Question - how fun are your workouts? Think about that. How much do you really enjoy the workouts that you’re doing?
When it comes to building a workout program, the fun factor is often ignored by many trainers. If anything – it goes highly underrated.
But let’s back it up for a second –
For a workout program to be effective, it must be consistent. For it to be consistent, you must want to do it on a regular basis. For you to want to do it on a regular basis, you have to enjoy it. And for you to enjoy it, it has to have an element of fun in it.
That’s how we do math around here.
So here’s what we’ve done – we’ve compiled a list of 7 ways that you can make your (jump rope) workouts and routines more fun and exciting.
Let’s dig in -1. Take it on vacation (change of scenery)
Are you taking advantage of the jump rope’s portability?
One of the coolest thing about the rope – and one of the main reasons we designed ours to be used both indoor and outdoor – is that you can use it anywhere.
You can use it at home, in the gym, on vacation, in the local park on a sunny day, or on a dock overlooking a sunset. Whatever floats your boat.
So one of the easiest ways to up the fun factor of your training is to do your workouts in an exciting location with fun scenery.
Here’s what Katy (a new jumper) said:
“[I like] jumping anywhere there might be spectators - it motivates me to push myself, holds me accountable to finish my workouts strong!” - Katy
We’ve also seen jumpers in our jump rope community jumping in all sorts of cool locations.
Check out Paul jumping on a cruise ship.
Paul having fun with his Crossrope on the cruise ship - check out his story.
Need ideas for where to jump?
We asked our customers what their favorite place to jump is – read their responses here.
You just need to find someplace scenic an beautiful to jump - a place that energizes and inspires
2. Jump with a friend / workout partner
Sometimes all you need to have fun in your workouts is to have someone do it with you.
Not everyone likes having a training partner, but if you’re finding yourself getting bored with your workouts, it might be worth trying this one out.
Find someone to jump with.
We’ve made our jump rope system interchangeable so you can clip ropes in and out as you please – and with a second set of *handles* you can share your system and use it with a friend.
Not sure what to do with your training partner?
Here are two options –
1- Try a partner workout like this:
This is a fun jump rope and bodyweight workout I like to do with my fiance sometimes. You only need one rope (we like the 1/2 Lb blue Energy rope for this one).
Grab a timer and do the following:
Round 1
Partner A – 45 seconds of fast basic jumps OR alternate foot jumps
Partner B – 45 seconds of mountain climbers OR burpees (if you’re really looking for a workout)
Switch and repeat 45 seconds
Rest together for 30 seconds. Give each other high-fives. Do your thing.
Then repeat for 5 total rounds.
It’s super simple, very effective, and you can play around with the timing and exercises to suit your fitness level.
2 - Run a mini-challenge with your partner like this:
Set a lofty goal like 5,000 jumps and 500 bodyweight squats (you choose your own exercises and reps).
Now you and your partner work together to complete all of the repetitions as fast as you can. You can go one at a time cheering each other on or you can go at the same time to try and get a really good time in.
However you do it, you do it together. And that’s the fun part.
If you don’t have a workout partner, but want to find someone to jump with virtually, make sure to join our free jump rope community. We’ve got thousands of jumpers from all across the world to jump with.
3. Track your workout results
This is one that the Crossrope team likes to use – especially Dave, our President. We all like to track our training results and compare our scores.
When you track your results (even if it’s very basic tracking), you’re able to see progress. There’s nothing more exciting than beating your own time from three weeks ago.
Seeing progress is fun :)
And it could be just what you need to turn that boring workout into a fun one. If you need some help with the journal or workout scheduling part, check out this post.
4. Try a new workout with bodyweight exercises
The great thing about the jump rope is that you can easily combine it with other forms of training.
You can mix it with kettlebells or barbells or bring it with you on a run or squeeze it in before/after a yoga session. Lots of options.
One of our favorite combinations is jump rope and bodyweight exercises. They go together beautifully – like organic jam and almond butter.
So if your workouts are getting boring, consider mixing things up.
Try a jump rope – bodyweight workout like this one:
Note - you can check out the full details of that workout here.
There’s a ton of stuff going on there, but it keeps things fresh and exciting.
And if you’re looking for quick workouts on the go, check out our Crossrope app. We’ve got some unique workouts there and we will be adding more in 2017.
5. Take on a (jump rope) challenge
Challenges are always exciting.
We try to run a lengthy (30 day) challenge every few months for our community.
Challenges bring people together, offer new and exciting workouts, and motivate you to take action and get outside of your comfort zone.
So if you’re in a rut, take on a jump rope challenge.
The good part? We’ve got lots of them.
If you haven't already, join our community and we’ll notify you when we run the next one. Or just jump into the app to check out our built-in challenge workouts.
6. Listen to good tunes
Need an instant ‘fun’ boost? Use the right tunes.
Good music can turn the most boring workout into a fun one (I’ve seen it happen).
Here’s what one Crossroper said:
“For me, it's all about the playlist and having songs with a good rhythm to jump to (I put my favorite songs at the end when I know I'll be tired and need some extra pumping up).”
That’s a good tip. Did you catch it?
Songs that are up-tempo, that have a great beat, and get you hyped up are the best to go for. If you need help with creating a playlist, we’ve created one for you here - jump rope tunes.
Bonus – we recently polled our community and asked them what their favorite songs were to jump to. Check out their answers here.
Note – you’ll need to join the group to see the responses!
7. Learn new jump rope skills
Last but not least, one of my favorite ways of making your jump rope workouts more fun is learning new skills.
The jump rope is a fun exercise tool because it’s very versatile.
It’s not just about basic jumps and double unders (although we love both). There are dozens (if not hundreds) of skills and combinations that you can play around with.
To demonstrate, Dave and I put together a video to showcase 75 different jump rope exercises and combinations that you can explore.
Note - you can see a full breakdown of those exercises here.
Go ahead and choose a couple of different skills that you want to learn – if you’re not sure which ones to get started with, let us know in the comments and we’ll chat. We’ll be adding more tutorials this year to help you guys master the best ones.
Add the skills to your workouts and practice sessions.
Your Turn
There you have it – 7 different ways you can make your jump rope workouts more fun and exciting. Go ahead and explore them during your next training session.
In the meantime, we want to know…
What are one or two ways that YOU make your workouts fun? Let us know in the comments below. Cheers!
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