hit 150.
Beginning Routine, or The 5 Minute Routine
In the beginning, try to reach 5 minutes of jump rope. Get an high intensity interval timer for your phone, then set the following:
- 20 Work (seconds)
- 40 Break (seconds)
- 60 Rest (seconds [of rest between blocks])
- 3 Intervals per block
- X Blocks
Work your way up to 5 blocks for a total of 5 minutes. At this point, you should have a basic skill of being able to jump rope.
The 10 Minute Routine
- 30 Work (seconds)
- 60 Break (seconds)
- 10 Rest (seconds [of rest between blocks])
- X Intervals per block
- 1 Blocks
Start with 10 intervals per block, which is the same as 5 minutes of jump rope. Then, as it starts to feel easy, increment until you hit 20 intervals for a total of 10 minutes.
2021 Routine, The 20 Minute Routine
- X Work (seconds)
- 60 Break (seconds)
- 10 Rest (seconds [of rest between blocks])
- 20 Intervals per block
- 1 Blocks
Start with 30 seconds of work for a total of 10 minutes of jumping rope. Then increment work by 3 seconds to add another minute of jumping rope to your routine. Once you hit 60 seconds of work per interval, then you will be doing 20 minutes of work jumping rope.
At the 20 minute of work mark, there are two options. One, start to reduce breaks by 3 seconds per interval, shaving off a minute of time for each 3 seconds reduced. Two, you could continue adding 3 seconds per interval to work to increase total work time to 90 seconds and overall time to an hour.
For a consistent practice, 20 minutes of jump rope work should be consistent for maintaining good health for ~40 minutes a day. Reduce breaks down to 30 seconds an interval, and you could get total time down to 30 minutes total.
For added difficulty, I am going to alternate days jumping rope with the weighted Heavy Muay Thai jump rope and the regular Boxer Training Rope. Over the last two months, I’ve used the Heavy Muay Thai rope exclusively, and I have found that the toll this takes on the body is too much to do every day.
2021 Progress
- 2021-01-01: Started 2021 routine using 30 seconds of work for 10 minutes of jump rope.
- 2021-02-01: Worked up to 20 minutes with a Boxer Training Rope and 12 minutes with the Muai Thai Rope.
- 2021-03-01: Shoulder injury, scratch the whole month.
- 2021-04-01:
- 2021-05-01:
- 2021-06-01:
- 2021-07-01:
- 2021-08-01:
- 2021-09-01:
- 2021-10-01:
- 2021-11-01:
- 2021-12-01:
- 2022-01-01:
2021 Summary Results
To Be written in January 2022
cafebedouin.org 