I am completely obsessed and in love with jump rope. I’m so happy I picked up my rope, and bounced back into shape – stronger than I’ve ever been. In February 2022 I picked up my jump rope for the first time in over 40 years. Of course, when I was a child, I called it a skipping rope, but times have changed and so has my body. Why did I chose skipping? Click here to see the top 10 benefits of skipping.
I decided to set myself a challenge. To go from zero to 2000 jumps per day within a month. Sounds easy…right? How wrong was I?! I’ve been a keen hiker for many years. Spending hours hiking the steep hills along the south Devon coast. My legs are strong so I thought skipping rope would be a piece of cake, a walk in the park – easy! How wrong was I? It was really tough at first, but I built up over one month to jumping 2000 jumps per day. I’ve been jumping ever since. It’s a full body workout and has totally transformed my body.
Which jump rope?
I’ve been jumping rope every day. I use a selection of ropes from Dope Ropes and I’ve partnered with them to provide you with a discount code FIFTYSISTER.
I started with a beaded rope and the Cardio 2.0 speed rope from Dope Ropes. The beaded rope is popular for learning tricks and freestyle. As a beginner, it gives you the ability to jump slower as the beads give weight for momentum, to keep the rope in flight. Click here to visit the store.
I used the Cardio 2.0 (standard not weighted) speed rope when I started. If you only want to buy one rope to build strength and stamina, I’d recommend this one, or the weighted version to build arms and shoulders. The Dope Rope Cardio 2.0 is ideal for all experience levels and is a particularly good option for cardio fitness and increasing the heart rate. If you want to get into skipping as a form of cardio, then this is a great rope to use!
Weighted jump ropes
I then progressed to weighted jump ropes, because I wanted to tone my arms and shoulders. I highly recommend the Cardio 2.0 weighted (my current favourite) for speed jumping sessions. It’s not too heavy and you will see and feel a difference in arm strength within a few weeks if you jump daily.
The Muay Thai rope is a bit of a beast. It’s a thick 1.3-pound jump rope (circa 500g) for adding heavy resistance to jump rope workouts. Why this rope? If you want a quicker cardio workout and a heavier burn in your shoulders and forearms. You will definitely feel the burn using this rope for even short amounts of time. The length isn’t adjustable so check the length you require when ordering. My first time jumping with it, I only managed 20 seconds. I have now built up to 2 minutes , which I do x 2 in my daily workout.
My daily jump rope routine
Why did I chose skipping? Click here to see the top 10 benefits of skipping.
Building up slowly, has helped me progress from 20 jumps the first day, to over 3000 jumps per day now. My 30 minute daily exercise routine looks like this:
- 5 minutes speed rope
- 2 minutes Muay Thai rope
- 5 minutes 4kg kettlebell
- 5 minutes speed rope
- 2 minutes Muay Thai rope
- 5 minutes 8kg kettlebell
- 5 minutes of speed rope.
- 1 minutes Muay Thai rope – fast as I can without catching my toes!
Jump and jiggle
Day one I didn’t have a proper sports bra and I was completely unprepared for the jiggle, of not only my boobs, but my jelly belly, inner thighs and bingo wings. I was more out of shape than I thought. I now use the Pebe sports bra which completely prevents any jiggle. Click here to visit the Pebe store – small UK company run by a lovely lady called Charlotte. She provides an online measuring service and ships worldwide. You can use my discount code FIFTYSISTER to save.
Why was I out of shape? Let’s rewind a little…
In July 2021 I had gained 21lbs quickly. I was drinking too much alcohol, accompanied by fatty, salty snacks, I wasn’t exercising so much – due to lockdown. I had recently moved back to Portugal, was living in a small rental property. Unable to jump on a plane to visit my son, I felt trapped and that my world was out of control. I was stressed, depressed and anxious. I wanted to just go to sleep for a very long time.
I booked a trip up to the north of Portugal, keen to hike in cooler weather and swim in freshwater rivers in the mountains. I set up my camera to film this stunning location, at the bottom of a valley in Soajo. I shot some footage of me swimming with my dogs and forgot all about it until September. Browsing through my photo album, I stumbled upon the footage of me setting up my camera and taking a dip. In the shot, I looking at the camera to see if the light is on, and I really don’t look my best with wet hair, no makeup and carrying extra weight. What a wakeup call.
Finding the light
I’ve carried extra weight before, but this was different. I could see the darkness in my eyes, the darkness that I’d been wallowing in for months. I wasn’t depressed because I was overweight, I was overweight because I was depressed. I had been drinking too much – 2 double Gin & Tonic each day, not keeping a check on my nutrition, and not protecting my energy.
In an attempt to quieten my mind, I found a monk named Nick on YouTube. His calm, soothing voice distracted me from my world and I listened as he talked about his eating regime. He could only eat twice per day, compared to 5 times per day when he lived in California. This set me on a path to research intermittent fasting, and I adopted time restricted eating the same week. Fast forward 5 months and I was 28lbs down and ready to regain my physical strength. Which is when my jump rope journey started.