Marvelous Night for a Moon Skip

As I watched the gorgeous full moon rise on my drive home from work tonight I thought to myself, “It’s a marvelous night for a moon skip!”

Then as usual when I got home the familiar refrain of all of the reasons it would be a lot easier to skip the skipping started to chime in. “It’s too dark.” “It’s too cold.” “I’ll go for a skip tomorrow instead.” “I need to chill for a while after work first” Etc. etc. etc.

Thankfully, I decided not to heed those voices and put my workout clothes, sneakers, and ipod on within minutes of getting home and hit the street.  I’m so glad I did!  I was so inspired when I got back that I created this video log too!  Hooray for finally saying yes to the inner nudges I’ve been feeling to skip, write, and give video logging a try:

Here’s a list of the fun skipping techniques I experimented with tonight that reminded me why skipping is my absolute favorite way to exercise!

1. Walk with a Side of Skipping – The simplest way to incorporate skipping fun into your life when you first start is to simply go  for a walk around the block or down your street and  decide how many steps you are going to skip on your outing before you start….This can be as few or as many as you want. Ten steps is a great place to start, especially if you are feeling self-conscious about skipping in public!

2. Landmark Skipping – Since I’m out of skipping shape at the moment, I started my skip where the sidewalk by my house meets the road and I went as far as I could without becoming too winded. I made it to a lamp post 50 yards from where I started and mental note of how far I’d gone so next time I can try to make it to another landmark. Note that the best way to skip as an adult is to stay as low to the ground as possible when you first start. Otherwise you’ll use too much energy too fast!

3.Walk 4, Skip 4 -  This is a great way to keep skipping without getting overly tired. You simply walk four steps and then skip four steps. Walk four steps skip four steps. Or you can play with mixing it up however you’d like.  Walk 5 and skip 2.  Walk 10 and skip 10, etc. etc.   It’s much easier to go for long distances when you blend in some walking rather then trying to skip the whole way.

4 Skipping circles – Tonight I skipped to a small parking area near my house where no one was around.  While there, I skipped around in a circle, did some figure 8s, etc. while listening to one of my favorite songs on my ipod. There seems to be something especially fun about skipping when you have no place to go.  For this reason, I tend to prefer skipping in circles – whether in an empty group exercise room at the gym or in an open space like I did tonight – over simply skipping in a straight line down the street.

6. Wizard of Oz Skip -  I also had a lot of fun mixing galloping in with my skipping. Galloping is basically the same as skipping but you don’t alternate legs. While the Wizard of Oz skip is a little more fancy, you can get a similar result by galloping for two steps with the left leg in front and then switching to galloping with the right leg in front and repeating over and over. It’s fun and silly and makes me laugh every time I do it.

7. Skip around your living room -When I got home from my outdoor skip, a particularly fun song was on my ipod so I took off my shoes and skipped around my living room!  I also danced and bounced and generally had a great time being silly and letting the exhilaration of my outdoor skipping adventure continue in the privacy of my own home.

8. Long Distance Skipping – Of course, you also can skip for long distances…I’ve gone for 2 or 3 miles at a time when I was in prime skipping shape and some skippers go longer! Ashrita Furman even skipped an entire marathon!  I look forward to being back at a place where I get lost in a skipping zone and skip for a really long way…but for now I am not quite there yet.

As you can see there are a wide variety of ways to get your skip on! The most important part to remember is that it is supposed to be enjoyable!  Skipping is all about fun and frivolity and it just isn’t the same if you take those two ingredients out of the mix!  So why not go out and give it a try! You won’t be sorry!

 

Let’s Skip to it!

There are two things my inner wisdom knows bring me great joy:  writing and skipping. Yet, over the course of the last decade or so…since the manuscript(s) I’ve written were turned down by publishers because they weren’t quite ready for showtime and since my initial vision of where my skipping path was taking me ended up looking so much different than I thought, I have been doing a minimal amount of both. It feels like the time has come for that to change.

Of course, I still skip…. Zumba and Nia classes have been my preferred outlet of late…and when I’m hurrying to get through a cross walk, the bounce seems to naturally come into my step..Not to mention other spontaneous moments when my skipping self springs to life. But when it comes to going out with the sole intention of skipping for fun and fitness, I’ve pretty much been skipping it all together and, as a result, the updating of this skipping blog has fallen to the wayside too.

I am welcoming Rocky energy into my life!  I’m ready to reclaim my skipping mojo. I’m ready to write about and document that process here.  My goal for this coming week is to go for at least one skip and to reclaim my writing voice too by posting about my experience here.

I understand why part of me has been scared to open herself up in this way again. Really I do….It’s been a long, strange skip that hasn’t always been easy!  But at the same time, another part of me feels ready to break new ground and to fully experience the many benefits of skipping again!     So this intention setting blog entry is my first step in skipping to it!

