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- Aug 13, 2016
- Messages
- 967
Who wants to burn fat? Who wants to improve their stamina? Who wants to enjoy better cardiovascular health? Who wants to improve their coordination, balance, rythem , timing? Who wants a stronger core? Stronger calves? Better SAQ?
All of the above can be attained from skipping. Skipping is one of the best forms of fitness there is and it's something I've personally done for over 15 years. The problem with skipping is its difficult, boys and men shy away from it for this very reason. I personally learned how to skip when I joined my local boxing club and it was compulsory, in the beginning I found it difficult but after a few weeks I improved and began to learn tricks which makes skipping harder but also more enjoyable whilst at the same time improving ones skills.
What people don't realise is that there is a correct way to skip, a technique consisting of three basic movements that must be performed at the same time in order to practice in the correct way. The person wanting to skip still needs basic rythem and coordination but the three basics are ESSENTIAL and they are as follows , jumping,posture, rope turning.
Before we try to skip it is important that the person wanting to skip has separation skills. What I mean by this is that the person is capable of turning the skipping rope first and jumping second. That may sound sili to some people reading this but in fact it is a very common problem. To overcome this problem we must practice turning the rope over our head only! Trying not to jump! There must be a pause before jumping! This is very very important if you struggle to separate the two movements. Turn the rope first.
How to jump- this sounds sili but you must jump correctly, the correct way to jump is on the balls of your feet togethet keeping the heels off the ground constantly, you push down with the toes to leave the ground. We do this to engage the calves so that we have a very small soft bounce which has multiple benefits including strenghening the core and back muscles. This happens because when we bounce on the balls of our feet we elongate ourselves which means we have to stabilise ourselves which causes all of the stabilising muscles to be activated.
POSTURE - posture is extremely important! Without good posture skipping will be super hard if not impossible! It is essential that we keep a straight back with the chin up, do not look down at your feet as this will change your posture. People look at their feet to see the rope to make sure they jump it but you can skip with your eyes closed so do not look down!
Turning the rope- the correct way to turn the rope is my having the elbows by the sides and the hands pointing away with the palms facing in an upwards direction, we circle from the elbows down. Doing this will involve a wrist movement using and improving fine motor skills. When the rope is turned from this position it is be turned from a fixed point which will maintain an even U Shape and as long as the rope is the correct size it will hit the floor on each rotation.
What I have outlined is the correct way to skip but people who have never skipped will find it hard in the beginning. The majority of people jump in the wrong way which consists of a too high a jump with a heavy landing or by stepping over the rope with the dominant foot leading. This type of jumping needs to be eliminated and we must reprogramme ourselves to have a small soft bounce with the feet together . Most people will break posture and bend over which is normally a direct result of improper rope turning technique caused by gross motor skills taking over. What I mean by that is the person turns the rope with all of the arm making big circles from using the main arm and shoulder muscle groups causing that person to bend. Again we must reprogramme ourselves not to do this which can take some time.
There are also two speeds of skipping, one is slow and the other is fast. The slow skip is called a double bounce and the fast is called the single bounce. No matter how slowly or quickly we skip the technique remains exactly the same.
Double bounce- to do the double bounce the skipper has two bounces in between each rotation of the rope, the skipper does this to maintain a slow rythem. So to clarify whilst the rope is turning behind and over the skippers head two bounces are performed before jumping the rope.
Single bounce - to do the single bounce the skipper simply speeds up the rotations of the rope by making faster circles from the elbows down and the feet will automatically keep up. Some problems can arise when a skipper moves from a double bounce using correct technique to a single because they tend to jump higher, we must keep the same small soft bounce for both speeds.
After a person has mastered the basics then it is time to learn tricks !! We have hand work skills and footwork skills and they range in difficulty from beginner to advanced.
If anyone would like any further help with this please feel free to comment or PM me and I will be more than willing to share my knowledge of this excellent activity.
Peace
Beardedbaldy.
All of the above can be attained from skipping. Skipping is one of the best forms of fitness there is and it's something I've personally done for over 15 years. The problem with skipping is its difficult, boys and men shy away from it for this very reason. I personally learned how to skip when I joined my local boxing club and it was compulsory, in the beginning I found it difficult but after a few weeks I improved and began to learn tricks which makes skipping harder but also more enjoyable whilst at the same time improving ones skills.
What people don't realise is that there is a correct way to skip, a technique consisting of three basic movements that must be performed at the same time in order to practice in the correct way. The person wanting to skip still needs basic rythem and coordination but the three basics are ESSENTIAL and they are as follows , jumping,posture, rope turning.
Before we try to skip it is important that the person wanting to skip has separation skills. What I mean by this is that the person is capable of turning the skipping rope first and jumping second. That may sound sili to some people reading this but in fact it is a very common problem. To overcome this problem we must practice turning the rope over our head only! Trying not to jump! There must be a pause before jumping! This is very very important if you struggle to separate the two movements. Turn the rope first.
How to jump- this sounds sili but you must jump correctly, the correct way to jump is on the balls of your feet togethet keeping the heels off the ground constantly, you push down with the toes to leave the ground. We do this to engage the calves so that we have a very small soft bounce which has multiple benefits including strenghening the core and back muscles. This happens because when we bounce on the balls of our feet we elongate ourselves which means we have to stabilise ourselves which causes all of the stabilising muscles to be activated.
POSTURE - posture is extremely important! Without good posture skipping will be super hard if not impossible! It is essential that we keep a straight back with the chin up, do not look down at your feet as this will change your posture. People look at their feet to see the rope to make sure they jump it but you can skip with your eyes closed so do not look down!
Turning the rope- the correct way to turn the rope is my having the elbows by the sides and the hands pointing away with the palms facing in an upwards direction, we circle from the elbows down. Doing this will involve a wrist movement using and improving fine motor skills. When the rope is turned from this position it is be turned from a fixed point which will maintain an even U Shape and as long as the rope is the correct size it will hit the floor on each rotation.
What I have outlined is the correct way to skip but people who have never skipped will find it hard in the beginning. The majority of people jump in the wrong way which consists of a too high a jump with a heavy landing or by stepping over the rope with the dominant foot leading. This type of jumping needs to be eliminated and we must reprogramme ourselves to have a small soft bounce with the feet together . Most people will break posture and bend over which is normally a direct result of improper rope turning technique caused by gross motor skills taking over. What I mean by that is the person turns the rope with all of the arm making big circles from using the main arm and shoulder muscle groups causing that person to bend. Again we must reprogramme ourselves not to do this which can take some time.
There are also two speeds of skipping, one is slow and the other is fast. The slow skip is called a double bounce and the fast is called the single bounce. No matter how slowly or quickly we skip the technique remains exactly the same.
Double bounce- to do the double bounce the skipper has two bounces in between each rotation of the rope, the skipper does this to maintain a slow rythem. So to clarify whilst the rope is turning behind and over the skippers head two bounces are performed before jumping the rope.
Single bounce - to do the single bounce the skipper simply speeds up the rotations of the rope by making faster circles from the elbows down and the feet will automatically keep up. Some problems can arise when a skipper moves from a double bounce using correct technique to a single because they tend to jump higher, we must keep the same small soft bounce for both speeds.
After a person has mastered the basics then it is time to learn tricks !! We have hand work skills and footwork skills and they range in difficulty from beginner to advanced.
If anyone would like any further help with this please feel free to comment or PM me and I will be more than willing to share my knowledge of this excellent activity.
Peace
Beardedbaldy.
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