If you have the desire to improve your health through physical activity but do not know where to start or are confused about how to choose between the latest fitness crazes, fads, “must have” state of the art exercise equipment and exclusive health club memberships, then try something simple. Try jump roping.  But this time do something a little different and give the IROPE Fitness Program a chance to give you a fresh new perspective on that “old childhood toy”. 

Breakthroughs in fitness equipment are introduced to the public every year, more and more people, especially those of us striving for a healthier life style, find ourselves asking; “Which piece of equipment is right for me?” And sometimes only by trial and error do we find that perfect match - something that we really enjoy doing. More often than not that match is not made until we have spent a good deal of money, time, and sometimes even suffered through an injury or two in the process.  At the end of the day we usually find ourselves discouraged and disappointed with a collection of gadgets and equipment that seem to be good only for collecting dust.

You probably jumped rope even before you were able to ride your first training wheel free bicycle.  Remember the fun, the games, and the rhymes?  Jumping rope was so much fun that it wasn’t even thought of as exercise.  That “childhood toy” of yesteryear can once again be the answer to your fitness needs for today.

The IROPE Fitness Program offers something totally different than what’s been offered by other jump rope fitness programs.  In fact, it’s been described as a radical and revolutionary way of using the jump rope to condition the entire body without tricks, gimmicks and additional state-of-the-art equipment.  And guess what? You don’t even have to be super coordinated or train like a boxer.

What’s so different about the IROPE Fitness Program?  It’s the direction in which you twirl the rope. As you know, today’s fitness experts are still teaching jump roping the same way it has always been taught.  “Twirl the rope with your wrists using a forward twirling motion”.  Unfortunately not even the experts with the latest information on exercise physiology, biomechanics, and other scientific data have bothered to investigate a more efficient and effective use of the jump rope for total body conditioning. In other words, because nothing has changed in the world of jump roping, until now, you’ve been missing the extraordinary fitness that jump roping can provide!

Today’s experts often teach jump roping to an older audience the same way they would teach 10 year old children.  If you recall the last time you picked up a jump rope as an adult, you probably put it down almost as quickly as you picked it up.  The major reason for this is that you tried using the same jump roping technique you learned as a child with the body of an adult.  As you get older your body goes through changes that don’t permit you to do the things you once could when you were much younger.  So, today you must be selective of the types of physical and recreational activities in which you participate.

The IROPE Fitness Program introduces you to the most efficient and effective use of the jump rope as a way to condition your entire body without having to spend a lot of money.  And we know how important that is in these tough economic times.  There are several key points in why the IROPE Fitness Program provides an all around better workout for the individual who is being re-introduced to the jump rope.  Unlike traditional jump roping, the IROPE Fitness Program teaches a totally low impact way of jumping.  This is very important especially for those concerned about impact to their ankles, knees, and lower back.  Next, the backward twirl provides a greater range of motion of upper body muscle groups; and by incorporating multi-directional movements while moving through the arc of the rope, both upper and lower body muscle groups are conditioned simultaneously. Perhaps one of the greatest advantages of using the backward twirl is that the upper body assumes a neutral posture with the shoulders square and the chest open.  This is very important because unlike using the forward twirling technique where the chest cavity is naturally somewhat collapsed for the beginner, the backward twirl allows the chest cavity to remain open and breathing is unrestricted.  Unrestricted breathing contributes to jumping with more ease as well as jumping for longer periods of time.  Simply put, by combining a joint friendly technique with greater range of motion for the muscles and unrestricted breathing, one can jump rope for longer periods of time, be more creative with the workout, and ultimately burn more calories for greater opportunities for weight maintenance and weight loss.

If you want to improve flexibility in your workout, reduce the stress to your ankles knees and lower back, overcome the boredom of doing the same thing over and over again, promote a healthier self image and enjoy life more each day, then pick up a jump rope and begin to experience the new twirl in fitness.

For more information on the IROPE Fitness Program please visit:  www.irope.com

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. -Martin Luther King, Jr.

As we enter 2009, I would like to thank you for your continued interest in the IROPE Fitness Program. I hope your fitness goals in 2008 were met with much success and that this year’s goals are met with even greater success.  Please feel free to share with us how the IROPE Fitness Program helped you reach your goals or how you plan on using IROPE to take  you to a higher level of fitness.

Wishing you the best in 2009,

 Carlos

Delight the world with kindness, grace, and compassion.

Finally, WELCOME to the IROPE Fitness Program blog.  I hope this blog can serve not only as a vehicle to talk about the benefits of jump roping (the IROPE way of course) as an alternative exercise to Improve flexibility, Reduce stress, Overcome boredom, Promote a healthy self image and Enjoy life,  but also to engage the community in a healthy discussion to bring about solutions that will  improve the health and lifestyles of all of our visitors regardless to whether visiting from near or far.

I recently had  the opportunity to attend the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Summit:  The Science of Eliminating Health Disparities.  On the closing day of the summit, the attendees were asked the following question:  In the context of health disparities,  if you were to advise the new administration regarding health care reform, what would you advise?

On April 9, 1962 John F. Kennedy addressed the National Children’s Bureau and is quoted saying:  “There is nothing, I think, more unfortunate than to have soft, chubby, fat-looking children who go to watch their school play basketball every Saturday and regard that as their week’s exercise”. What is most unfortunate, is that 46 years later, with all of the “studies” and advances in technology, borrowing a term from one of the panelist at the summit, we have suffered from “mural dyslexia” (the inability to read the writing on the wall).   So just out of curiosity, in the context of addressing the issue of childhood overweight and obesity, what would you advise the new administration to do?