Before doing any exercise it is beneficial to warm up your muscles and get your heart rate up. Personal Trainer, Erica Anne, likes to explain it as “knocking on the door of your body, and letting it know it’s safe to move”. Often we rush into activity and use our first round as a warm up, instead of moving our body through different movement patterns, planes of motions and giving extra love to any areas that are extra tight or sore. By skipping a warm up it is only a matter of time until you’re dealing with an injury. Set aside 5-10 minutes to help transition your body from a state of rest to an active state. You can try adding in the following exercises:

When possible, try to avoid jumping rope on hard surfaces like concrete. This is twofold, as not only will the hard surface be tough on your joints when bounding, but also it’ll wear on your jump rope quicker than a gym mat. A softer surface such as a wood floor, rubber mat, or even the grass would be kinder on your body. If you’re looking to give your body the best amount of love and care possible when it comes to drilling in new jump rope skills, the Air Jumping Mat is without a doubt your best bet. The Air Jumping Mat is the world’s first inflatable jump rope training surface. Compact and portable, it can go anywhere you want to jump and it sets up in minutes. It provides a forgiving surface for joint pains. Put the training in without putting the pounding on your body with the Rx Air Mat.