Favorite Jump Ropers

Yes, another blog about jump ropes...

Although I am self taught, I watch jump rope videos on YouTube to steal moves...I mean get inspiration and motivation to skip rope. Throughout the last couple of years, I have come across some favorites.

First and the man that inspired me to start jumping rope is Adam Carolla. The jump rope scene is from his movie "The Hammer" (buy it here ). The video is actually the second jump rope scene in the movie. There is an earlier, more comedic one in which he is trying to impress his female student and later love interest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AWM-sL4ZLQ

When I saw these scenes, I thought it would be a fun way to do cardio. I despise running and find machines such as the treadmill and elliptical mind numbingly boring, even with an iPod.

Then I saw a video of Floyd Mayweather Jr skipping. I thought it looked so cool (even cooler than Carolla!) and thought if I get to that level, I would look cool too (I think I have actually surpassed it but don't look nearly as cool. Plus Money is like 10 zillion times the boxer I am....)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B2Vrg1Y25c

I think most people who are hardcore into skipping rope has come across Buddy Lee. With Carolla and Mayweather, I thought I can at least achieve that level, Buddy Lee was the first skipper I saw that I thought "no way I'd be that good"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yHjnfABvhw

To be honest, I think a lot of what Buddy Lee is doing isn't too hard. A lot of it is actually side swings. But he is ungodly fast with the rope.

Then I came across a woman named Rene Bibaud and my jaw dropped. The things she does with the rope are unbelievable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIKAMlcjuRk

It was the first time I saw someone do rope releases and catches. I thought it was magic. It turned out that doing these aren't too hard at a very basic level but to do it as smoothly as she does it takes a lot of practice. Those intricate crossing tricks she does like between her legs she does at about 1:27 is a little beyond me since my hamstring is very inflexible. One thing to notice in this video is that I think she misses a couple of times. But the real experts know how to recover from them smoothly (I just stop and get all frustrated...)

Another jump roper that I enjoy watching although there isn't as much videos of her on YouTube is Molly Metz. What impressed me about this video is the smoothness and technique of her double unders, her speed and her intensity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1OTH-GENLw

There is a video of her doing double unders for 10 minutes without missing. For 99.99% of jump ropers, you would either gas out or miss if you tried to do double unders for 10 minutes.

Brings me to my final entry. I think his name is Louis Garcia and he is part of a duo called the Rebel Ropers. They appear about 6 minutes into this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFaKH2923Qk

Now you can probably search through YouTube and find jump ropers as proficient and maybe even more advance than Garcia (there are jump ropers who do backflips and spin the rope under them mid-flip) but they lack the style and grace of Louis Garcia. I almost want to say he is the Michael Jackson (dance wise) of jump rope. Sure there are a lot of dancers out there who are as good or better than MJ but no one really looked as cool. And that's what I think of Louis Garcia, no one looks as cool as he does skipping rope. I am a fan of dance and my vision of where I can take my jump roping was to look like Garcia does here, smooth and suave. Needless to say, I'm not but you have to reach for the stars in endeavors you are passionate about.

I have been tempted to record myself skipping and putting it up on YouTube but decided against it for a couple of reasons. One, I am too self conscious about appearing on video. And although compared to most recreational jump ropers, I am pretty damn good, I pale compared to most of these jumpers. And who really wants to see a second (or third) rate jumper?