Jump Rope?

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What kind of rope did you get? Leather are heavy and slow, and hurt like a ____ when you hit you self in the back. I saw lots of folks recommend beaded, but those broke too quickly. I eventually settled on a black plastic/rubber Valeo and that's what I've been using for years. They're a little bit stretchy but you get used to that quickly.

Tips: Make sure it's the correct length. Stand in the middle of the rope, and the handles should come up to your armpits. If its too long, tie knots in either side. Also, jump with a pedometer. It counts jumps just as well as it does steps and its more accurate than counting minutes because that doesn't account for when you trip on the rope and take 30 seconds to reset. Track your jump count, make a cool graph showing your progress.

I love jumping rope!! I was planning to get back into it, actually.

Make sure you jump on your toes and squeeze your arms. Your aim is to jump as lowly as you can and to perform the least amount of movement possible. It's almost like an isolation-type cardio exercise. If you're a beginner, don't get discouraged - people vastly underestimate the amount of endurance, coordination, and agility this takes. Pat yourself on the back if you can jump fast enough continuously to just about kill your shoulders after one minute. I would suggest working up to jumping for 5 or ten minutes without tripping the rope.

I jumped to several 10ish minute dubstep mixes. I'd jump real fast for one or two 30 second clips and then jump at an easy pace for two. There are also books with excellent jump rope workouts.