JUMP ROPE VARIATIONS

• DOUBLE DUTCH
  
• CHINESE WHEEL
  
• SPEED JUMPING
  
• POWER JUMPING
  
• FREESTYLE JUMPING
  
• ACRO-JUMPING
  
• JUMP ROPE ENTERTAINMENT
  

DOUBLE DUTCH

Double Dutch is a rope jumping exercise played when two ropes are turned in eggbeater fashion. While the ropes are turned, a third person jumps within. 'Double Dutch' is also translated as 'Strange kind of talking'. In the early days of the 'New USA', as the English, French and Dutch settlers came to the country of unlimited possibilities; the children of the Dutch settlers were jumping their two ropes in front of their houses. During their jumping the children accompanied their jumping games with all kind of songs. Of course the songs were in Dutch; this couldn't be understood by the French nor by the English children. That's why people called it 'Double Dutch'. 'Dutch' is also translated as 'cheap'. In the early days of the 'New USA' jumping a long rope was practiced among the settler's children. But because of the frequent usage of the long rope it started to decrease / flatten in the middle. As the rope broke down OR just before the rope broke down, the Dutch children folded the rope so they had two ropes without a weak part in between and they started jumping these 'two' ropes. In Scotland this type of Rope Skipping is called "Double French"!

For more information visit:

http://www.usaddl.org/
http://www.nationaldoubledutchleague.com/

CHINESE WHEEL

There are a number of preliminary steps which are necessary to successfully jump Chinese Wheel. These are:

• Two People in One Rope With One Turner- Double Bounce
  
• Traveling or Moving Down the Line
  
• Two People in One Rope With Both Turning
  
• Two People With Two Ropes Sharing Handles
  

SPEED JUMPING

The goal here is self-explanatory. Jump as fast as you can in a given amount of time. The length of time varies from 10 seconds at Bloomer, Wisconsin's regional competition to 3 minutes for USA Jump Rope's "endurance" speed jumping event. Besides varying the amount of time for speed jumping, some of the other ways for varying the event include:

• Speed jumping in Double Dutch ropes.
  
• Relay teams where teams, typically of 4 athletes take turns sequentially and their total score is added up.
  
• Doing as many Triple Unders (rope turns three times for each jump) as possible within 60 seconds.
  
  

POWER JUMPING, DIFFICULTY MODERATE

• Step1. Stand with your feet together and your arms pressed together in front of your chest. Tighten your abdominals to pull your pelvis forward and straighten the curve in your lower back.
  
  
• Step2. Jump up and move your feet out until they're wider than your hips. Land with your knees bent and put your heels on the floor. At the same time, open your arms until your elbows are even with your shoulders. Keep your upper arms parallel to the floor and your lower arms perpendicular to the floor.
  
  
• Step3. Bend your knees so your body lowers into a squat.
  
  
• Step4. Rise up, jump and land with your feet together. Take care to land with your knees bent. At the same time, close your arms in front of you, touching your elbows and wrists together.
  
  
• Step5. Repeat the exercise, working in sets and resting in between. As you improve, try doing power jumping jacks for a specific period of time and increase each week.
  

As you continually do this exercise, you will be delighted to know that your body has improved and you can actually do more activities than the usual.

FREESTYLE JUMPING

In these events the goal is to do a routine in a given amount of time that includes a smooth flow of difficult skills with as few misses as possible. As you might guess, this is a challenging event to score, so judges have to be carefully trained to watch and weigh the different elements that are needed for a good routine. Variations in this event include:

• Individual Freestyle
  
• Pairs Freestyle
  
• Team Freestyle
  
• Double Dutch Freestyle
• Nawatobi (Japanese style) - this variation of freestyle involves the use of springboards to help the athletes do various routines that require the arms to cross in different ways while the rope turns more than once for each jump. It's also done by some teams in Canada and a short demonstration can be see at this web site and also at this web site.
  

Much like skateboarding, BMX biking, or rollerblading down a set of stairs, only freestyle stair jumping lacks a set of wheels. Can involve grabs, 360 turns, grinds, or wall plants.

ACRO-JUMPING

Artistic Jumping: Routines that emphasize expression, and subtlety in skill execution are sometimes featured in some team freestyle routines. However, the main home for artistic rope jumping at this time is in the Olympic women's sport of rhythmic gymnastics. Admittedly, the rules, skill repertoire and training background for these athletes is much different than with sport jump rope.

ENDURANCE JUMPING

A true aerobic endurance event in jump rope is not present in jump rope tournaments to my knowledge. Don't get me wrong, speed jumping for 3 minutes does require stamina. However, a true test of aerobic endurance would require a longer period of time. The reasons for the absence of endurance jumping in tournaments are two fold: it wouldn't be exciting for spectators, and jump rope athletes tend to be endowed with "fast-twitch" muscles. Under my urging, USAJRF did experiment with an endurance event earlier in its history - the most "doubles with a cross in a row." My reasoning was that this event lasted 22 minutes when I did it for the Guinness record, so it wasn't likely to go on too long for tournament purposes, but it still would be a test of aerobic endurance. However, the event wasn't well received by the athletes, so the event was understandably dropped.

The Guinness Book of Records has acknowledged various endurance events in jump rope, however, from the most jumps in 1 hour to simply the longest that you can jump (up to 36 hours before they stopped listing the event!).