The Mindset of Jump Rope Champion Michelle Fongson (#8)

“We had the motto, ‘Practice Like You Compete.’ […] It’s so simple but it’s not.”

— Michelle Fongson

Michelle Fongson (IG: @matellispanelli) is a world champion jump roper and one of my early jump rope mentors. Not only does she have extensive jump rope knowledge, but she also has a degree in kinesiology with a very detailed and rigorous understanding of body movement and function. Michelle has used this knowledge in all of her coaching, including working with CrossFit Athletes, a competitive jump rope team, and more. We dive into her coaching philosophy and get very detailed with the methods she’s used to train her athletes for competition. In addition to this, we discuss mindset—specifically the thought process and mental reminders of training to win. There are many, many takeaways in this episode for anybody looking be more competitive and adjust the way they think during training.

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

Show Notes

Michelle’s History with Jump Rope (1:43)

How Michelle Became a Jump Rope Coach (3:20)

How Michelle Developed Her Coaching Philosophy (5:13)

Top Coaching Moment for Nate and Michelle (10:08)

Structuring Team Practices (15:08)

The ‘Better’ Mindset of Athletes (19:17)

Speed Training Drills and Benchmarking for Athletes (21:30)

Visualization (29:04)

Michelle’s International Competition Experiences (29:53)

International Jump Rope Events (34:37)

Training Freestyle for International Competition (36:31)

The Thought Process of a Champion (42:56)

How the Champion Mindset Played a Role in Coaching (43:46)

What is Jump Rope to You? (45:51)

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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:Advice for Jump Rope Competitions (Bonus Podcast Episode) Live Recording: Round Robin Jump Rope Discussion (#9) →

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