I 
honestly can’t remember the last time I did cardio on a machine. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” to use a Seinfeld reference, but I prefer to work with more athletic modalities. One of my favorite pieces of conditioning equipment is the often overlooked, humble, inexpensive, and extremely portable jump rope. Jumping rope really provides a tremendous fitness ‘bang for your buck!’ It not only gives you a serious caloric burn, but it really enhances one’s coordination and athleticism!
Getting Started
Buying the rope: There are a wide variety of jump ropes available, such as speed ropes, standard thicker ropes, beaded ropes, ropes with weighted handles, and even wire ropes used for competition. I have quite a variety that I use in my boot camp classes and I will often change things up just to keep things interesting.
Sizing the rope: Obviously a rope that is too short will be all but impossible to jump through, however one that is too long will create excessive friction making it difficult to get a smooth circular motion. Therefore it is important to try to use an optimal length. Place the center of the rope under the arch of one foot and bring the handles upwards towards your chest.
The bottom of the handles should be just about chest height. If one has particularly long arms, then a slightly shorter length might work better. You can easily adjust the length of a rope that is too long by making a loop at a point below the handles. I do not recommend wrapping the rope around your hands.
Arm position: Place the arms at about a 45 degree angle in front of the hips.
Arm Motion: Use a very small circular motion which is a combination of very small movements of the forearm and wrist.
Head and Neck: Try to find a stable, neutral position (i.e. don’t allow the head to bob up and down).
Feet/Legs: Though there is going to be a degree of impact with jumping rope, it can be minimized by jumping just high enough to clear the rope. You will be primarily using the forefoot and trying to land as gently as possible. A big mistake is trying to jump too high and bending the legs too much!
Core: Keeping the core muscular – gently braced with a gentle contraction – helps to stabilize both the pelvis and spine and gives support to the internal organs.
Shoes: I find that cross trainers are ideal since they give more cushioning to the forefoot which is where most of the impact takes place.
Surface: A flat, somewhat ‘forgiving’ surface is best.
Jumping Patterns: Once you are comfortable with the basic two-foot jump pattern, try experimenting with these basic variations:
Jumping jack legs
Forward and back hops
Alternating single leg hops
Alternating double hops (two hops per leg before switching sides)
Scissors (alternating feet forward and back)
Jogging or running in place
Jogging across the floor
Cross-overs with the arms
Double-unders (having the rope pass 2 times with each jump) – Check out the sequence with Franco Columbu in “Pumping Iron” where he does some serious double-unders after hitting the heavy bag!
As you get more advanced, you can try reversing the direction of the rope combined with the above patterns!
I personally like to mix various patterns and even the tempo in a somewhat improvised manner, which I find helps to reduce fatigue and allows me to challenge myself differently each time!
If you find it hard to get through the rope at first, try working with a sideways figure 8 pattern, sweeping the rope from side to side while jogging in place. This helps to establish a rhythm with the sound of the rope against the floor making it easier to coordinate the timing of the arm and lower body movements. This is also excellent for ‘active recovery’.
Programming ideas:
Integrated Concurrent Training (which I wrote about in a previous article) alternates a strength exercise with a cardio-conditioning exercise.
Circuit Training allows you to use jumping rope as one circuit station. For example you might rotate between a push-pull station, a core station, and a jump rope station.
Work/Rest Intervals:
You can just do steady 60 second intervals (or longer) as part of a circuit or try various work/rest combinations such as 45/30, 30/20, or even 20/10. I find using something like a Gym Boss interval timer ideal!
The 20/10 interval is also part of the ‘Tabata Protocol’ which is a 20/10 work/rest ratio for a total of 8 rounds (4 minutes total). If you are really pushing the intensity during each work interval you will barely catch your breath before starting the next work interval.
These types of inverted work/rest ratios (where the work interval is longer than the recovery) are extremely metabolically demanding and by all accounts create quite an intense afterburn effect (more commonly known as EPOC-Excess Post exercise Oxygen Consumption).
The ‘Tabata Protocol’ is commonly used as a ‘finisher’ to a workout. This is because they are so demanding you probably won’t want to follow them with anything other than for a cool-down. In fact, I generally recommend 2 minutes of an active recovery (such as an easy walk or marching in place) before even stretching to allow one’s heart-rate to return to normal and to avoid venous blood pooling.
Lastly, another great way to incorporate the jump rope and take advantage of its portability is to do walking/jump rope intervals. This is a great way to escape from being inside the gym and get out in the fresh air. You can alternate one minute of moderate intensity walking with 30 second intervals of higher intensity jump rope.
Scott Fishkind, ACE CPT/IMPACT Instructor-NESTA/YFS-IYCA, is on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/scott.fishkind.5
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