We’ve all been there! Seeing those professional boxers jump rope like it was nothing while warming up for their fight, or little girls performing the exercise during their school recess time and making it look so easy. We’ve all thought the same thing, if those people can do it, then so can we, right? That’s when we decide to buy our own jump rope and try it out for the first time. And well, as soon as we try doing the first jump, we realize that jump roping is one of the hardest cardio exercises to ever exist. Why is that the case? In other words, why is jumping roping so hard?
When you first get into it, jump roping becomes one of the hardest cardio exercises because you either get tired way too quickly or constantly trip over it. The best way to make it less tiring is to avoid jumping way too high, and only use your wrists to spin the rope.
In this article, we’ll talk about what makes jump roping so hard, as well as the best way to overcome this difficulty.
Table of Contents
Why is Jump Roping so Hard?
Trust me when I say this: I’m one of the people that realized the difficulty of jump roping when it was too late.
I remember back when I first got into training and weightlifting, typical cardio exercises like running weren’t really my cup of tea, so I had to look for an alternative that was fun, challenging, and could be used as a warm-up.
Every time I would go to the gym, I’d notice this guy that always used to warm up using a jump rope whenever he was about to hit a lifting session.
That’s when I got the idea of trying it out for myself. And because I was too ashamed to use them at the gym since I had no idea how to jump rope, I decided to buy my own one so I can train at home until I get the hang of things.
Thinking that I would become like the professional boxers you see on TV on my first try, I held the handles tightly, put the rope behind my legs, and started to jump. The first thing that happened straight away is tripped over the rope and landed on my head.
It hurt but it wasn’t enough to stop me, I repeated that same thing over and over again and the rope would usually just trip me over or smack my head. And that’s when I decided to give up because it was just too hard.
Because I’m the type of person that loves challenges, as soon as I woke up the next day, I decided to give it a try again, and guess what happened! Absolutely nothing changed, the exercise was just as hard as the first try, but through the process of failing, I was learning a lot and this got me addicted.
Fast forward to a week, and I could easily do 10 to 20 skips. Fast forward to a month, and I can do all sorts of tricks with the rope. But how did I exactly do that? The one thing that really helped me overcome the challenge of jump roping is understanding its difficulty.
And there are two main types of difficulty when it comes to jump roping:
- You get tired quickly
- You constantly trip over
Let’s break down each of these:
Difficulty 1: You Get Tired Quickly While Jump Roping
This is what usually happens to most people. Their problem isn’t necessarily getting the hang of the rhythm but the fact that they get tired way too easily.
And that happens because of two main reasons:
- You jump way too high
- You spin the rope using your entire arms and not just your wrists
First of all, when you’re jump roping, you want to keep your feet as low to the ground as possible.
Because most ropes are tiny in diameter, you only need a small space between your legs and the ground for it to pass through.
If you jump way too high, you’ll obviously consume way more energy than necessary, and this, get tired too quickly.
Additionally, you only want to use your wrists to spin the rope since that’s all you really need. Your wrists are enough to provide enough momentum for the rope to spin around you while keeping energy consumption at the lowest.
Difficulty 2: You Constantly Trip Over the Rope
This is what happened to me when I first got into jump roping. I would either trip completely over the rope or it would smack me straight to my face.
But after a week and through constant practice, I managed to get the hang of it. And failure is the only way to learn.
You should always remember one important thing: Jump roping is a rhythm game. You’ll get better at it if you understand its rhythm.
Don’t think of it as a cardio exercise but rather as a brain game where you need to be constantly thinking about what to do next.
Jump roping requires strong coordination between the upper and lower body. And that’s something that most people don’t have naturally and need to develop through practice, just like driving a car.
If you lack this coordination, your body will put a lot more effort into the exercise and you’ll get tired way too quickly.
How to Overcome the Difficulty of Jump Roping
Remember the guy that I mentioned at the beginning that got me into jump roping in the first place? Well, I gotta admit, I did approach him one time to ask for some tips and he gave me one of the best ways to overcome the difficulty of jump roping. It was the main reason why I learned it so fast.
Here’s what you should do:
- Find an open space with just you, your mind, and the jump rope
- Listen to some music that you really like
- Get into a jump roping position
- Close your eyes and start jumping
Yes, you heard me right! Close your eyes. You may think it’s weird at first, but trust me, it’s gonna help you way better than any other tip.
Remember, Jump roping is a rhythm game, so you really don’t need vision to make it work, just use the feel of the rope and the sound of it hitting the ground.
As soon as you develop an impressive cadence, jump roping will become a lot less tiring.
Conclusion:
When you first get into jump roping, make sure to lower your expectations. You’re not gonna look like professional boxers during your first try and you’re probably gonna trip over a lot.
However, through constant practice, you’ll be able to understand the rhythm of jumping and get less tired. Just remember to avoid jumping way too high and make sure to use your wrists to spin the rope.