Skinny-up And Muscle-up With Skipping

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Keith McNiven
Keith McNiven, founder of Right Path Fitness

There’s more than one way to use skipping if you want to really get in shape. In fact, according to Keith McNiven, founder of Right Path Fitness, it can be used as a warm up, an intense 20-minute HIIT workout for those looking to burn off some fat, or, by mixing it with weight training, a way to build some serious muscle.

Just to give you an idea how effective skipping can be in shedding fat, an hour spent skipping can burn off almost a thousand calories – about the same you could put on eating a meal of burger and chips. Though frankly, as great as skipping can be, you wouldn’t really want to do it for an hour (unless you’re a skipping enthusiast of the highest order, or just a plain old masochist).

But shedding weight isn’t the only thing skipping is good for – it’s amazing for developing coordination, improving stamina, heightening your agility, and boosting your overall fitness. It’s like a sort of Swiss army knife of the fitness world.

As McNiven explains: “When you jump that skipping rope, you’re working your calves, thighs, hip flexors and glutes, and as you keep turning the rope, your shoulders and upper arms feel the benefit too.” If you focus on tensing your midsection as you skip you’ll also be encouraging those newly-visible abs to sharpen up as well.

It’s never too early to beat osteoporosis

Another benefit of skipping is to help ward off osteoporosis. The repeated skipping up and down on the floor sends a message loud and clear to your physiology that you need to strengthen your bones if they are to survive. Not something to take much notice of if you’re in your twenties, admittedly, but one of these days you’ll be glad you took the time to start making skipping a habit.

The reason skipping is so effective as a fat burner is that it gets your heart rate elevated significantly, which of course also means your breathing rate rises. This heightened demand for oxygen is right at the heart of aerobics (no pun intended, but it slipped itself in there anyway).

And, as McNiven points out, skipping is a lot less potentially damaging to your joints than running is, since both feet hit the floor at the same time. So yeah, go out for a run if you like, but be aware that skipping, even occasionally, is a gentler option.

Try more than the basic step

skipping

There are various ways you can use the rope, obviously. When you first start it can be tough enough getting used to the most basic skipping technique, the basic jump. It consists of you hopping up and down on the spot in time with you looping the rope over and under you. It sounds ridiculously easy, but unless you’re used to it, it often proves to be quite awkward to do without tripping yourself up or standing on the rope.

What seems to be pathetically easy and natural for a seven-year-old can be decidedly challenging for a grown up. And quite embarrassing if a seven-year-old is watching!

Don’t be shy to try variations!

leather skipping rope

For variation you can try alternating legs, rather than jumping up and down with both legs together. Once you get the hang of this (which should be quite straightforward but can be very awkward when it comes to actually trying it) it’s much like running on the spot, although with skipping added into the mix just to make it more of a challenge.

stopwatchYou can also try to go for endurance, seeing if you can skip non-stop for five minutes or more. Five minutes isn’t a long time, but it’s a relative thing. If you set a timer for five minutes and start skipping you’ll probably think the timer is broke or has stopped after a while … until you put the rope down in frustration and check it and see that only about a minute and a half has passed.

speed skipping ropeYou can change things around a different way, going for speed instead. You might want to use a lightweight speed rope for this, one made of thin wire cable with a vinyl covering. They’re very light and ideal for speed work, but if you’ve been using a heavier rope, e.g. a leather one, then it might take a bit of getting used to.