I suck at it, to be blunt. I know I need to work on it, and that it will be good for conditioning, timing, and footwork. But I feel like a 10 year old retarded kid, I literally rabbit hop when I jump rope. Any simple way to work my way up? I'm tired of not jump roping for fear of looking like an idiot.

HELP ME GUYS!

As much as it sucks, you truly just need to keep at it. Keep going. Get to the point where you can do 25 skips in a row. Then work to 50. Then to 75. You will get it.

It sure as shit doesn't happen overnight. Be patient and persistent.

Until then, do it in private ;)

Find a place to jump rope where people wont see you trip if that is going to bother you while you are working your way up. Also experiment with different kinds of jump ropes and lengths. I find cheap plastic ropes to be easiest to use because they tangle a lot less and keep a good shape while skipping. Speed ropes made of rubber would be next but tend to be heavy and catch your feet more.

Most ropes feel better after they are broken in a bit again because they keep their form better and dont twist on you while you are jumping.

On the length a 10 foot rope is about perfect for someone between about 5'10" and 6' tall. Most can be ajusted but you dont want to much slack in the rope or it will screw with your timing and frustrate you.

Thanks guys, I'll just weather the storm.

you could practice jumping without a rope to get the motion down. look up some videos from Buddy Lee, he has some great progressions for rope jumping.

Oh, I have the exact same problem. It's so frustrating, especially since my school insists on putting jump rope on the conditioning portion of our lifting routines. I just find a place where I can go away from prying eyes and then just try to get as many skips in a row as I can. I think a big thing is getting a rope that's a little big rather than a little small, because once I switched to a longer rope I was able to string more skips together. Granted, the most in a row I've got up to is 80, so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt.

Finding an instruction video is a great idea...its all about timing. Start jumping with as little hops as possible at first with both feet close to the ground. After mastering that you will progress to alternating feet and so on.

Just got to get those reps in...practice.

it takes a while buddy lee has some decent stuff when he is not all harlem globe trotter with a rope,

And really it is THE most basic prop or toy one can do for conditioning.
as far as places to do it, your yard, basement, your room

or just man up and do it in the gym.
kmc

When I first started, I found it easier to use a slightly heavy rope. Lighter ropes got caught in my feet if I didn't move them fast enough. With a heavier one I got my timing down and then eventually started to speed it up.

Yeah I figured out today that my rope is too small. Other than that I have no real problems, except I can't do that whole crossover thing with hands. Also I really don't know what I should be doing with my feet. So I just do what I did when I was a kid... GO F'N NUTS!

hahaha. I have heard that you are supposed to be able to put both feet on the ropes and have the handles still reach your armpits. I have to say, I have never used a rope that was too short using this measuring stick, if you will.

Once you get the very basics of the timing down, it will come easier to you. And you'd be surprised at how fast you can work up to different things once you get the white man's lack of rhythm out of you ;)

Eventually you end up like this :

(going to catch flak for it)

Irish is dead on, get a stop watch too. Once you progress past the number of skips use a stop watch to time 2 mins on each leg then alternate or (yes a guy I knew at my muay thai class) try to river dance or skip to the beat of the music; for 16 mins or so to warm up and then to cool down just skip it normally till you gas out.

Dicks has a really nice nylon coated rope made by Nike that'll sting so bad when it hits your shins or toes it'll provide extra motivation to jump lol

Same here especially when it catchs you in between your pinky toe and your zoned out pacing away.

Anybody got any good reccomendations for speed ropes?

Thanks for all the help and ideas guys! This is exactly why I post on this board!

Practice practice practice. That's the only way you'll get better. For the first couple of months, I was thinking to myself "this is sad. Seven year old girls can jump rope better than me." But keep at it, and you'll get the hang of it. Pretty soon, you'll be skipping rope like a boxer.

Get a really good rope too! THe ones at my old gym were crap. Ive got a fully plastic everlast one much better than others I've had... can do more tricks with it ;)

Haha thanks for the advice ash. Should I get an everlast one? I was going to grab one of the beaded ones from combat sports. Which do you think is better?

Guess its up to you, I've always liked the plastic everlast one I have, but my brother for instance prefers a leather rope... I still do more tricks than him though.. :)

Whatever you feel comfortable with, as long as its not that crappy white plastic. :) You'll be skipping like mayweather in no time.

Just keep practicing. Here's an interesting article/video for jump roping.

www.rosstraining.com/articles/jumprope2.htm