3º ESO. Rope Skipping 2: Before we start

Ratio: 5 / 5

Before we start

1. Make sure you have a good surface to jump on (preferably wood with some spring to it; eg. best surface - wood, spring cushioned gym floor). Jumping too frequently on tile or cement can result in muscular pain and can damage your joints.

2. Make sure you have proper shoes on. Running or cross training shoes are the best as they provide the most support for jumping. Sandals, bare feet, or even mountain shoes can hurt you more than help you. Shoes that you would use for playing basketball, squash, running outside...are the type that would best work for jump rope as well.

3. As before any exercise, do a proper warm up to get your body ready. You must pay special attention to stretch your calves (lower leg), quadriceps (front of upper leg), hamstrings (back of upper leg) and deltoids and trapezius (shoulder area).

4. Make sure you do a proper cool down at the end of your "workout". Repeat the same stretches you did at the beginning with taking deep breaths, holding your stretches for a minimum of an eight count for each stretch.

How to jump safely

1. You must try not to do high jumps. The higher you jump, the quicker you get tired. A height of three fingers above the floor is the ideal height.

2. Watch for posture:
Knees and ankles should be bent and the torso straight when jumping.
Arms should be by the skipper's side, with the rope turning from the wrists and forearms.
Jump on your whole feet. Placing only your forefoot on the ground makes your calves work too hard and it can result in a cramp.

3. Don't try too much too soon. Start with a 1:2 skipping:rest ratio, so if you skip for one minute, you rest for two. Add minutes up slowly.

Have you read this page already? Then look at this video from www.expertvillage.com:

SUBTITLES: 1. Clic the play button. 2. Clic on the grey arrow on the right of the screen, and then on "CC"

Here you have the video transcript to understand it better:

"Jumping rope is cool because it's a easy piece of equipment to have and you can use it anywhere. Of course, I'm showing you how to do this outdoors so find a clear space. Find a rope that when you step on it you can at least have the handle come up to your armpits or a little lower. That way you won?t have too much rope, or too little rope, to work with. Before you even start using the rope I want you to practice a bounce. This is the double bounce. With that bounce, focus on your breathing. In the nose and out of the mouth. It's so to hold your breath. But you don't want to do that 'cause you just might pass out...and that's not good. So after you've got your breathing and you?re bouncing, I want you to add the rope. This is the first level- with the double bounce. Now if the rope is just not being friendly, you can do this without a rope (called virtual jump roping.) But since you have the equipment, like that, you can just start up again and then speed it up with single hops. Alright, still keep the shoulders relaxed. The hands stay right at your sides. You don't want to take big arm swings...and still breathing. Now if you want to take it back to level one you can add that double bounce again. Alright. You´re getting a little fatigued? Start it up again. And then you want more of a challenge? Add one foot. So that's now level three. Then switch to the other foot. And then you can switch it back to set level two...and then back to the double bounce (or back to the single.)That's your jump rope!"