Jump-N-Rope

Saturday, January 26, 2016

I had the opportunity to attend a clinic by Jump-N-Rope hosted at MBS CrossFit.  There were about 25 of us at various levels of double unders from those like me who could do a couple to those who could do 20+ and were looking for some technique improvements.

We started out warming up with single unders and variations (straddles, straddles forward/back, and skiers).  We were then introduced to speed jumping where you hop on one foot and then the other.  My one minute attempt worked out to 49 steps (measured as the right foot coming down).

The majority of the session was on position.  It is important to be light on your feet and jump with your ankles, knees and hips straight up.  Elbows should be back, shoulders relaxed, hold the entire handle and pop it down when you jump to accelerate the rope underneath you.  Popping the handle occurs when the rope is approximately parallel to the ground in front of you.  A double under is exactly the same except that you pop the rope twice.

We then did some drills jumping rope between two stacks of boxes, jumping and moving forward, and sequences of single-single-double.

In all we worked with beaded ropes, 2.5 (dense coated rope) and speed balls.  Sizing was an interesting story as well.  There is no set height to rope length ratio.  Depending on technique and fatigue level, your rope length will vary.  It should pass about 10 inches above your head when skipping.  At the end of the seminar, I had my beaded training rope sized and purchased a 2.5 training rope.  Both are adjustable with either a slip knot on the beaded rope or knots in the training rope.  I did not purchase speed balls as they are not size specific and I figured I could grab them later.

I was very impressed by both Molly and Katie.  The class moved at a good pace and I have a much better handle on fundamentals.