Jump ropes are one of the best bargains in fitness. Great ropes are available for $10 to $15.
Jump ropes are eminently portable and excuse proof. They are light, compact and ready to go with you anywhere.
Jumping rope promotes great posture. There is no way to jump rope while slumping or slouching.
Jumping rope is lower impact and easier on the joints than running, because you usually land on two feet instead of just one. Wear good shoes and don’t try it on concrete for best results.
Jump ropes are associated with bad ass boxers and other super fit types.
Jump roping allows for endless variations and moves, which always keeps things fun and interesting. Check out jumprope.com if you really want to be impressed.
Jumping rope is intense; you can cram a lot of sweat and effort into a little bit of time.
Jumping rope combats osteoporosis.
Jumping rope will improve your footwork, coordination and rhythm and keep you from being laughed at weddings.
Jumping rope increases cardiovascular fitness and lower body strength.
So grab a rope, find a giving surface and get bouncing!
**Clear it with your doctor before starting any new exercise program, especially if you have a history of joint or cardiovascular problems.
Though many fitness trends of the 80’s are best forgotten (G-string leotards anyone?) the Par Course is one innovation that deserves a comeback tour.
The Par Course is a fitness playground for adults, made up of wood or metal apparatus set into parks, fields or other open spaces. The basic course usually includes various heights of pull-up bars, push-ups bars, downward slanting sit-up boards, and squat and step-up platforms. I’ve also seen balance beams, adult sized monkey bars and rings. The equipment can be spread out along a trail or clumped together like an outdoor gym.
To witness the hey day of the mighty Par Course in the US you would need to click the heels of your high-top Reebok aerobic shoes together and travel back to 1985, when there were over 5,000 courses. Since then, many have fallen into disrepair and been reduced to fitness ghost towns, with splintery wood, rusty bolts and missing instructional signs. The decline and fall of the Par Course is a huge shame because this fitness movement was way ahead of its time in offering a challenging, versatile, full-body workout with a view.
I hope that we can get a Par Course renaissance going and bring these sturdy, reliable work horses back to the forefront of fitness.
Reasons to find an existing course or ask your employer or local municipality to install one:
Once installed a Par Course is free to use and available to anyone with the energy and gumption to take advantage of it.
The Par Course is a great alternative to the gym, especially if you already have a foundation of fitness. Body weight exercises such as push-ups, squats and pull-ups develop balanced, full-body strength that is difficult to duplicate using fitness machines.
It’s outside, which can be such a blessing in our indoor, climate controlled world. Get your dose of Vitamin D while you get into shape.
Have a Par Course picnic! Since most courses are in park like settings why not relax and enjoy afterward.
Each course offers practically endless variations and challenges. Try jumping rope, doing sprints or sun salutations between stations. Bring your own gear (hand weights, medicine balls, or resistance bands) to add even more variety and isolate specific muscle groups.
Your progress is easily measurable. Keep track of how many push-ups, sit-ups or pull-ups you can do and recognize your bad a#* self as you get stronger and fitter.
You will gain functional, athletic strength that will easily transfer to sports and daily life.
It’s fun! Exercising in a playground like setting with others who are happy to be getting fit too. What could be better?
Find a Par Course near you, slap on some sweat proof sun block and get busy!
Are you lucky enough to have found your soul-sport? A soul-sport is the activity that you would choose before any other and that you feel good, strong and confident doing. Other signs of a soul sport is thinking about it when you aren’t doing it, lusting after the latest equipment and irritating other people with your devotion.Finding a soul-sport, much like finding a soul-mate, is a wonderful thing; but you should be aware of potential problems that can be created by your devotion.
Too Much Lovin’
We all agree that exercise is a good and healthy pursuit. It strengthens our bodies, clears our minds and gets us out of the house. Troubles can sneak into paradise though, when we focus exclusively on a single activity. Too much of anything can lead to muscle imbalances, chronic and degenerative injuries and mental exhaustion.The sports kingdom is full of examples of fitness passions gone wrong; runners with wrecked knees and frustrated doctors who won’t stop running or strong backed swimmers with brittle shoulders. Any activity practiced exclusively without a counter balancing strength and flexibility program can lead to bodily breakdown.
But You Said Forever!
A soul-sport, just like a mate, can leave us at anytime. Aging, injuries or unforeseen circumstances can take away the sport that you love. Then what? If a person loves one sport to the exclusion of all others and it is taken away their sporty heart will be broken and their daily spirits crushed.That’s why it is important to diversity your fitness life before its too late. Learn to swim, even though you love to run. Try out rollerblading even though rugby makes your heart race. Diversify your fitness portfolio so that if your soul sports get wrenched from you bosom you will have something to fall back on.A Happy EndingIts time to face the reality that the sports we love change our bodies for the better and the worse. With a little research or the help of a good trainer you can learn to balance and injury proof your physique and keep enjoying your favorite activity for as long as possible. Cross training is the best way to create balance and ensure that your fitness life can survive any circumstance that life throws your way.What a Cute Couple!Here are a few examples of sports that compliment each other and help to create balance.Yoga or Tai Chi with just about any other sport Running/Swimming Running/Rowing Cycling/Swimming Tennis/Aqua Aerobics Volleyball/Rowing
I got goose bumps when I saw Abe Lincoln’s ball at the Oregon Historical Society’s exhibit of sport’s greats. It was made of deep brown leather, worn dark and shiny from presidential sweat and pounding. The famous ball is now retired and rests in a protective Plexiglas case, never to bounce again. That part was a little sad.
So what did Abe Lincoln do with his brown leather ball? Turns out he loved “fives” a game much like modern day handball or racquetball without the racquets. In this game teams of two used speed, strength and guile to try and slap the ball against the wall and out of the lunging reach of the other team. For a time starved up and coming politician the game was very convenient and could be played against walls and the sides of buildings.
Though by all accounts Mr. Lincoln was a workaholic before the word was coined, he loved to sneak out during the day for a game of “fives”. Recalled Dr. Preston H. Balhace, “When Mr. Lincoln went to the printing office for a talk or to get a lot of newspapers he often joined the boys in a game of “fives”…which furnishes a very active and exciting contest.”
Court Clerk Thomas W.S Kidd also watched Lincoln tear it up on the court, “(He was) as vigorously engaged in the sport as though his life depended on it. He would play until nearly exhausted.” According to Kidd Lincoln played “not only for the sport afforded but for the better reasons that they gave him recreation from office labor and the menial toil he made in the studious preparations for his professional duties.
Abe Lincoln, arguably one of the greatest Presidents that ever lived, a man whose day to day stresses were Atlas like, recognized the importance of physical activity and the incredible release it provides from the grind.
And if the modern wage slave sometimes feel cramped, tired and in the mood to knock off people’s hats after a long day at the office imagine what if felt like for Mr. Lincoln. He was a man who came later to the relatively sedentary pursuits of law and politics and grew up splitting wood, farming, wrestling and generally running amok in the wide open country.
So the next you feel the burdens of the work a day world piling up and the awful fatigue of office toil do like Mr. Lincoln did. Find some friends and a ball that bounces and have a game. If President Lincoln can make time to work out in his busy country uniting, slavery busting schedule to play so must you!
