Jump Rope Training

by Buddy Lee

The world’s best-selling jump rope training guide returns, and it’s bigger, better, and more complete than ever! In Jump Rope Training, Second Edition , former U.S. wrestling champion Buddy Lee presents his jump rope training system used by over 25 U.S. Olympic teams. Workouts for a variety of sport skill and fitness components are included, such as endurance, strength and power, speed, agility, and balance. This second edition also includes the latest on rehabilitation of sport injuries and optimizing body composition for athletic performance. And, to get you started immediately, Jump Rope Training presents sample sport-specific training programs for more than 40 sports. If you’re ready to take your workouts to the next level, turn to the system that the world’s top athletes have come to rely on. Jump Rope Training will not only change the way you train but also change how you feel, look, and perform. It’s the proven approach to improving fitness and performance.    

Genres: Fitness, Nonfiction, Health

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2003

Reviews

[Dave Riley · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's strength, flexibility, concentration...and coordination.It is this last attribute that is normally associated with very few exercise regimes. You may need co-ordination to row a skiff or push a bicycle but once you've attained that skill it's, ummm, like riding a bike.
Buddy Lee was once a champion wrestler who developed an inordinate amount of skill as a rope jumper. He then went on to explore rope jumping as a means to supplement other training modalities.So if you do another sport Lee wants to explain how skipping can make you better at it.
So he delivers a very comprehensive theory of rope jumping and outlines some intense training programs that you can adapt and integrate into your schedule.
But if you are trying to learn how to skip there is nothing better than a good video lesson with Lee such as these from Crossfit.
Lee argues that jump rope is a real boon for coordination, posture and proprioception -- the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body. It is the sense that indicates whether the body is moving with required effort, as well as where the various parts of the body are located in relation to each other.
If you like that's the very magic of skipping as a skill worth the effort to learn.
Unfortunately Lee's approach is geared to the athlete not those who are interested in 'fitness' for its own sake. That means the rest of us have to draw out of the book what may suit our shallow physical levels and aspirations.
I mean, if you aren't intent on making the next Olympic team, is jumping rope relevant to you?
So Lee leaves a few unanswered questions even though he poses them in a round about way. If children can jump rope for fun and fitness why can't the rest of us? And if we do, what are we getting, physiologically, out of it?
For me though, it's nice to know that there are all these extras to be had from rope jumping. I see the skill as a marker of how far you are advancing in way of fitness -- as well as a great way to warm up.
Is there a risk of knee injury for the Joe Averages? Lee doesn't explore that. But then the US jump rope culture is a developed sporting scene whereas here, it's a lucky event when today a skipping rope makes it out on the primary school playground.
But whoever you are, the best thing about jumping a rope is that the more effort you put into it the better you get. Of course the irony is that you put more effort in to learn how to expend less.
It's a philosophical exercise in contradiction. The book that still needs to be written is Zen and the Art of Rope Jumping.

[Steffan Howey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative. Once he gets through the basics, the primary focus of the book is jumping rope to supplement sports training.
I have been jumping rope regularly for two months, and I keep coming back to this book whenever I plateau. I truly believe If you follow his advice and suggested progression of difficulty, there is no way you can't get better and better at jumping.

[Keegan · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of skim than a read.

Has some decent jump roping programs if I ever plan to do that.

Mentioned spot reduction so lost some cred there. Short but could have been shorter, a bit verbose


All this said I think jump roping is great and this is the best resource I know for it.

[Al Adducci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breaks down fun process of progessing in jumping rope, and monitoring progress.

[Steliyan Panteleev · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is very informative and has jump rope training regimens for almost every sport. Buddy Lee is the man when it comes to everything regarding jumping rope !

[Yermiah Durrani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

Awesome book, everything you ever wanted to know about jump rope training. Highly recommended if you want to cross train with jump rope.

[Shameer Ks · Rating 5 out of 5]

To begin and advance in one of the most underrrated exercises in the world...

[Kayed Al-qasimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are two things to review here. The training program and the book itself. The rating I have given is for the book.

I would give the program 4 stars. Although I did not get very far (I only got to the conditioning phase and this was due to reading the information incorrectly, the progress I made was fast and fun.

The book itself I would give three stars. I see Rippetoes Starting Strength (SS) as a perfectly written book on training. There are some aspects in this book that I find lacking. For instance, in SS they explain what you should be thinking about while doing the lifts. Jump rope training is taxing on the mind and you also have to count a lot. While jumping rope I found myself focusing on my legs, then my arms, then my back and then trying to remember where I was in my counting and so on. Tips and advice on this would really benefit the reader.

I also did not like how he keeps informing the reader how good jump rope training is. In SS Ripp starts by explaining the philosophy, goes into the physiology and then its all about the program. This means you can pick it up and go through the important parts you want to read. I feel Jump rope training is just a bit too verbose.

I must say that the book covers a long program. There are three main steps and then rope training programs. This means that I did not read the book thoroughly as the later steps were not relevant at the time and I am not interested training programs for tennis for example.

This is a program I will defiantly be following and want to get back to. I do hope the next edition reads better.

[Primp]

Awesome! I read this in the airport.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was helpful.

[rrrrrrigatone · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive book on the subject. Follow it and be amazed, just be ready for HARD work.