The Culture and Origins of Competitive Jump Rope with Chris Holmes (#03)

“[Jump Rope] is something that anybody can learn, but you can spend a lifetime trying to master.” — Chris Holmes

Chris Holmes, (IG: @jumpropevideos, www.jumpropevideos.com) is a former jump rope world champion, and has been involved with the sport for over 30 years. He’s performed and taught in 11 countries, and has won several championships at both national and worldwide competitions. Chris is currently a board member of the American Jump Rope Federation.

Needless to say, Chris knows jump rope really well! During our conversation, we dive into so many great topics, including competition structure, notable jump ropers, the origin stories of many different jump skills, the current state of competitive jump rope, and so much more. Many of the skills we discuss are better visualized than heard, and you can find the hyperlinks below.

You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and Overcast.

Show Notes

Brief History of Competitive Jump Rope (2:00)

Competitive Jump Rope Team Practices (4:03)

Workshops and the Culture of Competitive Jump Rope (5:47)

Creating New Jump Rope Skills: Past and Present (8:14)

Mike Fry (13:48)

Double Dutch Skill: Subway (16:05) [bonus video from Nate]

Double Dutch Skill: Grand Central Station (16:53)

Hot Dog USA Community Show Video (18:00)

Tournament Structure for Jump Rope (18:14)

Jump! The Documentary (20:16)

Countries with Competitive Jump Rope (22:13)

Jump Rope and the Olympics (23:36)

Categories and Styles of Jump Rope (25:30)

The Jump Rope Flow State (27:07)

Double Dutch Flow State (27:44)

World Record 3 Minute Speed (29:00)

Competitive Freestyle Judging Criteria (32:18)

Competitive Jump Rope Presentation Scores (33:39)

Where Chris has Travelled for Jump Rope (36:15)

Jump rope in CrossFit and General Fitness (37:08)

What is Jump Rope for Chris? (40:01)

Selected Links

Nick Woodard Instagram, YouTube, Website

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Here’s each step of this combo: 👉 Swing 👉

Here’s each step of this combo:

👉 Swing
👉 Leg Over Swing
👉 Arm Wrap + Release
👉 Unwrap + Regrab
👉 Swing
👉 Basic Cross

Make sure you keep your hands really close, even as you’re doing all of this wrapping. Keep a smooth, even rhythm without speeding up the rope aggressively. Doing this will prevent handle from flying away from your body haha

And definitely don’t power through this combo with your entire arm. You want to use your wrist to rotate the rope and get that nice, smooth motion for this combo!

#jumprope #skippingrope #athomeworkout #ropeskipping #jumpropetricks

The Split Bound Handstand is where your feet split

The Split Bound Handstand is where your feet split apart (like a front straddle) right before bounding into the handstand position!

Remember: DON’T TRY THIS IF you haven’t already learned how do a Stepping Handstand Pull Through.

If you’re ready to try this, use your front leg to push off the ground to bound into the air.

Once you’re in the air, your back leg swings to rotate you into the handstand position.

This one is intimidating at first, and I would definitely recommend NOT full sending it right away! Take it slowly and only do small bounds into that handstand position at first 👌

#handstands #jumprope #skippingrope #doubleunders #handstand #athomeworkout #ropeskipping #jumpropetricks

This combo is: 👉 Toad Cross 👉 Toad Swing

This combo is:

👉 Toad Cross

👉 Toad Swing

👉 Elephant Cross

For this to work, you MUST use both hands to turn the rope! That might sound a little bit obvious, but it’s really easy to forget to use the hand that’s underneath the Toad leg.

As you go from the Toad Cross into the Toad Swing, use that Toad hand to rotate the rope as you transition into that Elephant position.

Make sure you go slowly so you don’t jump too early for the Elephant. If you wait until the rope comes all the way down to the ground before jumping, it’ll be way easier to do the Elephant Cross!

#jumprope #skippingrope #athomeworkout #ropeskipping #jumpropetricks

The Swing, Swing, Open, Open Quad is a classic ski

The Swing, Swing, Open, Open Quad is a classic skill!

You start this with a Swing, and then use the hand that’s farther away from your body to transition over your other hand to the other side.

Then pull the rope back to an open and finish with one final open rotation!

This one’s definitely tough, but the most important important thing to remember is to make sure your hands are really really efficient at doing that swing transition movement!

Your hands must be able to transition from one side to the other with very minimal movement in order to get this done. You could still complete the skill without efficient movement but it’s going to be a lot harder haha so keep all of these tips in mind as you try the SSOO Quad!

#jumprope #skippingrope #doubleunders #tripleunders #quadrupleunders #athomeworkout #ropeskipping #jumpropetricks

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← Prev:Jump Rope as an Art Form with Chris Walker (#02) Declan McCarthy - Discovering Jump Rope and Managing OCD with Fitness (#04) →

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