Jumping Rope

When it’s too rainy to ride my fixed-gear, I like to jump rope. But lately, I’ve been jumping even when I could ride. It’s really, really fun. I suspect it satisfies that deeply human need to dance.

I jump for 30 minutes, generally, to music (Mint Royale is especially good.) I have a bunch of ropes and lately I’ve been using a rope with weighted handles (only about a pound in each hand.) The weighted rope makes it a lot harder—or at least it feels that way. (I haven’t compared heart rates with and without weight, so this is just a guess.)

Here’s a good video on beginner moves:

This next one is pretty amazing. I’ve you’ve ever boxed, even just playing around, you know how fit boxers like this fellow have to be:

I’ve been using one of these lately. The Harbinger ropes are good, too, in my experience.