By Jonathan FitzGordon

20130129140310-5-min-jump-rope-barefootJumping rope with bare feet is one of my favorite forms of exercise. I will admit to not being the most disciplined of athletes. I exercise daily but the length of time and type of exercise vary wildly. One thing is consistent though— I always try to do as much of my exercise as possible with bare feet.

One of my favorite toys is the bosu ball, an exercise ball sliced in half with a hard plastic bottom. I use it often and encourage all of my clients to own one. Anyone who has taken my yoga class knows that I am a big fan of trolling you tube for exercise videos (the video at the top is an example). I have watched endless bosu videos and it is not easy to find one of people working in bare feet. The bosu is very much a creature of the gym which might explain why everyone is in sneakers but it doesn’t have to be that way.

I never jumped rope as a child so learning as an adult wasn’t the smoothest experience. And I don’t expect to do any tricks like the guy in the video above (how cool is that trick?). But even jumping rope for two minutes with good alignment is amazing exercise.

I am all about the inner foot. Access to and use of the inner foot is one key to having a body that works well and ages successfully. Unfortunately, many people walk, run, and stand through life on the outsides of their feet— this is a recipe for disaster in old age.

Jumping rope with bare feet is a great way to get in touch with your feet; it is pretty easy to focus on landing on the inside of parallel feet. If you are up for trying it, you want to jump and land as lightly as possible. The point of impact should be the inner ball of the foot, the base of the big toes.

Landing on this spot each time will transfer weight through the whole body and begin to use muscles of the lower leg that might not be getting active use with your usual movement patterns.

Other than being fun, jumping rope with bare feet can be a useful tool for successfully creating a new you.

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It Takes Time to Change Your Posture