Back in December, our family decided to do a 365 day Jump Rope Challenge. Pretty simple process really, everyone jumps rope at least 10-min a day. Well, at least that is what we thought.
A lot of us think of something to do and we say, “I’d like to do that.” We say it from the comforts of our nice warm house, in our nice comfortable chair. What we don’t think about is what it will take to do it. If it is physically or mentally demanding, are we really prepared for it?
So we start doing what ever it is we set out to do and then as soon as we hit the wall, get mentally fatigued, or experience some sort of pain, we stop. We stop for any number of reasons. Fear of getting hurt. Fear of the unknown. Fear of looking stupid. Among many others. We we don’t do is persevere. Fight through that first wall or that first set of fears to overcome the unknown and create a new reality around it.
Take our jump rope challenge for instance. Seems pretty simple, jump rope for 10-min a day. No excuses. If we are traveling, bring the jump ropes with. If we are busy, you go jump rope before you go to bed. In a perfect world, we would jump rope right in the morning and have it done and then not have to think about it again until the next day. That doesn’t always fit the schedule.
For me, I missed two days right away in January due to the flu. Yeah, I probably could have tried to gut it out and jump anyway to keep the streak alive, but the thought of puking during and after won. Along with my bones aching so bad that the jarring of the jump was too much for me to mentally go through. So I took two days off. I don’t feel bad for it. I got right back in the saddle and started a new streak.
Jenny has been rocking the jump roping. She is so motivated and disciplined that nothing shakes her commitment. She is the only one to not have missed a day. Her jump rope skills have improved immensely. She is enjoying more now than when she started and now she really doesn’t have to think about anymore, she just does it. Pretty inspiring. Especially when your garage is not heated and you jump in the garage, you bundle up and get it done anyway!
If you have read my blog at all, you know that about 11 months ago I sustained an injury to my neck that had me take about 9 months off to rehab. For a couple of months I had a hard time walking without too much pain in my neck and arm. I have rehabbed through that now and I am back to my workouts and living a pretty normal life. I say normal because mentally that neck is still there, I can still feel the pain I felt last summer when it felt like I was holding a flame to my left hand every day all day long. I definitely think twice before I do certain things.
I started jump roping in December and really liked it. I’ve jump roped a fair amount in my life so I knew what to expect, but I hadn’t jump roped much in the past 6 years or so. About 40 days in, I was doing my back/pull-up workout and tweaked something in my neck, bringing back a tremendous amount of bad memories. Needless to say, taking some time off from jumping rope had to happen. I took two days off again to make sure I didn’t have a relapse of my neck injury. I believe it was the best decision I could have made. So I am sticking with it.
After almost 60 days, there are days I feel really strong and love the 15-min of jumping I am doing now, and then there are days when I feel heavy and the 15-min is taking forever. When I first started, jumping for 10-min was a chore. I had to stop my watch, take a break, but I was committed to jumping for 10-min. Now, I can jump for 15-min without stopping. I am impressed!
I am ready to get back into running, so in order to prepare myself, I have been walking on the treadmill, mostly at a large incline, to get my hips, feet, calves ready for the running. I have history of blowing up my calves, so my plan is to prevent that from happening. I journal about it daily, I am creating a new mindset around running and staying healthy. I run at a cadence of 180 steps per minute. It has been proven that running at 180/min creates the best running form, reduces injury, and ultimately you will be able to run faster, eventually.
So my jump roping now I am working on jumping at 180 jumps per minute. Talk about a workout. I know there are folks who do double unders for 10-min or more at a time, so it isn’t really all that big of a deal to them, but to me it is a really big deal. 15-min of jumping rope at 180/min gets it done.
Here is a short video of what jumping 180/min looks like:
Set a goal, create the habits to be successful, fight through adversity, reap the rewards way farther into the future than you originally imagined.
To your health and abundance,
Steve Aune, Ninsurance Ninja
http://www.ninsuranceninja.com
Steve Aune 
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