Thoughts on jump rope for cardio… Is it HIT… At what point will it make inroads to my strength training… Does anyone do it???
I do it religiously. The jump rope is as hard as you make it. It will make you sweat or it can be done as an active recovery.
I use mine almost everyday, either for warm up or in my curcuits. And, believe it or not it can be quite challenging if you start to incorperate different footwork, double unders, shuffles and such.
I have a Buddy Lee jumprope similar to the one that was T-Jacked. Its fast, reasonably priced and durable. The most important thing is to make sure the rope is the correct length.
HIT is not an exercise, it’s a way of performing an exercise. treat jumprope for cardio the same way you would treat any other exercise for cardio.
besides that, jumprope can be great for warmup. by addressing technique of jumprope you can determine how warmed up you are.
Yup, good GPP as well, with a jump in heart rate between paces due to the intesity of the move that is performed. Try just rocking a few rounds of 3 minutes like in boxing and rest with 30 seconds of fisted push ups. that one gets it.
I’ve been doing them Coach Davies style: anywhere from 3-9 3-minute rounds with either passive or active rest for 1 minute in between rounds.
I actually had to stop about a week and a half ago because I hurt my foot, and I really can’t wait to get back into it.
Also, usually do it monday through friday. You can also alternate with heavy bag rounds. What I’ve done before when I had some type of lower/upper body training split, is to do Rope Jumping on the upper body days and Heavy Bag Rounds on the lower body days either as a warm-up, extra workout, or both.
And if you really want to make it a cardio-bitch, then throw in some dumbbell snatches, cleans, jerks, etc. during those 1 minute rests (Mike Mahler style).
-ton
How long did it take you to get the technique down? I bought a jump rope thinking I could do it in my basement, but the ceiling wasn’t high enough. Also, when I tried it, I could tell it would take some practice to get good at it.
[quote]LarryJr wrote:
How long did it take you to get the technique down? I bought a jump rope thinking I could do it in my basement, but the ceiling wasn’t high enough. Also, when I tried it, I could tell it would take some practice to get good at it.[/quote]
Don’t know who you were asking, but I’ll chime in on it. (If it wasn’t directed towards me then I apologize.)
It took me a couple of weeks or less to get used to it (training with the rope M-F and 3-6 rounds a day). From my own experience with rope training, I would say there are 2 main factors to get over: work capacity specific to rope jumping and boredom.
I increased my endurance in jumping rope by just doing it more often. I’m guessing that rope jumping 5 days a week can constitute practice. I also noted that my forearms, wrist, and upper back (probably because of poor posture)became easily fatigued at first, but went away after the first week.
Personally, I enjoyed the 3-minute rounds so boredrom was not an issue, but I can see how it can get monotonous very quickly. If you follow rope training as Coach Davies teaches it, you first get efficient at doing the basic 2-foot hops. After you’ve become good at those, you can then practice with different jumps. Check out his Renegade Rope Training Article. The hops are done in “sets” of 15 seconds within each 3-minute round. This will definitely kill the boredom factor.
Also, (I’ll just add this in because you said your ceiling was low and maybe you could use other alternatives) maybe the heavy bag rounds may have helped me “get in shape” for jumping rope more quickly as well. I’ve always loved the bag and it’s been my base for “cardio” work. You could try that out too, but if you don’t have a bag, then I’ve found that shadow boxing with 10-12oz gloves and 1-5lb ankle weights, with the same parameters of 3-minute rounds, can really knock the shit out of you (depending on your conditioning levels). I don’t know if you have a background in martial arts, boxing, etc., but practicing the basics (jabs, crosses, short hooks, middle hooks, parries, roundhouse kicks, front kicks, side kicks, side thrust kicks, elbow jabs, knees, and air takedowns) can really get you winded, especially with the gloves. Just hit as fast as possible while always keeping your guard up and your endurance should fly up and get you ready to jump rope.
Hope this helps.
-ton
[quote]bullish wrote:
Thoughts on jump rope for cardio… Is it HIT… At what point will it make inroads to my strength training… Does anyone do it???[/quote]
I just reread my other posts and realized I never addressed your actual question.
I think jumping rope can vary in intensity depending on how you perform it and based on your level of conditioning. I’ve personally used it as a warm-up to circuit style workouts and heavy 10x3 or 5x5 workouts, and I’ve never noticed any drained or fatigued feeling. I think it is a great warm-up, and even moreso now with MR and CV’s article on the Superior Circuit.
-ton
thanks guys… I took some time off from weights to get into my MMA class… i really enjoy lifting heavy so i am getting back into it… With summer coming i want to get some of my size back… I have found that doing HIT training did not affect my muscle mass that much… THANKS AGAIN