Before taking up boxing, the only jump rope experienced I had was likely from elementary school. Picking up this exercise was not difficult but it did require some practice, and also breaking the habits from my younger days. But why should you jump rope like a boxer?
As a boxer, agility, footwork and staying light on your feet is a major focus when training. Skipping rope allows you to practice and improve on the aspects of your foot game. Using a jump rope will help build your endurance and train you to stay on the balls of your feet. Ultimately making your more mobile inside the ring.
When watching boxers train or fight, you may have noticed that they’re constantly bobbing from side to side. Typically they’d be shifting their weight from one foot to another make sure to stay on the balls of their feet.
Doing this keeps their body fluid and gives them faster reaction time to move out of the way when the opponent is punching. Overall making them a harder target to hit, and alternatively giving them greater opportunity to retaliate quickly.
By practicing on the jump rope, you give your feet the practice to continuously move your body weight. You would also help build muscle and reaction time in that area giving yourself the natural feel when in a ring.
Is Jump Rope Necessary For Boxing?
Although it may not be a mandatory exercise, you would be doing yourself a huge disservice by not taking advantage of this simple yet effective workout.
Including some form of jump rope in your workout routine, is a great way to warm up or cool down with a cardio exercise. As the added bonus, while there is a cardio element. You would also be training heavily on foot work and movement when it becomes time for you to be in a ring.
Other added benefits to jump rope like a boxer are building endurance and stamina. As a boxer or just for overall fitness, endurance and stamina are important elements to complete a boxers training and general health for those who just want to exercise.
Although its not a focus, you would also be strengthening leg muscles and joints. As you progress in age, joint care becomes more important. For some running or heavy leg exercises are no longer an option. Jumping rope would cause less stress on your knees, but still allow you to reap the rewards.
As a boxer they’re required to sometimes go as long as 12 rounds. At 3 minutes a piece. Having to perform athletically for roughly 45 minutes is no easy task. Building these qualities is often a major focus when it comes to training.
With that said, even if you do not plan to step in a ring and fight. Why not train like a boxer? And have jumping rope as part of your routine. The benefits vastly outweigh the negatives.
How Often Should You Jump Rope
As previously mentioned, jumping rope is one way to warm up or cool down if you’re planning on having heavier workouts. On any off day you could even consider skipping rope for a longer period of time, to supplement a bigger exercise.
Skipping rope for 15 minutes before or after your a main workout, is typically enough to not warm or cool your body. Including a larger workout with jump rope 3-5 times a week would help in giving a more complete exercise. Remember to give your body time to rest and rebuild in between each session.
If you’re looking for something to give you a fix in between workouts. You can try making the jump rope process more challenging by focussing more on the footwork aspect of the exercise.
One way to do this is with the boxer skip or boxer step. The boxer skip is done by shifting your weight alternatively between your feet with every rotation of the jump rope. These habits built helps complement the footwork a boxer would you use in a ring. And also a agility builder for the everyday fitness fan.
Does Jumping Rope Like A Boxer Make You Better?
Having agility, stamina, strength are just a few traits that a great boxer needs. Like any other martial artist or athletes in general. To be able to compete at a high level, their training requires them to touch on many different yet specific types of workouts.
Jumping rope like a boxer, is only a piece of a larger group of skillsets that determines your level of fitness and skill in boxing. Being good or bad at jump rope wouldn’t determine what your level of boxing is. However, you can look at it as a way to improve footwork and increase your fitness. Which would be a stepping stone in improving your overall boxing skillset.
Can you find other ways to improve footwork and stamina? Of course you can, running and shadowboxing are also two ways to achieve this without having to jump rope. In fact, they are often exercises that are included in a full boxing workout.
If you’re looking for an all-in-one way to include cardio, footwork and rhythm technique. Jumping rope can provide that for you.
Conclusion
Over the years I have become a big believer in jumping rope. The build up of strength and stamina after a few weeks of this exercise started to show right away. It is a very simple yet effective exercise and I’d recommend it to anyone starting out to box, or want a little extra in their daily exercises.
If you’re a beginner or rusty (from you grade school days). It would likely take a couple of tries to find your rhythm and get your feet coordinated. But like anything else, it only gets easier and more fun as you progress to other types of jump rope workouts.
Skipping rope as part of a daily routine, can take a toll on most jump rope products. If you would be intensely using yours, I’d recommend grabbing one from CROSSROPE. The handles detach from the ropes themselves, making it an ease to replace a damaged product, or just ease of cleaning and maintenance.
