Episode #17 Written Breakdown

This is a deconstruction of the points made in Episode #17. I also touched on this in Episode #15. For reference, you can view these episodes at the bottom of this post. 

Do you hold your arms out when you skip?

Aside from this arrangement looking silly, there are performance based reasons to avoid it.

Shortening The Rope

This is not preferred because with a shorter rope, there is less margin for error with each skip. You will need to be more precise with your timing and jumping height, where with a longer rope, you can afford to be a little off with your jump height and timing. 

Fatiguing The Shoulders

Keeping your arms extended away from the mid-line of your body will be hard to maintain for an extended period of time. 

As your shoulders and arms fatigue, it will be more challenging to maintain a uniform rope length and skipping cadence. Once this becomes variable, you are likely to trip the rope up.

Try holding your arms out for a minute, compared to keeping your arms at your side for a minute. Which feels easier? 

If you are interested in training shoulder endurance, there are better ways to do this other than holding your arms in the described position. When skipping, I am normally attempting to go for longer durations than this position will allow.

Can't Progress

As a result of the first two points, it will be difficult for you to progress past a basic skip if you insist on keeping your arms wide. To be able to incorporate crosses, transitions, and double unders into your routine, you will need to have the arms close to the body.

This is because there is too much distance for your arms to travel when moving across the body (if the wrists are already stationed far away from your mid-line).

Keeping the arms tight will allow you to navigate the arms, wrists, and rope where ever you want (relative to your body), and still maintain rhythm. 

Why Does This Indicate a Lack of Flexibility?

From a relaxed, standing position, identify which direction your palms are facing. If they are facing behind you, they are internally rotated. If they face each other (or face in toward your body) they are oriented correctly.

I notice that people who (at rest) have internally rotated shoulders tend to hold the rope further away from the body.

The reason for this is because they have a hard time externally rotating at the shoulder joint. To compensate for this immobility, they abduct the shoulder to a point where the demand to externally rotate becomes less extreme. 

Abducting the shoulder.

A person having sufficient external rotation has no problem externally rotating from a more extreme position (arms tight to the body, where we want them to be). They are able to keep their upper arm against the body and twist their arm outward to where it needs to be.

If you have proper mobility through the shoulders, there is no need to keep your arms away from your sides. 

If you have to keep your arms out when you skip, you need to become more flexible in externally rotating at the shoulder joint.