There aren’t many things worse than being an un-athletic doofus. But a lot of times that what we let ourselves become in our quest to get bigger and stronger.
You freak out and obsess over size and strength gains and you let your movement efficiency and conditioning go down the crapper. A lot of that comes from heeding the old “hardgainer” advice of doing no more than two or three short workouts per week and laying on the couch the rest of the time.
Yeah, that sounds like the epitome of health and fitness. Amongst your office-working, beer-drinking, pizza-eating, no-exercising friends you’re supposed to be the one who’s “in shape.”
Then when you’re tailgating and running patterns in the parking lot before an NCAA or NFL game or some wiffle ball breaks out on the beach you’re stumbling around like a hippo, tripping over your own feet and in desperate need of an oxygen tank.
“Dude, I thought you worked out all the time,” your sedentary buddy says while laughing at your level of “fitness.”
That is certainly not cool.
A lot of people forget the “conditioning” part of strength and conditioning because they just want to see the scale go up. Building muscle takes time and not doing any conditioning whatsoever isn’t going to make it happen any faster. The only thing it’s going to do is make you more of a plodding oaf.
One of the easiest ways to simultaneously improve your conditioning and athleticism is to jump rope. It’s one of the most basic forms of exercise that everyone from Muhammad Ali to Iron Mike Tyson to the late, great Walter Payton used to get in incredible shape. It will improve your footwork, timing and ankle strength.
It’s also something you can do anywhere for just 10 minutes to reap incredible benefits. If you can do it well it’s also very impressive.
As an athlete (and I consider every Renegade an athlete) you should be able to jump rope with a fairly high proficiency. If you can’t, now’s the day to get started.
Start by adding 10 minutes after your workouts 3-4 days per week and take it from there. Be sure to stretch out and roll your calves and the muscles in front of your shins when you’re done or later on at home just to avoid any potential problems.
Also, make sure you have a good rope. That will make a huge difference. With a crappy rope you might feel like Rocky before his first fight with Apollo, unable to string together more than a few consecutive jumps. But switch to a good rope and suddenly you’re whipping that thing around like greased lightning, ready to take on Clubber Lang and Ivan Drago simultaneously. I like these ropes.
Start slow like Rocky did and, if you’re consistent, you’ll be working your way up to 50 or more double unders in a few months.
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Click HERE for the jump ropes I use and recommend.
