Friday, January 7, 2011

A jump rope giveaway

This evening I went over to MIT as I had signed up for a jump rope class, or skipping as we called it in South Africa.  The class runs once a week for half an hour and will run for 1 month only.  I decided to do it because this is the kind of plyometric training that will hopefully give me the quick leg turnaround on those stairs.
I like skipping.  In fact, I do so regularly.  Admittedly I do not do more than 5 minutes, because the astonished stares from the cats is very hard to ignore.  But skipping has served me well, and when I saw this class, I thought I could learn some fancy, new moves.
There were 9 women and 1 bloke there tonight.  Four people had never skipped in their lives, so they stood in front so that the teacher could help them, whilst the rest of us skipped away merrily.  It was great fun, and I enjoyed it.  I learnt 2 new moves: the first being how to do a figure of 8 from side to side and then open it up to immediately start skipping without breaking the rhythm. The second is to do star jumps whilst skipping!  
Prior to this I could only do 'regular' skipping (like a boxer) and 'skiing' (moving from side to side).  I have not quite gotten the double star jump move she showed us, but she also exhorted us to practise.
I had such a great time as well as a terrific workout, that I am hoping to spread the love, by having a jump rope giveaway.  Just share your best/worst jump rope story here, or if you have never jumped rope before, why would you like to try it.  The winner will be chosen by the random selector.  Final entries by Friday 15th January.

12 comments:

  1. Io uso spesso la corda come esercizio complementare per la corsa.
    E' un semplice accessorio, ma come per tutte le cose va usato con la giusta progressività e costanza.
    Buon jump rope

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  2. I always loved Jump Rope for Heart, a fundrasier we used to have in the gym at my elementary school. People pledged for your minutes jumped and we all went wild jumping to 80s pop music!

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  3. A few year ago I decided I needed to jump rope more but I never learned the fancy moves. I did start at about 3 minutes and within about 2 months I was able to go for 45 minutes at a time! I still can't believe I did that. I'm sure I have lost that ability and am back down to 3 minutes per session...I really need to try it again. Such a great workout!

    Yay for you that you learned figure 8 and star jumps!

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  4. That sounds like a great workout!

    Don't enter me in the giveaway, I have no intention to skipping now.

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  5. jump rope is actually on my shopping list this week, I have only used it during classes at the gym but my instructor keeps saying to us that 10 mins. of jumping rope is equivalent to 30 mins. on the treadmill and with that i was sold so i soooo hope i win. :)

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  6. Hmmm, where is my jump rope. I bought one a couple years ago and was amazed at how tired I would get after...15 seconds? I should find it, unless of course I win this.

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  7. In elementary school some of my friends were awesoem at double dutch. I couldn't do it, not even a little bit. I need jump rope vidication!

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  8. Jumping rope always makes my toes hurt.

    Thank you so much for your donation, girl. It means a lot to me.

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  9. Usavo la corda quando andavo nella palestra di pugilato (avevo 20 anni) poi colei che è diventata mia moglie mi ha proibito categoricamente quel tipo di sport. Debbo comunque dire che è utile per aumentare l'agilità e l'elasticità, ne troverai giovamento.

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  10. That sounds like such a fun workout. I haven't skipped since primary school and then it was with a group of girls. I might just get into this skipping - if I win the rope of course. Just started following your blog - great to find a fellow SA'n blogging (even if you are in the USofA)

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  11. It's time for you to post an update on your life!! We haven't heard from you since the 7th!

    :D

    I nominated you the Stylish Blogger Award on my blog. We want to hear 7 things about you that we don't already know...

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  12. I try to jump rope as a workout sometimes, it is hard!! Trying to add it in again. Don't think I have a best/worst story, but in HS I always wanted to do the jump where you swing the rope around twice before landing. I couldn't then and I still can't, but I want too!

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