Hi all,

I'm new to this forum and ... Argh! I just can't get good at skipping!

I train twice weekly at a kickboxing / self defence hybrid and I am slow slow slow. I'm also 35 yrs old & a female, with little or no background in sports.

I have a feeling the skipping might be key to getting my footwork speed up.

Any tips or recommendations?

I know it's not going to be a game changer but I was thinking of finding a 'heavy' or leather skipping rope as the plastic ones we use at my gym are flimsy and get twisted.

Cheers
~Loosely

Make sure the handles spin freely on the rope so they don't get twisted.
Start slowly and once you get the rhythm & timing you can then speed up to skip as a fast clip.
Keep knees slightly bent and push off the balls of you feet. (Don't use a knee movement to kick your feet out behind you)You just need to clear the rope so don't bounce up high. Can land on both feet or alternate left then right.
Once you have that you can introduce stuff like; as the rope clears your feet and begins coming up your back, cross your arms so your hands are outside the oppersite elbow for cross overs or every now and then put in a higher bounce and spin the rope twice per jump. Move about, forward and back, left and right etc and play with foot movements to put variety into it.
Have been told that 3mins skipping ='s 9min jogging and yes it is good for your coordination, rythem and timing. Great exercise so have fun with it.

i found that skipping with both handels in one hand helped me loads you can get the rythum down well on you are not always gettin tangled up.

lol @ a.hustler!

Make sure the rope it the right length for you, stand on the rope and pull taught, the handles should come up near your elbows.

As already stated start steady, dont worry about how the person infront of you can blast out 200 skips a min, just focus on yourself and your technique

If you have slow arms, pick your feet up further, almost putting your knee @ 90 degrees, this will delay the foot to floor and hopefully allow you to clear without getting tangled.

If you have fast arms the short 'bounces' with the foot just off the floor will be easier.

I used to focus on my arm out of the corner of my eye and once it came below breast/chest area i would jump!

Good luck, it is an excellent, cheap and easy form of exercise. Buy yourself a rope the reebok spped ropes are less than £10, you can make it the right length and practice in your garden.

K :)

when i started to skip i bounced on 1 leg for about 10 reps then moved to the other leg.slowly decreasing the reps between swapping feet.it worked for me.

Agree with 'Attitude' on starting out by keeping both feet together, slight bend of knee and spring from balls of feet. When you have rhythm and confident with this initial stage start to bounce on one foot for 10 reps then switch without stopping for another 10 then so on. After a while of decreasing amount of reps between change (as Accrington Muay Thai points out)you should be able to keep swapping feet at will. Don't worry about speed but focus on rhythm, the speed will come eventually. Also if you're new as you state, be wary of skipping in bare feet as it can knack when rope goes between your toes!!!! Also better for long term joint health if you wear good trainers. Skipping is one of the best forms of exercise you can do IMHO

most beginners jump to high at 1st making it hard to get into a rhythm, lay the rope flat on the floor and jump over it until they realise the minimum amount of height actually required to miss the rope. spinning the rope with 2 handles in one hand definately helps to learn the required rhythm and the hopping on one leg then switching to other is good also. Also once rope is spinning try keep arm movement to a minimum using mostly your wrists to maintain the momentum

i learnt to skip bare foot with curtain wire, it hurts at first but you learn a little quicker