How To Do a Jump Rope Workout for Basketball

Step 1

First, you will need an adequate rope. There are thousands of ropes and brands out in the fitness world. The ideal rope for speed, consistency and durability should be thin with light handles and made from tough metal woven cable. The thinner the diameter of the cable the faster and ultimately, better.

Step 2

A jump rope is worth the money spent. If you invest in a decent rope with handle barrings, it will last you a very long time before you need to replace the cable.

Step 3

Once you have your rope picked, you need to order the length to be roughly 3 feet longer than your current height. It is a basic rule of thumb to get the proper length. If it is too short, you will struggle to jump relaxed and the rope will often catch your feet. If too long, the rope will need more force to spin, it will slap the ground too far in front of your feet and will be overall much harder to work efficiently.

Step 4

The main workout I am going to explain is double under tabata. Using the tabata method of interval training, you will complete 8 sets of 20 seconds of double unders, and 10 seconds rest, so a workout for 4 minutes.

Step 5

A double under is completed when you jump and spin the rope twice under your feet before landing. With a nice speed rope and quick wrists, this should be easily done, and would almost look visually like you are completing singles. The hardest part of completing this workout movement is understanding the rhythm.

Step 6

You should begin with your elbows in toward your hips and forearms and wrists directed out away from your body. Gently hold the handles in each hand with the rope beginning behind you.

Step 7

Keeping your feet close, spin the rope around above your head, but do not jump until the rope reaches within just a few inches of your feet. Once the rope approaches, make an aggressive jump and quickly spin the rope with your wrists snapping around as you ascend. By the time you land, the rope should have passed through twice.

Step 8

Most people make the mistake of trying to jump and spin twice simultaneously from the start. You should always begin to spin the rope first to increase the time you have to get the next pass through when you jump.

Step 9

Once you can successfully complete two passes, work on rebounding into consecutive double reps. Work on alternating between single and double reps to help keep a rhythm. Your arms and grip should stay loose. The flicking of the rope around and around is propelled from the wrists, not the arms as a whole.

Step 10

The only time you should use your arms is to slow down the rope speed by creating a slower, larger circular movement with your arm, helping you regain control if you become off balance.

Step 11

Remember to stay upright with chest out. Your feet should never move forward as you jump to create space, and your body should not bend. To create space when your learning to improve wrist speed and coordination, simply jump and tuck your legs at your knee joints so you remain upright , but create more space between the rope and ground.

Step 12

This same workout can be conducted with singles as well, but you will burn more calories and increase shoulder stamina and rhythm control with double unders. If you do singles, extend the time to 16 rounds instead of 8.

Step 13

Other foot coordination workouts could be used with a rope as well. Such plyometric drills like line jump overs can be done, but while using a jump rope. In other words, while you jump side to side as fast as possible about a thin line on a floor, you could also jump rope at the same time to develop more awareness and control.