The Advantages of Skipping

Physical

• Skipping is a cardiovascular exercise that helps increase the efficient functioning of the heart and lung and burns calories, helping in weight management. High-impact skipping builds bone density, and tones the large muscles in the thighs, hips, calves and the butt as well as those in the arms and upper body and in the body's core section. Skipping is also suitable for those who cannot perform high-impact activity as, with practice or forethought, it becomes a medium-impact exercise, as skippers learn to move more economically and only jump as high as they need to. The jumping element of skipping increases levels of calcium in the body, helping to prevent osteoporosis. Skipping also helps people to develop their balance and kinesthetic sense as skippers are often on just one leg or totally in the air.

Mental

• Successfully skipping rope requires coordination of arms and legs so you don't trip over. When learning skipping, people often need to think about which parts of their body to move when. Over time, body memory takes over and people skip without thinking about it. Timing is crucial to jumping over the rope and skippers' body awareness increases as they need to know where their arms and legs are at all times in relation to the rope. Learning and performing different skipping sequences and patterns, and the necessary timing and rhythm of each, takes concentration and memory and requires the use of both sides of the brain. Finally, skipping is fun and encourages laughter, a mental release.

Personal and Social

• Except for tournaments. skipping is generally a non-competitive form of exercise. Requiring just a rope, it is financially available to many people and can be performed almost anywhere. Group skipping, in which two people turn the skipping rope and another jumps within in, encourages social interaction and cooperation. The two people turning the rope must synchronize their actions. Group skipping tricks require the cooperation and coordination of all the jumpers involved. Successfully learning to skip or to perform skipping routines increases the skipper's confidence in her physical abilities.

Skipping Tricks

• Performing skipping tricks pulls together all the advantages of skipping. In individual skipping, jump one turn of the rope with your feet together and the next with your feet apart. Slalom your skipping by jumping with your feet together first to the left and then to the right. For an extra challenge of coordination, hold the handles of the rope in each hand, swing it first to the left, then to the right, brushing the floor near your feet, and then jump through the rope. For group skipping with one person turning each end of the rope, perform a cluster jump where one person enters the rope and jumps it and then a second person joins in. See how many people you can get jumping at the same time. A simpler version of this is for one person to enter the turning rope, make one jump and then leave. The second person does the same without missing a beat, and so on.