Skipping is one of the most effective and cardio-intensive ways to burn calories and lose weight fast. Jump rope burns up to fifteen calories per minute, while at the same time strengthening a broad group of muscles including the thighs, shoulders, arms, butt, and calves.
It’s possible to burn up to 300 calories daily in just two ten minute sessions, making it a highly efficient way of inducing thermogenesis and lipolysis in your body.
Staying on top of your workout regime, however, can be difficult. Many fitness enthusiasts experience difficulty in maintaining a regular exercise schedule, especially when it includes high intensity cardio exercise.
Personal trainers can increase the effectiveness of high intensity workouts and create a sensation of accountability and motivation, but a dedicated PT can cost upwards of several hundred dollars weekly, a sum that many cannot afford.
The Skiper is a new high tech combination of personal trainer and skipping rope that takes the ancient practice of jump rope into the new millennium.
Combining fun, exercise, and cutting-edge technology, Skiper is a fusion of music, skipping rope, and personal trainer AI that makes the process of burning fat with high intensity cardio fun and effective.
Currently riding a KickStarter campaign that has seen thousands of dollars of support in the first few days of pledges, the Skiper solution is set to be one of the most popular fitness and health crowdfunding campaigns in recent history.
In this article, we’ll take a look at Skiper, find out how it works, and break down the design and construction of this unique solution to help you decide whether it’s the right workout aid for you.
What is Skiper?
The creators of Skiper label it as the “World’s first smart musical skipping rope and trainer”. Promising to deliver a unique, unparalleled fitness experience that offers a fusion of sport, music, and functionality, Skiper is an intelligent jump rope that can be paired with a dedicated app or smartphone via bluetooth.
Skiper is unlike any other workout solution on the market. There are many apps and wearables that track fitness performance and calories burned, but the Skiper rope and app is the first comprehensive smart tool that incorporates intelligent functionality into a fitness device.
The health and fitness advantages of training with a jump rope are no secret. Just some of the scientifically proven benefits of using a jump rope to train include improved coordination and balance, better cardiovascular health and efficiency, higher bone density and health, and faster weight loss.
Jump rope exercises can be performed anywhere, at any time, and required no specialized equipment apart from a rope to perform.
Skiper takes the age-old solution of jump rope and catapults it into the 21st century by pairing the rope with a smartphone via bluetooth and providing a broad spectrum of high tech functionality.
Design & Construction
The Skiper rope is designed with durability in mind. Instead of consisting of a simple plastic rope, the Skiper rope integrates a large amount of cutting edge technology.
Each Skiper rope integrates a smart handle with small form factor electronics and well-rounded ergonomics.
The silica gel handles of the Skiper rope have a linear, progressive sectional design that make the rope easy to hold in any weather, and are completely waterproof, meaning they’ll hold up to the environmental rigors of rain and sweat.
The unit is controlled via a magnetic switch. The handle of the Skiper rope contains a bluetooth antenna, a cushioning buckle to hold to rope section, and a number of components including PCB support, bearings, batteries, speakers, and a unique waterproof soundnet.
The rope itself is constructed from an 8 strand knitted metal wire that delivers maximum durability, and is covered in a silicone sheath to prevent rust and wear for decades of use.
Skiper Functionality
The major advantage of the Skiper rope is apparent when it is paired with a smartphone. Skiper users are provided, via audio updates, access to a live automated artificial intelligence personal trainer that responds to their performance and delivers motivational advice and tips during a workout.
The 360 degree smart motion sensor suite incorporated into the Skiper rope feeds the paired app with a huge amount of data that users can analyze to help them reach their fitness goals faster.
The FITMIX app that pairs with the Skiper rope allows fitness enthusiasts to share their results on social media as well as compete with friends.
The device can be programmed into one of five different jump modes including free jumping, timed jump, count jump, calorie jump, and a custom progressive training plan.
Skiper and the FITMIX app also offer a suite of extra features such as a warm-up mode that prepares the body for intensive cardio, and a HIIT mode designed to maximize caloric burn.
Each Skiper rope is 101 inches long and can be adjusted to suit the height of the user. As the KickStarter crowdfunding campaign for the Skiper is in the early stages, early bird backer pricing is still available, making it possible to snag your own Skiper for the “super early bird” pricing of just $59 USD. The unit is expected to ship in May 2017, with the future total retail price around $99.
Skiper Review Summary
Whether you’re a serious skipping fan or simply seeking to lose a little extra weight, the Skiper is one of the most unique and innovative fitness solutions available.
If you’re looking for a fun and different way to increase your caloric burn, the Skiper is a solid option that makes cardio workouts fun again.
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