Quote Originally Posted by Chris Nagel View Post
Good Post Doug, welcome to the forum.

Skipping without the rope can be very helpful to beginners, and even when rehearsing more complicated routines. When I was starting out, I had problems with my calves/shins feeling very tight, so I put the rope down and practiced skipping the air. Once I got the landing phase right, I could jump longer without being hindered by leg cramps.

Another way that you can do it is hold both handles in one hand and swing the rope around vertically. This allows you to work on the timing of getting your jumps in sync with the rope hitting the ground without any snags.
Hi Chris, thanks for the welcome!

I've found using the ropeless thing has helped me a lot with both learning new steps / jumps, but most importantly my hand position and swinging the handles. I only discovered it when skipping with ropeless handles, that my left hand was rather lazy (and also that my hand positioning was poor at times).

I suppose that had I filmed myself skipping with a normal rope, I may have been able to pick up on it, but I've found I can concentrate on ensuring that both hands are correctly positioned and swinging the rope properly -when it's wrong, you can clearly see with the ropeless handles, because the small bit of rope with the little ball on doesn't move correctly, and often hits your hand.

At retail prices, Jump Snap is pretty pricey, reall - around £30-40. I bought a couple of ebay for £10. But the principle would be easy to replicate for peanuts. Buy a £2 speed rope from a supermarket. Chop the rope about 6" from the handles. Buy a couple of small, hard rubber balls, make a hole through the middle, put the rope through and tie a knot in the end, and you've got something that does practically the same thing. Might have to experiment with the length of rope up to the ball just so it feels reasonably authentic.

You can then use it to supplement your rope skipping, either for indoors and / or for improving new drills / footwork / jumps, or for assessing that your hand position and swing is good (one of my faults before using one).