In a few meetings he showed me how to skip rope properly and created a workout that I could do on my own. I started with a basic jump, two feet at a time, and eventually graduated to fancier moves. It turned out that a child’s idea of playground fun could be an effective fitness tool for an adult: after two months of jumping several times a week, I was lighter than I had been before my wedding.
Mr. Jackowski, who also wrote the book “Jump Into Fitness,” describes jumping rope as an intensive cardiovascular workout that has one-fifth the impact on the back and the knees as running and burns more calories in less time.
“Jumping rope for 10 minutes at 150 turns per minute is equal to 30 minutes of running between six and seven miles per hour,” he said.
Exude offers one-on-one sessions at your home or at one of its eight locations in the city, but there are other places to jump in a group setting.
Aerospace, a boutique gym in the meatpacking district, incorporates ropes in many of its classes, including boxing and sculpting. It also has a dedicated class called Aerojump offered in 30- and 60-minute sessions.
Classes start with two-foot jumps and progress to jumping jacks, arm crossovers, forward and back steps, jumping on one foot and making double turns that require exercisers to jump up and spin the rope twice before landing. The only short breaks involve the use of light weights for upper- and lower-body work. Classes, for 10 to 15 participants, take place in a spacious room.
Michael Olajide, the former boxer who teaches the classes, said that skippers of all levels were welcome and that there was no pressure to do every move.
“It’s natural to start slow and take breaks,” he said. “But eventually you will build up your endurance enough to be able to do the whole class.”
Jeremy Abelson, a 30-year-old from the West Village who works in finance, said that he had been attending twice a week for the past two years and that the program had transformed his body. “I lost more than 15 pounds right away and went from undefined abs to an eight-pack,” he said.
The Sports Center at Chelsea Piers offers two rope-heavy classes for aspiring jumpers: the hourlong Interval Box intersperses five to seven skipping sets with boxing moves, like punching in different directions, and the 30-minute High Velocity features constant skipping with stops for a few exercises for the arms, abs and legs. The instructor of both, Pamela Carton, said that she blared house music and turned out the lights to simulate the feeling of a nightclub.
Those touches make the workout less painful, said Dana Morgenstern, 32, a fashion designer who lives in Chelsea. “The time goes by so fast that I don’t realize how hard I’ve worked until it’s over,” she said.
As for me, I still swear by my plastic purple jump rope. It helped me slim down seven years ago and has even inspired my husband, Mahir, to start skipping. After all, we want to add years to our marriage, not pounds to our frames.
没有评论:
发表评论