I work out with my jump rope at parks and at my home in Jerusalem.
Several days a week, I get a total-body workout with my jump ropes. I don’t lift weights or belong to a gym, swimming pool or racquet club anymore. And there isn’t any room in my apartment for a treadmill or elliptical trainer even if I want one.
Occasionally I jog less than 10km slowly by the street or through a forest to jump rope at a track or a playground with shock-absorbing surfaces. On most nice days I cycle to the playground with several jump ropes in my bag that children and their parents and grandparent borrow to play alongside me as I workout.
I said good-bye to my sports clubs when I left California to come to Jerusalem. Leaving my sports friends and the well-appointed facilities were a little sad for me because I enjoyed the company and the competition.
With the change, I changed too. I gained a few pounds and my muscles got smaller. On the outside, I looked pretty much the same because I remained active with running, cycling and some swimming. My competitive focus turned to my Polar Heart Monitor that tracked everything from the number of calories used to my overall fitness. It was good to be free from scheduling court time, tennis elbow and other pulled muscle and chronic sports injuries endemic to the gym and the court. But going to the pool is a schlep, cycling is dangerous and running for high-intensity cardio workout is a surefire way to injure your ankles, knees and back. More importantly, I needed an all-weather always-available activity with the ongoing fresh challenge of developing new skills. I needed a new total-body, portable and flexible low-impact workout solution.
The Wall Street Journal reported that “More people are saying good-bye to the sprawling, machine-laden gym and looking for equipment designed to give low-impact workouts and then tuck neatly in a closet,” on August 31, 2010. I tried all the trendy ideas: from personal trainers to suspension devices, sliding discs and balls and springy boots. There wasn’t any new magic bullet solution invested during my lifetime, so I look farther back in time and revisited my jump rope.
Jump rope proved to be a perfect answer to all my needs. Like you and millions of other people, my first memories of jumping rope are as a kid seeing girls at the playground. My second jump rope experience was in the 1970s when my zaftig wife became svelte in a few weeks of 1,000 jumps a day routine. Not to be outdone by my wife, I learned some basic techniques a jump rope played a small role in my training as a college student. Since in 2008, I’ve perfected my jump rope skills and workout so it’s now easy to learn and can be done by virtually anyone.
Contact me and I’ll share what I’ve learned with you.