Jump With Joy!

My suitcase came East for the holidays full of gifts, cookies, and in a side pocket, my new jump rope. A recent Dexa scan gave me the heads up that my bones needed more weight bearing exercises. So I splurged on ten sessions with a trainer at the Live Well Center at our local hospital. To my delight, my workout routine includes skipping rope three times a week. 

My memories of childhood skipping include happy times singing rhymes side by side with friends and holding my breath when entering an already swinging longer rope called a Double Dutch. The rope was usually the standard hardware store variety, cut to size with knots as handles. Little did I know, there is a huge variety of jump ropes available on the web today with prices ranging from $6 to $135.

As most of you have probably guessed already, I “splurged” on the DEGOL skipping rope on Amazon for $6.89. It claimed to be adjustable in length and tangle free. Adjustable it is (cut the rope so when you stand on the middle, the ends reach your armpits), but tangle free it is not, requiring frequent stops to let it unspool, and, thankfully for me, to recover. For as it turns out, jumping rope is a true cardiovascular workout, ten minutes of skipping equals an eight minute mile. Jump roping is actually a total workout which benefits heart, bones, balance and muscles. Men’s Journal recently wrote a tribute to the lowly jump rope stating, “Boxers do it because the precise timing between feet and hands connects upper and lower body with the brain.” Plus, the jump rope takes up little space when traveling.

In fact, as with most activities today, there is an app to guide your training and a Spotify playlist to listen to while jumping. I can attest that with these aids, seventeen minutes of skipping is doable but not quite as fun as I remember. What was missing? I dug up some of age-old jumping rhymes including, “Cinderella dressed in yellow, went upstairs to kiss her fellow, made a mistake and kissed a snake! How many doctors did it take? One, two, three…” 

While the rhymes made me smile, they didn’t completely solve the problem. I returned to the web for advice. Men’s Journal offered a simple workout rotating forward, backward, sideways, and one foot skipping. These were skills that I actually still have in my toolbox, but it still didn’t feel right. 

Then the light went on in my head and I knew what I needed to make it fun again: friends! So my advice to you, Senior and Junior Rippers, is to buy or make two jump ropes, invite a friend over, and I promise that you will jump with joy!