In today’s post, I am sharing 9 jump rope tips for beginners that have helped me during my fitness journey.
(This post contains some affiliate links. If you use them, I earn a small commission)
Table of Contents
1. Use your imagination
You don’t need a jump rope to start . You can do air jumps mimicking the jumping motion instead . This is particular helpful if you often trip over the rope and that interrupts your flow during the session. Get accustomed to air jumps and eventually you could introduce a rope if you need to.
I actually came across a cord-less jump rope on Amazon that makes the jump rope motion feel more realistic WITHOUT the rope. How cool is that ?
2. Don’t learn under pressure
Try switching out jump rope with another exercise like jumping jacks if you keep messing up with the rope and it’s interrupting the continuity of your workout . This is especially helpful if you’re doing a high intensity workout with quick intervals . You can switch out the jump rope with other moves .
Focus on building your jump rope skill without the pressure of an intense workout . Consider treating jump rope like a game/ fun sport like we did when we were younger and separate it from your workout routine until you’re more acclimatized to it.
3. Record yourself
Take videos of yourself jumping so that you can see the mistakes you make . If you can take videos of yourself jumping on a regular basis , you’ll be amazed at how many mistakes you can spot . For me , I noticed that my left hand would always be higher than my right or I would end up moving them up . Whenever my hands are too high , I trip. It can also be a good way to monitor your progress which leads me to the next point .
4. Track your progress
How long could you jump continuously when you started ? Has it improved ? Is your technique better ? Has your stamina improved ? Are your workouts longer overall? These are non-scale victories that can keep you going instead of focusing on how much weight or inches you’ve lost .
I use a simple spreadsheet to track all my jump rope workouts and leave a column for comments so that I can recall what stood out to me after each workout . Whenever I forget to do this, I share my progress with you on my Instagram/Facebook stories to track my progress.
5. Slow but sure
Pace yourself . Start off small and gradually increase the difficulty of your workouts. At your first workout, start a stopwatch and jump as long as you can till you trip or get tired. Make a note of how long you lasted . That duration becomes your baseline and you can then work your way up from there.
I started off with 30 second intervals which are a challenge in and of themselves. I have been and will continue increasing the intervals by 5 seconds every 3 weeks with a short term goal of 1 minute intervals and a long term goal of at least 5 minute intervals.
6.Play some hype music
I experimented listening to podcasts , audiobooks and music . Music is unmatched because it helps me to maintain good rhythm and focus less on the burn . At first, I would listen to random hype songs. Later, I googled the beats per minute and created an entire playlist with songs I like, that are at the right pace for my jumps .
7.Count out your jumps
When starting out , it might be easier to have the number of jumps be your goal instead of the duration of your workout. Divide it into workable blocks of anywhere from 50-100 jumps then gradually increase the number over time. You could also opt to buy a jump rope that has a counter.
I seem to push myself more when I count my jumps but I don’t do it often. Instead, I count how many jumps I do per minute and that gives me a rough idea of how many skips I do during a workout. On average I do 60-90 jumps every 45 seconds or 2 jumps per second .
8. Secure the girls
Jumping is a high intensity routine and can be extremely uncomfortable if you don’t have good bra support. I started off with what I had and often doubled up. At some point, I got some good bras from FitNFabworld and Decathlon. Let me know where else I can purchase good sports bras in the comments below.
9. Create a realistic routine
It is your body and your journey so personalize it and do what works for you . Think of how long and how often you can realistically jump in a week and work towards that goal. If you read this post, then you know my goal is to work out at least thrice a week and I want for jump rope to be factored into my weekly fitness lifestyle.
Those are a few tips I have to share for now as a beginner myself . Which tip was most useful ? Let me know.
“Always remember that your hair is your crown and your body is a temple; embrace it, love it and take care of it.”
