Jump rope program for beginners

Beginner is a 4-week jump rope program for people new to the rope or coming back to it. You jump three times a week, 13 sessions in all, most of them 8 to 13 minutes long. It builds rhythm, then time under the rope, pace and footwork, and closes on two tests. It’s free in Jump Rope Protocol, an iPhone app that counts every jump with your AirPods, Powerbeats or Apple Watch.

Who it’s for

If you can keep the rope turning for 30 seconds, a trip or two included, you can start.

Beginners usually sit near 90 to 100 jumps per minute, and so do the targets: 90 for two weeks, then 95. If you already hold 100 through full-minute rounds, start with Intermediate instead.

How the four weeks build

Week 1, Rhythm. Eight rounds of 30 seconds at 90 jumps per minute. Rest drops from a full minute on Monday to 45 seconds on Wednesday. Friday is density: 8 minutes under the rope, with breaks whenever you need them.

Week 2, Density up. Rounds grow to 40 seconds, with 40 seconds of rest. Wednesday is your first EMOM: 25 jumps at the start of each minute for 10 minutes, resting until the next. Friday is an 8-minute AMRAP: as many jumps as you can, with 90 per minute as a guide.

Week 3, Cadence & footwork. The target moves to 95, and rest gets shorter than work for the first time: 45 seconds on, 30 off, ten rounds. The EMOM climbs to 30 jumps a minute for 12 minutes. Friday’s skill session alternates Bounce and Alternate foot, a jog in place, over ten 30-second rounds.

Week 4, Consolidation. Monday brings full-minute rounds at 95 with 30 seconds of rest. Wednesday’s EMOM asks for 35 jumps a minute for 12 minutes. Friday holds two sessions: a Max unbroken test, one run that ends at your first trip after ten jumps, then a 10-minute AMRAP. Those two numbers show where four weeks got you.

How to follow it

Monday, Wednesday and Friday are suggestions. The program follows your pace:

• The next session is always the first one you haven’t done.
• Any attempt you save marks a session done, even one you end early.
• Nothing expires.
• Keep a rest day between sessions.

Repeat a week if you ended most of its sessions early or missed most of its EMOM minutes: open it in the Plan tab and run its sessions again.

The pace target is a guide, never a score. The app shows it before the session and during rests, and a session counts as done whether or not you hold it. Pick a rhythm you can keep to the end of the round. A trip resets your streak, not the clock.

Your rope changes the numbers

Beginner is written for a baseline rope and adjusts to the one you set in the app:

• Speed rope: about a 12% faster pace.
• PVC or beaded rope: the plan as written.
• Heavy rope, half a pound to a pound (227 to 454 g): about 10% fewer jumps, a 10% slower pace and 8 more seconds of every rest.
• Very heavy rope, a pound (454 g) and up: about 20% fewer jumps, a 20% slower pace and 12 more seconds of every rest.

Week 2’s Monday asks for 10 rounds of 40 seconds at 90 jumps per minute, with 40 seconds of rest: 600 jumps. A 1 lb rope asks for 72 per minute and 52 seconds of rest, 480 jumps. A speed rope asks for 101 per minute. Same training effect, honest targets.

In the app

Beginner is free. The app offers to follow it the first time you open it, and it lives in the Plan tab under Programs. You follow one program at a time, and Today shows its next session.

The app runs the countdown, the clock and the voice cues, and counts every jump with your AirPods, Powerbeats or Apple Watch while the phone stays on the floor. Cadence, unbroken streaks, trips, calories, heart rate from a Bluetooth strap and sessions saved to Apple Health all come free. Pro, one purchase with no subscription, adds Intermediate, the workout creator and its presets, and your full history with records and charts.

After week four

Once the last session is done, Plan and Today show Program complete.

Move on to Intermediate, part of Pro. It starts where Beginner ends: full-minute rounds at 100 jumps per minute, volume counted in jumps, footwork up to double unders and a week of tests. The app points you straight to it.

Or run Beginner again with Start over. Your sessions are kept, and the program counts again from that day. A second run is worth it if you skipped sessions or moved to a heavier rope. Your week 4 Friday numbers are the ones to beat.