Skipping To Stay Fit

Skipping is another excellent form of aerobic exercise that you can do literally anytime, anywhere.

It helps to improve both your heart and lungs, as well as improving your flexibility, co-ordination and of course your fitness.

Skipping may at first seem like it will be an easy option but you might find that it can be a lot tougher than you think if you decide to keep skipping for any length of time. Remember that boxers use skipping as an integral part of their training programs between matches, and they are not generally known for doing things the easy way, so that you should tell you how effective skipping is as a form of exercise work-out.

Skipping also represents a pretty high intensity workout, as indicated by the fact that twenty minutes of skipping will burn off 250 kilocalories of energy. It is great for helping to shape and tone the lower part of the body, especially the calves, hips, thighs and bottom.

In fact, skipping is directly comparable to jogging at 12kph in terms of the energy that is burned, but because it is an activity that carries a lower impact level than running, it is far gentler on the joints and is less likely to cause injury than pounding the sidewalks or using a running machine.

Nevertheless, skipping does obviously entail jumping up and down, and there is therefore some impact to be considered. Some basic sensible precautions are accordingly necessary.

For example, you should make sure that you have a rope that is of the right length for your height.

In order to test this, stand on rope at the middle point and lift the handles at either end. If the rope is the right length, then the point where rope and handles join should be on a level with your armpits.

If it is too short, then you need a longer rope. If, however, it is too long, all you need to do is artificially shorten it by tying knots in the rope as near to the handles as you can manage. This is a particularly good idea if more than one person will use the same rope.

When you are skipping, you can also reduce the potentially adverse effects of the ‘landing’ impact by wearing cushioned soled shoes, and trying to skip on surfaces that have some ‘give’ in them.

For example, skipping on a wooden floor (that has some ‘flex’ in it) will be better than skipping on a tiled floor or concrete.

For most of us, the last time we skipped was probably a good many years ago, so, in case you have forgotten, here are the basics of how to skip for maximum exercise benefits:

* Stand upright but relax while doing so, and try to breathe normally;

* Keep your elbows level with your waist, but your arms should be extended sideways at an angle of approximately 90 degrees to the body;

* You need to perfect a circular wrist motion in order to turn the skipping rope;

* Hold the rope handles loosely, and use your thumbs and index fingers as a means of controlling the rope;

* Jump from the balls of your feet and try to cushion your landing (which should be back on the balls of your feet) by flexing your knees;

* This is not the Olympic high jump competition! You only need to jump high enough to allow the rope to pass beneath your feet. If you can do this successfully, then making around 60 turns per minute (i.e. one per second) should be an achievable starting target.

It will take a bit of practice, but once you have mastered these basics, then you might want to start doing a few tricks and skipping ‘stunts’, both as a way of making your session a little bit more interesting and also to show off your new found talents!

You can get some ideas from International Rope Skipping Federation’s website. There are over one hundred single rope tricks that you can learn, including such favorites as the ‘double bounce’, the ‘skier’ and the ‘bell’.

Skipping is a very simple but extremely effective form of exercise that anyone can do anywhere. Do not underestimate its benefits just because you have not hopped over a rope once since the day you left school!