Typically once a week during the year we do a variety of jump rope drills with our athletes.  In our Strength and Conditioning class  we have students from all sports, both men and women , in-season and out-of-season, and in all shapes and sizes!  Along with a cardio benefit (our heart rates are elevated for 20 minutes or so) we also see benefits in quickness, jumping, agility and coordination with our athletes.  The workout is quick-paced and not monotonous, so it keeps our athletes fairly well engaged.

The workout consists of our athletes completing a series of jump rope patterns, doing each pattern for 25 seconds, with 5 seconds off to reset and communicate the next pattern.  We will go through the following patterns 2-3 times, totaling 25-30 minutes of jump rope time.  You can download a short video that shows two of our athletes demonstrating each of these patterns by clicking on this link:  Jump Rope Demo Video  (or click on the picture above)

• 2 feet jump in the same place
• 2 feet front to back
• 2 feet side to side
• 2 feet round the clock (12-3-6-9) clockwise
• 2 feet round the clock (12-9-6-3) counter clockwise
• Right foot only in the same place
• Left foot only in the same place
• Right foot only front to back*
• Left foot only front to back*
• Right foot only side to side*
• Left foot only side to side
• Right foot only round the clock clockwise
• Left foot only round the clock clockwise
• Right foot only round the clock counter clockwise
• Left foot only round the clock counter clockwise
• Alternating Right and Left foot jumps
• Ali Shuffle
• Backwards

* Not shown on video

After going through these patterns 2-3 times, we conclude with the following jumps, all with a 10-second rest in between

• 30 seconds – as many jumps as possible
• 20 seconds – as many jumps as possible
• 15 seconds – as many jumps as possible
• 10 seconds – as many jumps as possible
• 5 seconds – as many jumps as possible
• 60 second cool down – choice of jump at a comfortable pace
• 45 second cool down – choice of jump at a comfortable pace

All the patterns are completed using the following guidelines:

1. 1 jump per turn of the rope
2. Stress staying on the balls of the feet
3. If jumping on 2 feet, stress landing on both feet and jumping off both feet at the same time.
4. If they miss (and they will at some point during the 30 minutes!) then they must get right back to spinning the rope

If you have any questions, please comment or email.

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

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