Have you ever jumped rope?
I’m not talking about the children’s game you used to play in the primary school playground; I’m talking about real jump rope training.
Where the only things you can hear are the swishing sound of the rope against the ground, the sounds of the gym, and your own breathing. There’s no fun and games here. Jumping rope is hard work!
An MMA fighter, boxer, or kickboxer jumps rope for the same reasons that virtually every athlete does:
Great reasons to start jumping rope
1. Endurance
Jumping rope is much harder than some people think, until they try it. They may be used to other forms of cardio, but not to the relatively explosive nature of jumping rope.
It may not seem very difficult to lift your feet a centimeter (or less) off the ground. But try it. If you do it many times per minute, it becomes much more strenuous after a while. Your heart rate rises, and you start to sweat. It’s a great boost if you want to work on your fitness.
As you practice more often, you’ll also notice that you can jump for longer and more frequently than you could at the beginning.
2. Footwork
Jumping rope requires much more foot discipline than you might think, just like endurance does. Small, precise, and well-controlled movements, even under stress (or exhaustion, at the end of a training session), aren’t easy. Jumping rope teaches you that.
Precise footwork becomes part of your natural muscle memory. Use a jump rope, especially for more advanced movements such as crossovers, double skips, switch skips, and so on, and see how your footwork improves.
Do you know that light-footed, almost bouncing movement that some top fighters use? The kind of quick stance switching that looks so smooth? Much of that is also made possible by the jump rope.
3. Coordination
This is related to footwork, but it involves the whole body. Lifting your feet requires the ability to establish timing mentally while your body works in sync with your awareness.
When you watch someone who is good at jumping rope and has already reached an advanced level, you can see the rhythm they have developed.
With good concentration you can go a long way. This will lead to greater coordination and skill. All day, every day. Coordination is one of the most important components in developing an effective fighting style.
Everything works together, there is total control, and reaction times are sharp. These things make someone a better athlete and certainly a better fighter.
4. Mental resilience
Jumping rope is terribly frustrating at first. You constantly mess up, the rope hits your toes, your body gets out of sync, or you misjudge a rotation. There will be at least one time when you throw the rope away in frustration.
It just happens, and just when you think you’re getting good, new techniques are added, which can be very frustrating.
It’s also one of those exercises where you are ‘in your head.’ You need to concentrate, but there is also room to think, and it’s harder not to become frustrated with yourself.
It’s physically demanding, and continuing through the burning calves (and arms) therefore also requires mental endurance and discipline.
Jumping rope is just one of those things that are required, or often required, in martial arts. There’s a reason why it has been a basic training method for such a long time: because it matters.
MMA fighters, boxers, and kickboxers jump rope because they want to improve, and it’s a great way to sharpen the things that will make them better.
Try it and see for yourself! Here at Fight2Win, we have a wide range of jump ropes from various brands in our selection.
So if you’re looking for a good, high-quality jump rope, take a look at the Fight2Win online store or visit us in person.
