Skipping · Bodyweight
How to skip rope longer
How to skip without catching the rope, the ladder from sets of twenty to double unders, and how to build the minutes.
The movement
How to do one properly.
Every rep the same shape, so the numbers mean the same thing on day thirty as on day one.
- 1
Stand on the middle of the rope: the handles should reach your armpits. Shorter is harder, not easier.
- 2
Elbows in at your sides, the rope turned from the wrists, not the shoulders.
- 3
Hop just high enough for the rope to pass, an inch or two, landing on the balls of your feet.
- 4
Look ahead, not down. Your feet know where the floor is.
- 5
Count skips, not minutes, until you can go a minute without a catch.
The way up
How to skip rope longer
Rung 1
Rope at your side
Hold both handles in one hand and turn the rope beside you while you hop. Timing first.
Rung 2
Sets of twenty
Twenty clean skips, stop, reset. Ten sets.
Rung 3
One minute
Unbroken. Around a hundred and twenty skips at an easy rhythm.
Rung 4
Alternate foot
Run on the spot through the rope. Lighter on the calves and faster.
Rung 5
Double unders
Two passes per jump. A rung most people never need and a few cannot leave alone.
Skipping is skill before fitness. Short daily practice, five minutes of sets, builds the timing faster than one long session of catching the rope.
Once a minute is easy, work in rounds like a boxer: three minutes on, one off, three rounds. Add a round a week. Calves and shins decide how fast you can climb, so give them a day between hard sessions.
How it is counted
On the board, however it got there.
Your watch or phone sends it. Apple Health and Health Connect all report skipping on their own, so it lands scored without anyone typing. No watch? Say it out loud in the app instead.
Worth 0.3 points per rep in the app, so a challenge can weigh it against anything else you count.
Questions
Asked about skipping
How many skips a minute?
A hundred to a hundred and forty at a steady rhythm. Faster than that is sprinting, and it is the rhythm that keeps the rope off your toes.
How is skipping counted?
By the skip, one rep each time the rope passes under you. Most ropes with a counter get close; otherwise count your sets and log the total.
Does it count from my watch?
Your watch or phone sends it. Apple Health and Health Connect all report skipping on their own, so it lands scored without anyone typing. No watch? Say it out loud in the app instead.
Is it free?
Yes. The athlete app is free: logging, challenges and every guide on this site. Coaches pay for their workspace; the people they coach do not.
Other exercises
Everything else we count.
Push up
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Pull up
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Squat
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Plank
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Sit up
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Dip
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Burpees
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Lunges
How to do more lunges
Jumping jacks
How to do more jumping jacks
Extensions
How to do more back extensions
Battle ropes
How to last longer on battle ropes
Running
How to run further
Cycling
How to ride further
Swimming
How to swim further
Rowing
How to row further
Steps
How to walk more steps every day
Hiking
How to hike further
Football
How to get fitter for football
Basketball
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Tennis
How to get fitter for tennis
Dancing
How to build stamina for dancing
Yoga
How to make yoga a daily habit
Do more skipping.
Let someone see it.
Get the app, log what you did or let your watch send it, and hand your friends the code.