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!