Who would have thought that something we did so naturally as kids would come so hard as adults? Working with this new workout book that focuses on boxing, jumping rope is a standard warm up and broken down from level 1 to 10 with the intensity and speed of how you’re jumping. I’ve finished week three and they up the time on the jump rope from 6 minutes at week one to 12 minutes in week three and varying intensity through out that time from 4 to 8, the higher the intensity the shorter amount of time required.

Let me tell you plain and simple, jumping rope sucks. This would be the ultimate fail of my workout experience. I tried to up it to 12 minutes working on the different intensities, but I just don’t believe I’m coordinated enough to do this particular activity for such a long period of time not to mention the varying intensities. I came to the conclusion that I can safely do about 10 minutes of jumping rope with two speeds (and two speeds only) – slow and slightly faster.

When I say safely I mean without my knee swelling up to the size of a soccer ball and when I say 10 minutes I mean jumping for 15 to 20 seconds, walking a circle then starting the cycle again. Depending on the song my intensity varies. Particularly Nickelback’s Never Again is great for hyping up my speed, but it still is only in short bursts.

I’m not downplaying the importance of this part of my workout. It really is great as a warm up because you can start your intensity low and work your way up and I will probably keep it as part of my regular workout (I mean, I did spend the $6 on the rope). It is great for balance and agility, but damn if it doesn’t hurt. As a kid it was so simple. I didn’t think twice about picking one up and jumping and I could probably have done it for hours. What happened to those days?

200 pounds