Lots of questions about jump roping

[kh_s]

When you are new to MT, and you are jump roping is there anything you need to know ?

Is it okay to jump rope bare footed in your apartment when the floor is cement with wood on it ? (I heard you should wear shoes)

How should you breath? I get cramps easily around my first minute!

How long should it be done ? Should it be done 15 minutes straight ? or in sets ?

If in rounds, maybe 3 mins x 5 rounds, how long for each rest time ?


So how many times should this be done per week ?

[kh_s]

Opps, forgot to mention ...

How fast should your pace (spelling?) be? I ment by, let the rope swing by itself, or actually make the rope go faster, etc.

I was on some other site and it said that it will give you more growth hormones but I couldn`t find some information about the questions I asked or I just didn`t surf hard enough, is this true ?

[JIMI]

Jump roping is awesome for getting your shins and your calves really strong. I use to do it daily when i was training for a fight. 30 minutes daily before a work out on the bags was perfect for me. I imagine the longer you go the better off you will be. As for speed, all i can say is to go as fast as you can at a comfortable pace. I use to go by intervals on the round timer which was every 15 seconds i would take it up a notch and go as fast as i can for 15 seconds, then slow down for 15 and so on. The only other thing i can think of is that you should not be jumping very high at all off the ground. Just barely enough for the rope to pass under your feet. As with many other things, this is something that is best shown and not explained with words on paper. Good luck

[terry]

IMO your pace on the jump rope should be sufficient to keep your heart rate within its target aerobic zone. This will be difficult at first because of skill and efficiency issues on the rope, but keep trying. After a while you'll have the speed on the rope such that you will be able to jump no problem. If you have your cardio online the next challenge you'll face is to jump fast enough to keep your heart rate up. You'll eventually reach the point where you cannot keep up your heart rate with singles (1 revolution per hop), and you'll have to go to doubles (2 revolutions per hop). Then, guess what, you're back to square one dealing with skill and efficiency issues all over again. (Only this time at a higher level.)

The time you should spend varies with your fitness level and training goals. (I just broke my toe, ha, so I'm not jumping at all at the moment.) I would try doing continuous jump roping with no rounds or rest intervals (this is aerobic, not anaerobic training) for 10 minutes. You may want to plateau there for 2 or three weeks and move it up to 15 minutes. If you can get it above 20 minutes and maintain and aerobic level of exertion then you're doing pretty well. That's if you're not a fighter. If you're a fighter then you'll want to increase the training in both intensity and duration. Your calves may be sore at first, but just suck it up and work through that. If you wind up with shin splints that's a little different.

Terry