During the partial lockdown, we are encouraged to stay at home, practise social distancing and keep our hygiene habits up to minimise our chances of contracting or spreading the corona virus. For most of us, the inactivity is causing us to get sluggish and generally slow since we cannot get our blood flowing from doing the outdoors activities we would normally engage in during non-lockdown times. We are here to help with activities you can benefit greatly from while at home. Today, we shall focus on skipping. Yeah, skipping in the lockdown. Though primary school children engage in it for play, mostly, it is not beneficial to them alone but to anyone who cares to try it. Here are a few such benefits:

1. 1. It makes you nimble: When you’re skipping with a rope, it requires your feet to be off the ground  at the precise moment before the rope passes beneath you. Repeating the exercise trains your brain to adapt quickly, determining exactly how high you should jump to remain long enough in the air to successfully skip over the rope. Continuously doing this makes you agile and nimble as you maintain your balance while skipping over the rope. The main benefit of skipping in the lockdown may be noticed later in the improved speed of your reflexes and ability to maintain balance on unstable ground. Boxers, particularly, can attest to this benefit of skipping ropes.
      
      
   2. Improve Bone Density: When a person performs push-ups or pull-ups, the person is essentially carrying their own weight. This is no different from when you’re skipping in the lockdown: each time you jump, that can be likened to throwing your entire body into the air and catching the entire weight again with the added force of gravity when you land. This helps to build the muscle strength and the density of the bones in your legs and feet when done properly.
      
      
   3. Versatility: Skipping in the lockdown, the way it was described in the opening part of this article, is only one of many ways to do it. Your imagination is the only limit to the different ways in which you can exercise via skipping. For example, you could hop on one leg; alternate legs with each skip; perform criss-cross motions with the rope; etc.
      
      
   4. Ubiquity: You don’t need a special setup in order to skip, you can do it just about anywhere, and at any time of your choosing too. If you live in a single room or chamber and hall property, and your ceiling is not too low, and you clear the furniture in your bedroom enough to create sufficient room, you can even skip in your living room. Otherwise, do it on your front porch or verandah. Don’t worry. While skipping, people will not be likely to come close enough to touch you since they’ll be too worried about getting smacked by your rope, so it is good for social distancing while outdoors.
      
      
   5. Exercise your Body and Mind at the Same Time: While skipping, your brain pays particular attention to your feet (though you may not be very conscious of it) and has to make quick decisions as to how high you should jump to avoid the rope and also not get hurt or too quickly tired from landing and jumping again. The different styles and approaches you incorporate into your skipping will make your brain have to adapt. If you were bored from inactivity during the lockdown, with skipping, you won’t have much to fear about getting slow mentally, as it keeps your brain actively working while building strategy-making skills, co-ordination, rhythm-keeping and general mental health at the same time as keeping your body active.
      
      
   6. Burn Calories and Keep Fat in Check: For those of us who love to eat but are worried about gaining some unwanted pounds, skipping in the lockdown keeps our weight in check as we burn calories (and fat) while experiencing the thrill that comes with skipping. Some research suggests that a 160-pound person burns 730 calories in an hour of skipping rope. Even when you slash that down to 10 minutes, that is still over 100 calories burned. It slims your waistline, sculpts your legs and boosts general fitness. Another great reason to pick up the rope: it not only keeps you healthy, it allows you to maintain the body you desire by burning calories.
      
      
   7. Affordable and Cost Effective: A skipping rope, on a normal day, could cost you anywhere between GH¢2 and GH¢10 if you’re not being too fancy in your selection (fancier skipping ropes can be much more expensive). You could also avoid cost entirely by using ropes around the house which no longer serve any other useful purpose. Old wires you used to hang your curtains up with; old washing lines; for example, could make fine skipping ropes. Just be careful you don’t let them whip your feet when you’re skipping particularly fast. Their small size (for curtain wires) means they’re likely to sting more.

The lockdown should not leave you sluggish and slow. If you feel you have forgotten how to skip or have never tried it, it is quite easy to learn or re-learn. Just pick up a rope and practice hopping over it, before you know it you’ll be having lots of fun while getting in better shape. Another great benefit, is that good exercise helps to boost your immune system and give you better odds against any disease including COVID-19.