August Jump Rope Challenge

Just set a general baseline tonight ( 7/28/2011 ) and it looks like I can set my goal up at 15,000 30,000 to be hard enough to reach but still possible. At 500 1,000 per day, missed days will really throw a wrench into things but as always I will adjust it if necessary.  Not sure how many the kids are going for but we will track it here as always.

 

This challenge had a dropout rate of 50% so congrats to everyone who finished and met their goal

Matthew Sunrich: 3800
Branden Johnson: 30,000
Jason Davis: 17,000

8/1/2011

Well, I just jumped my first 500 and while it was hard it was too easy. I know it’s probably a bit early to make an adjustment like this but I’m moving my goal up to 30,000.  Kids will be starting a day or two later when their ropes show up from Amazon.  Oh and this is worth mentioning. I’m using a rope with weighted handles.  2lbs on each handle.  After just 100 rotations my forearms were really tight so I pulled those out and may put them back in later.  We will see.

8/2/2011
Put away 600 tonight and it was waay harder than yesterday. Arms are pretty tight actually which I didn’t expect but it’s good. The ropes for the kids will come in tomorrow I think so they will start then. Found this video of wrestling superstar and jump rope pro Buddy Lee. Check it out.

8/3/2011
The kids ropes came in today and we all jumped rope for a while tonight. E got a bit frustrated with his because it wouldn’t “turn right” so he dropped out for the day at a little over 100. India made do and ended up doing a running jump style and made it to 500! I did 800. Starting to feel some soreness now but I’m really enjoying the intensity of jumping rope so I think it’s going to be a good challenge for the month.

8/4/2011
Rain cooled things off a bit but after the first 100 you wouldn’t know it. All 3 of us hit our numbers tonight with E at 300 India at 400 and 1000 for me. While I’m enjoying the exercise it seems like an exercise that involves less skill would have been better to do with the kids but we’re in it now so we will see it through.

8/5/2011

It was HOT tonight. Jumped 1,100 and I’m going to have to drink water in my sleep to replace all of the sweat. Cramping etc.. tough night. I’m getting my jump skip working though… you know, like Rocky. That’ll be badass.

8/6/2011
Just me today. Mowed the lawn and then jumped. Put in 1,000 and there’s not a dry spot on me. It’s E’s birthday so he and bro got a pass. I may have to start doing this in the mornings.

8/9/2011
Got rained out after putting in 800 jumps yesterday so that put me far behind schedule for reaching the goal. So this afternoon and evening I put in 2200. Biggest day yet and has me sitting at 8,000. That puts me only 1,000 behind schedule which I can make up over the next 20 days. I’m doing switch foot jumping and single foot skipping, twisting and shuffling without much trouble now… thinking I’ll take on the double jump here soon.

8/17/2011
Well, we went camping for a few days and no matter how much I thought about it I just couldn’t bring myself to jump rope at a camp site. at all. so… bad on me. Then we had a party and then I recovered the next day and then before you know it 5 days have passed with me laying goose eggs on the jump rope boards. Bah. But I’m not phased so I’ve come back strong putting down 3,000 yesterday and getting out in the street early this morning and putting away another 1,000 with Sue so.. there. I’m sure I’ll do some more this evening.

Other jumpers… well, the jump rope challenge has claimed quite a few victims. I’m not naming any names but 4 have dropped out. I will get my boys back on track but I have no doubt they will follow through on their commitment and these other guys are solid.. they will also. Onward, upward, downward, repeat.

8/18/2011
Put in another 15,000 today. Would have done more but my legs were insanely sore for the 3,000 I did a few days ago. I did learn something though… That if I’m going to get any real results out of this then I’m going to have to push harder and experience more discomfort. Gains aren’t realized in the comfort zone. Doing 200 at a time hurts and it’s hard and while I could knock off sets of 100 all day long the real gains are to be found in these bigger numbers. Someone else doing this challenge said that he knocked off 500 in one go the other day. Now THAT is progress. So, I guess that’s how I’m going to rock this challenge for the rest of the time. Hard. It’s also a lesson that I will carry on into future challenges as well and one I wish I’d accepted during the push-up challenge.

8/19/2011 – There is no spoon
Well, I’m getting caught up now. I pulled off 2,000 this evening and the last 700 or so were in the rain. I’m amazed that I’m able to pull off sets of 200 more regularly now… without even a single mis-step so on top of everything I’m no doubt becoming more cardio fit, more muscular fit and more coordinated. That’s huge.

You know being able to double my set numbers in just a few days really has me thinking hard about mental limitations. All of this time I’ve been laying down 100, 100, 100… just because the next step up seemed so far. Then, I hear about another challenger doing 500 once and I’m suddenly able to do 200, 200, 150, 100, 200. It’s incredible! All because that mental roadblock is gone.

It reminds me of that scene in the matrix where Neo is sitting with the young student in a robe who is bending a spoon. He says

kid: do not try and bend the spoon, that is impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth.

Neo: What truth

kid: There is no spoon

Now, this is a big lesson to take away from this challenge and certainly not one that I expected to learn from jumping rope but the notion that any of us can take on some seemingly impossible thing and just do it. By accepting that many of the hurdles are only illusions… a whole new set of possibilities open up. You can take that to the bank.

8/26/2011 – 24,100
I’m back… This site along with many others that I own were hacked earlier this week. What a nightmare.

On the jump-rope front… things are still moving along.  I’m going to have to push it a little bit these last few days but I will make it.  I’m really looking forward to changing gears for next month’s challenge.

8/31/2011

Well I wrapped it up today.  I ended up with a broken jump rope, 30,200 jumps, losing 7 pounds and about 2 inches on my waist.  Those last 2 weren’t goals by the way.. it just happened.  My cardio fitness is as good if not a little better than it’s ever been, so I think I’ll take a hike up the first incline at Kennesaw Mtn to see if I can improve on the time I set in June which was a little over 14 minuets to the top.

Jumping rope is hard and like others have pointed out it’s a skill as much as it is an exercise so the barrier to entry can be higher than many exercises.  I should have taken that into consideration when including the kids but they finished it with some sense of accomplishment though I wish I would have pushed them a bit harder. I see that as a partial failure for this challenge on my part. I’m just glad they are still excited to participate in the next challenge.

While I have been able to improve my jumping speed and duration I was never able to master the double jump.  I may continue working on that in the months to come as I think I will continue jumping rope on a regular basis.