The Jump Rope, one of the most overlooked forms of conditioning and training.
Aside from warm ups and various Crossfit workouts, you never really see jump ropes being used too often within a training session.
It’s a shame because jumping rope is one of the BEST forms of OLD SCHOOL training you can use.
Why?
Well here’s a few solid reasons…
- Jumping rope is one of the best ways to warm up your body FAST (just go aggressively jump for 3-5 mins straight and you’ll see what I mean)
- Jumping rope one of the most basic forms of low level plyometrics – helps build you up to higher levels of explosive activity and jumps
- Jumping Rope is great for a quick and effective form of conditioning
- Can help improve quickness
- Good jump roping will help YOU become a better athlete as it requires a bit of skill and coordination so in getting yourself better at jumping rope, it’ll help you become a better overall athlete (BUT, it never ceases to amaze me how many people can’t jump rope – even elite level athletes)
- There’s literally 100’s of different ways you can jump rope and the best part is, it requires little to no space
Bottom line, jumping rope is good for you and if you’re NOT doing it, it’s time you add it into your training regimen, but if anything at least add it into your warm ups or finishers.
Now as for me, I grew up jumping rope at a young age as a wrestler as I was always jumping rope.
I would jump rope before matches, after matches, before practice, after practice…
Shoot, I remember jumping rope in the steam room at the YMCA to lose weight before a tourney.
I can remember, before each practice we had to do 5 mins straight of continuous rope jumping.
We had a record board that my old high school wrestling coach put up that had jump rope records on it.
There was a “300 club”, “500 club” and “1000 club” which were all clubs that you could get into by completing that many continuous jumps without a miss.
I was able to make all 3 clubs, but can’t quite remember how long it took me to do the 1000 jump club. I can tell you it took a while.
I remember a buddy and I both did it after practice one time and it seemed to last forever.
To make things a bit tougher, we had to jump rope on the wrestling mats which made it harder then normal because the mats are a bit softer then normal ground.
None the less, jumping rope was a early form of conditioning that I got used to at a very young age and from then on, I’ve always just kept jump roping within my programs.
But how can you use jumping rope within your training sessions beside just using it as warm up or cool down??
Well there a TON of different ways and I got a bunch for you below.
But first, I need to make sure you know how to IMPROVE your jump roping skills just in case you suck…
And with that, here’s my TOP 9 ways to blend in jump roping into your training.
***One more thing before we get rolling, I’d definitely recommend you get yourself a high quality speed rope in order to help yourself perform the best (I prefer Rogue Fitness’s speed rope).
Most people hate these ropes when they first use them, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll love a good speed rope 😉
1 – Speed Jumping
This is simple – Do single jumps as fast as you can or, you can do high knee speed jumping where you basically run in place while you jump rope.
Go for total reps or time.
2 – Strength + Jump Roping
One of my favorite ways to get in some extra jump roping is by mixing it in with your main strength movement. I’ve done this a ton lately.
Here’s an example…
Hit up a set of HEAVY squats. Somewhere between 1-5 reps then, instead of straight up rest between your next set, crank out a light set of jumping rope x 30-45 secs.
Then proceed back to your squats.
Repeat until your down with your squats or your heavy strength based movement.
3 – Quickness Drills
Instead of your typical straight single or double jumps you would normally do, you can also work on your foot quickness and skills.
Some of the different skills you can work on are:
Side to Side Hops – 2 Feet / Single Leg
Front To Back Hops – 2 Feet / Single Leg
Square Box Drill – Dot Drill – 2 Feet / Single Leg
X-Drill – Dot Drill – 2 Feet / Single Leg
4 – Jump Rope Transitions
I used to do these a TON back when I was prepping for my bodybuilding show a few years back as this is a great way to keep your heart rate elevated throughout your whole training session (which will help with overall fat burn).
Here’s an example:
Crank out a set of 100 double under’s or 200 regular single jumps in between your main movements within your training session.
This could be after you complete your strength work or after you complete a small circuit of movements or a super set. In short, it’s the transition between moving to another movement.
So something like this…
1A) Deadlifts 5 x 5
200 Double Unders
2A) Push Ups 3 x 10
2B) Pull Ups 3 x 10
200 Double Unders
and so on…
5 – Straight Skill Work
This is simple – Practice your double under’s or just mess around and do a bunch of different skill work like cross overs, side to side hops, or try some of this crazy sh*t like my man Floyd does here…
7 – The Almighty “Equalizer”
For this set up, what you would do is purposely throw in jump rope within a TOUGH training circuit or hardcore workout finisher such as after 150 wall balls (like the Crossfit Open Regional Workouts 12.4 or 13.3) or toss it in after a complex movement like Muscle Ups, Snatches, Clean and Presses, ect…
This makes an “easy” movement become a whole lot tougher (that is if you’re good at double unders 😉 )
8 – The 3 Min AMRAP
How many single jumps OR double jumps can you get in 3 minutes??
Misses are allowed.
9 – Jump Rope Tabatas
One of my favorite ways to use jump rope within training sessions and programs
20 secs of ALL-OUT work with only 10 secs REST.
Repeat that for 8 total rounds.
So there it is.
9 different ways to add in an OLD SCHOOL, proven effective method of a “occasionally forgotten” tool of strength training.
Let me know how YOU like to use jump roping in your workouts
Live and Train Aggressive!
PS – Need some TOUGH and Highly Challenging WORKOUTS?
Here’s your Hardcore Training Resource…
