Jump Roping

[YoungGrasshopper]

Is jump roping something to consider in training? I mean, is it a strong way to benefit the cardio, and make kicks stronger? Let's say if I were to fit in a 20min jump rope excersise between my training, would it apply a great effect? I think a lot of boxers use it, but...why?

[Tibby]

Yes. Boxers use it for a lot of reasons. It is one of the best cardio exersices. You get beter cooradination out of it. It makes your feet a lot faster. It can also be good for the forearms if done right, with a weighted rope. But mostly for foot speed. There isn't always time for place for a tract or teadmill. I think if you added 20 minutes of jumproping, and increased it, you would soon find it helps you. With your arobic fintess, as well as your foot speed. And as you get better, you can go for longer time, try different combos and tricks, and maybe go to a boxing store and invest in a weigthed rope.

[White_Tiger]

Yes, everything Tibby said. I use a ring timer when training with a jump rope. 2 or 3 minute rounds, and a 30 second rest. This makes all the difference in the world with your foot speed, cardio, etc. If you don't have access to a ring timer, they sell CD's with the ring timer "dings" fairly cheap.

 

Good luck!

[Guy_Who_Fights]

Skipping will also work you shoulders a bit because the idea is to move your arms as little as possible (shoulders will be what steadies your arms). I rocommend getting a speed rope (made of leather or rubber), that's what boxers use. As you get more used to the rope just keep doing standard skipping with absolutely nothing fancy or different until you can skip comfortably at a height of about 2 cm (a little less than 1 inch) off the ground. I.e. your feet should only be coming 2 cm off the ground. Once you can do this well without getting caught up in the rope, then start adding the fancy stuff and variations. If you are not cheating by stopping constantly, 20 minutes of skipping will be very difficult. I do a straight 10 minutes when I skip and boxers still say I'm insane to do it. The suggestion above of breaking it up into rounds is a very good idea. It won't hurt your training terribly to stop skipping and look at your watch now and then to see how much time is left in the round.

 

Skipping is great for cardio and I find the biggest difference is my legs never feel heavy now. You know what I mean, after a few rounds they just don't have the spring in them anymore? I find that now I can bounce around as much as I want and after a full hour they are still "fresh". Every time I go to a dojo and spar with people they comment that I am going to run out of energy really quickly, and after they are all drenched in sweat, sitting down having water and saying they are done for the class, I am still fresh-legged and shadow boxing. That's what skipping will do for you. Just don't give up on it after a couple of weeks, and try to combine it with a lot of heavy bag work. A good way would be to do 3 minutes on a heavy bag, 30 seconds rest, 3 minutes skipping, 30 seconds rest, back to the bag, etc.

 

Happy training!

[Looneyas]

here is my skipping routine

 

The rope movement pattern I prefer is broken into fifteen-second splits within the three-minute rounds. The constant variation will provide challenge and a nice degree of variation. I’d suggest you use an alarm on a watch to signal moving from one pattern to the next. Here’s one of my favorite patterns (descriptions of patterns are included below):

 

Sequence A (0-30 seconds)

 

First 15 seconds: basic jump, two feet together

 

Second 15 seconds: cross-over of hands

 

Sequence B (30-60 seconds)

 

First 15 seconds: Ali shuffle (see description below)

 

Second 15 seconds: double skips

 

Sequence C (60-90 seconds)

 

First 15 seconds: side to side slalom

 

Second 15 seconds: cross-over of hands

 

Sequence D (90-120 seconds)

 

First 15 seconds: hip turn with left foot forward

 

Second 15 seconds: cross-over of hands

 

Sequence E (120-150 seconds)

 

First 15 seconds: hip turn with right foot forward

 

Second 15 seconds: cross-over of hands

 

Sequence F (150-180 seconds)

 

First 15 seconds: running, high knees

 

Second 15 seconds: double skips

 

Here’s a description of some of these patterns you may not be familiar with:

 

Cross-over of hands — As the rope is turning over behind you and is almost above your head, quickly cross your hands over and skip the rope with your arms crossed. Uncross and repeat.

 

Double skips — Simply turn the rope faster so you’re able to perform two revolutions per jump.

 

Ali shuffle — Move your feet back and forth in a short range of approximately one to two feet. Floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee optional.

 

Side to side slalom — This movement looks like you’re jumping from one side of a line to another. The range of motion is very short and quick.

 

Hip turns — When you skip normally, your feet and body are obviously facing straight ahead. To perform hip turns, quickly turn your body to the left (or right) as the rope turns above your head. Your forward foot should be roughly one to two feet in front of the other; you’ll have turned about 90 degrees.

 

Running, high knees — This is pretty self-explanatory. Simply run with your knees as high as possible while turning the rope.

 

Turning up the Heat

 

Now that we have the rope patterns complete, I can turn to the exercise patterns employed during the "breaks." Beyond the various physical benefits of using this type of circuit method, many athletes, particularly combative ones, will also notice a heightened sense of awareness and concentration that they can quickly adapt for competition purposes. Think of that as a bonus to this type of training!

 

Given that each full round is four minutes (three minutes of rope work plus a one minute "break") you can easily calculate the time you can afford to spend. The time spent depends on whether you’re doing this type of work for personal conditioning or for more sport-specific pursuits.

 

For most purposes, I use six round sessions (24 minutes) but you can easily adjust this to suit your needs. My alpha level or "Phase I" athletes will employ the following routines:

 

Routine A — Pushing

 

Rounds 1-3: 30 seconds of fisted pushups (not to failure!)

 

Rounds 4-6: 30 seconds of dips (not to failure!)

 

Routine B — Pulling

 

Rounds 1-3: 30 seconds of burpees (not to failure!)

 

Rounds 4-6: 30 seconds of towel chins (not to failure!)

 

Routine C — Active Recovery

 

Rounds 1-3: 30 seconds of vertical hops (quick pace)

 

Rounds 4-6: 30 seconds of slalom hops (quick pace)

 

Routine D — Functional Hybri

 

Rounds 1-3: 30 seconds of pushups plus 15 burpees

 

Rounds 4-6: 30 seconds of towel chins plus 15 burpees

 

So, using routine "A" as an example, you’ll perform three minutes of rope skipping using the different patterns as you progress. After three minutes, you’ll drop to the floor and perform rapid paced push-ups for thirty seconds. After the push-ups, you’ll do dips for 30 seconds. That’s one round. Repeat five more times for a 24-minute session. You may then pant and guzzle water until the room stops spinning.

 

The nex time you jump, you can use Routine B as your "active rest" routine, and then move on to routines C and D in subsequent sessions.