Want to join me?  What things that bring you joy would you like to do more of?

Just Did It

I did it. I went for my first skip of the season and I’m actually blogging about it. Wow. Could my long skipping drought finally be over? Only time will tell.

Truth be told, despite the fact that I have been iskip’s Chief Skipping Officer for over a decade now, I haven’t been doing all that much skipping lately. Sure, I skip every now and then….while out on a hike with friends, up the hallway at work or through a parking lot when I’m feeling particularly happy, and in the Zumba and Nia classes I’ve come to love. But my days of skipping for miles at a time have been a distant memory for quite a while.

In fact, the fitness benefits have honestly never been the aspect of skipping I am most passionate about. Its the feeling of freedom I get while skipping. It is the momentary escape out of my mind and into my joy that skipping provides that I love the most.

Of course, the fitness benefits of skipping ARE undeniable…and I know that if I can just muster the inspiration to get back into a regular skipping routine, that I’d be thrilled that I did. But, unfortunately, I’ve been dealing with quite a bit of internal resistance to getting out there and actually doing it for several years now. As a result, I pretty much stopped writing and blogging as well.

As we spring forward, I’m setting the intention of getting back into the habit of skipping on a more regular basis and for longer stretches of both time and distance. On today’s skip, I went for a walk in a nature preserve near my house and skipped several long stretches. I also spent some time skipping in figure eights and circles around some trees and thought about how much more fun skipping is when there isn’t a specific goal/destination in mind. Then I walked the rest of the way home while inserting a skip or step here and there. It was just strenuous enough to make me feel like I got my heart rate up. I came home feeling energized instead of exhausted.

Tonight’s skip has me feeling hopeful that there will be a spring in my step more often in the coming weeks, but only time will tell if I’m truly ready to follow through, or if I’ll decide to just skip it for a while longer instead.

To be continued…

Skipping in Norway!

There’s an Oslo Skipping Klubb on Facebook! Here’s a translation of its description, which was originally written in Norweigan…

This is a group for those of you who are sick of walking, taking the bus, taxi, tram or bike, when getting from a to b. Skipping is not only a great way to get in shape, it is easy and fun too. You can skip alone or together with others. UK Comedian Michael Mcintyre says it well: even if skipping (until now) has been socially unacceptable for all people older than 6 years, it is actually a strangely easy way to get places. Everyone has thought about it, It hardly takes any effort to skip. Running/jogging is hard as hell, while skipping is fantastic!

We recommend everyone to share photographs, films, tip, and any advice when it comes to skipping. It does not cost anything to join as a member today! But if the response is great, we will print up T-shirts, headbands etc.

A little tip: If you plan on skipping far, you should think about what shoes you choose to wear. What are you waiting for…skip loud and skip proud!

We caught up with Kristian Lorentzen, the President of the Norwegian Skipping Movement to see what inspired him to start the Oslo Skipping Klubb and here’s what he had to say…

What inspired you to create your fan page for the Oslo Skipping club on Facebook? Well, it all started with this guy. He is a funny man and it looked funny (everybody has tried it as a child) but now I felt it was the right time to skip as an adult.

When was the first time you skipped as an adult? Can you describe the experience? Hmmmm, I think it was the same night as I found the above video on YouTube. Me and my Swedish friend Douglas Wilson was drinking John Lee (Whisky) and Coke and when we left my apartment we just started skipping. We often take a bus down to the city of Oslo but this night we felt electric so we skipped from bar to bar and made many people smile on our way. I think we inspired many people to come put of the skipping-closet that night. And when you make a girl smile at first sight…well, that`s a pretty good start.

What do you love about skipping? I love that it`s impossible not to smile, I love it because it`s so easy and you can get from a-b much faster then if you walk and you always arrive in a good mood.

What do you make of the “Skipping Movement” that is bubbling up all over the world?I`m just glad to be a skipping person! I think it tells much about a person.

What advice do you have for someone that would like to skip but is feeling too inhibited to give it a try? Hmmm well, I guess I`m not the best person to give this advice since I had to drink whisky before skipping for the first time. But c`mon….the life is to short to be shy and inhibited.

Would you date an American girl and how can they get in contact with you? Well, thanks for asking! Yes, I would love to date an American girl! They can contact me via email and make sure that they check out my Skipping band!

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Madonna’s Trainer Promotes Treadmill Skipping

August 5, 2009 by kimskips  
Filed under blog, Video Library

4 Comments

Madonna & Gwenyth Paltrow’s personal trainer Tracy Anderson was recently on The Early Show singing the praises of skipping on the treadmill.  Here’s the video:

Watch CBS Videos Online

She’s right! It’s a lot of fun!  Best speed when you are first starting out is 4.0 – 4.4!  Skip on!

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