Beads, Bruises, Bad Words, and Breakthroughs: Jumping Rope with Kailey Christensen (Ep. 12)

Dizzy Skips (00:45)
Kaylee Christensen, thank you so much for joining me on Skip Squad Chronicles. I’m so excited to talk to you today.

Kailey Christensen (00:50)
Yes, I’m so happy to be here. Thank you. Anybody wants to talk? Jump rope, I’m all in.

Dizzy Skips (00:56)
Yeah,

me too. There’s so few people to talk to around here about it. And the people that I do talk to are like, yeah, that’s cool. That’s a jump rope, you know? But I’m like, no, you don’t get it. It’s jump rope.

Kailey Christensen (00:58)
you

I

know right, I always feel so bad for my husband because that’s just like all I ever talk about is jump rope and he’s so cute and supportive and I can see him like wanting to be attentive but in the back of his mind he’s like mm-hmm Kaylee okay enough.

Dizzy Skips (01:22)
Yeah.

Yeah, I was watching one

of your videos earlier and I think he was in the background saying encouraging things to you while you were getting frustrated. I thought, what a nice guy.

Kailey Christensen (01:34)
Yes.

He is, you know what is so crazy. I call him my lucky charm and he truly is. And he like, if I’m, if I can’t get a combo and I, and it’s just, it’s beaten me down, I’ll go run in and grab him and like, Code, I need you. Come, come outside and be my lucky charm. And the crazy thing is, is he’ll watch me and I’ll nail the combo in like two times while he’s sitting there with me. So he’s my lucky charm.

Dizzy Skips (02:03)
That is amazing.

Kailey Christensen (02:06)
time.

Dizzy Skips (02:07)
Well,

you gotta hold on to that, Kaylee.

Kailey Christensen (02:09)
Yes.

Dizzy Skips (02:11)
So I

want to embarrass you a little bit and tell you what I love about you. So you’re a fantastic jumper with a lot of energy and you’re a trick machine. Like I just can’t believe your skills. You’ve got great taste in tunes and you’ve got a smile that you wear almost all the time except when you’re sometimes frustrated and swear and throw the rope, which also makes me laugh. I’m sorry, but.

Kailey Christensen (02:15)
Okay.

Right.

Dizzy Skips (02:37)
And another thing I like is that

you share the struggle of jump rope in video. Like, it’s not all rosy. Like, it’s easy for us, not easy. But you know, you can put together a 30 second reel on Instagram that looks awesome and not show the five minutes of swearing and banging and crying and stuff like that. And you’ve put out those videos which are actually super encouraging to people like me trying to learn like, yeah, well, Kaylee struggles with this too.

Kailey Christensen (03:04)
Well, it is. Jumping is hard business. It’s not an easy sport. It’s not an easy hobby. It’s hard. And there is a lot of struggle all the time. you know, I don’t want people to just see your perfect, you know, Instagram reel. Like, that’s not all that it is. There’s so much practice and so much hard work and dedication that goes into it. And I just want to be real, you know? I just want… I’m Kaylee and I get frustrated

Dizzy Skips (03:27)
Mm-hmm.

Kailey Christensen (03:30)
and I swear and I do throw my rope around and look, psycho, I do. And so I just want people to see that side of it, that it’s just not like all sunshine and rainbows all the time. yeah.

Dizzy Skips (03:43)
Yeah,

yeah, I really do like that. And the other thing I wanted to say is that I see you all over Instagram lifting people up and encouraging people and including me and I’m so thankful for that. I think you’re just such a lovely member of the community. And on behalf of me and my friends on Instagram, I just want to thank you for your contributions because you’re amazing.

Kailey Christensen (04:02)
Well, you know what? Like, I love you guys. Like, I truly have built so many friendships within this community and I’ve made so many great bonds with so many jumpers and I just love to watch them. I love to see their progress and it’s so cool. You know, it’s just such a cool thing to watch everybody be inspired and motivated and, you know, learn this new

Dizzy Skips (04:23)
it is.

Kailey Christensen (04:30)
skill that’s really tricky and so it’s really neat to watch and see everybody succeed and progress.

Dizzy Skips (04:38)
Yeah,

absolutely. And isn’t it cool that the community is very inclusive and supportive? It’s not like, I gotta do this better than Kaylee. It’s not like you’re edging people out all the time. It’s like, I am super happy when I see someone pull off something that they’ve been working on for a long time. Even if I’m not gonna get it for a while, like, that is so awesome. Cool.

Kailey Christensen (04:41)
Thank

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, it’s so neat too. And it’s like, even, you know, there might be a little bit of jealousy like, I wish I could get that. But it’s never, it’s never a vindictive kind of a thing. It’s more of, more inspiring when you see somebody, you know, that gets that and you’re like, I’m so jealous. I do, I want to learn that. And you’ve inspired me and you’ve motivated me to go out and learn it. And so that’s what’s so neat about the jump rope community.

Dizzy Skips (05:05)
yeah.

Right.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, I

love that feeling too when like I’m thinking about a very specific thing that I saw @janieonthejump do with her footwork in the summer. And I was like, man, that is so slick. I would love to just be as smooth as she is at that. And then, you know, a few weeks ago I’m jumping and I’m just doing that without thinking about it. I was like, my gosh, Janie, she’s awesome. Yeah. So what part of the world are you in?

Kailey Christensen (05:45)
You did it! Yes! I know, I love that.

So I live in Utah, more on the northern side of Utah.

Dizzy Skips (05:56)
Okay.

I’ve seen the beautiful mountains behind some of your videos and I figured you were in somewhere around the Rockies. Yeah. So you have some snow now where you’re at? Yeah. You and I are both in some cold weather.

Kailey Christensen (06:07)
Yeah. Yep.

Yeah, yeah, it’s been…

Yeah, you know, today was actually really beautiful. It was like in the mid 40s and the sun was out. But yeah, it’s kind of been, I mean, I always say Utah weather is bipolar because it never can make up its mind on on what temperature or weather we’re going to get. So yeah, one day is, you know, beautiful and warm. And then the next day, it’s it’s a blizzard. So you never know what you’re going to get.

Dizzy Skips (06:20)
Mm.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, that’s one thing

I sort of learned when I moved to the Midwest is some of these states are relatively flat, know, like mostly flat. And so weather can just fly by and you can have snow, you know, for the morning and then super clear weather later in the afternoon

So what do for a profession? What do you do for work?

Kailey Christensen (06:58)
So I am lucky I get to work from home, but I work for the Department of Workforce Services. And I don’t know how much detail you want.

Dizzy Skips (07:02)
Nice.

Yeah.

Kailey Christensen (07:11)
but I do, it’s called the Office of Child Care, and we put out grants for child care centers and school districts. And so like a lot of them are after school programs for the school districts, and so we give them money so that they can provide those different after school programs.

Dizzy Skips (07:31)
awesome.

That’s cool.

Kailey Christensen (07:33)
But I’m on the computer end of things, so it’s not very glamorous. Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (07:38)
Yeah, I know how that is.

I’m in front of computer a lot and I work from home as well. What do do for fun when you’re not skipping?

Kailey Christensen (07:43)
Nice. isn’t it the best?

You know, in the winter time, I’m not a winter girl. I hate to be cold. So I really don’t do a lot other than I have continued to jump throughout the winter. But if I’m not jumping, I love to do crafts. We have property up in the mountains that we go to our cabin quite often. So those are kind of the things I enjoy.

Dizzy Skips (08:09)
fun.

So I think that your style is so energetic and full of life. You really like music or I mean like you post with a lot of cool music. I wonder how would you describe your style or what you like to do?

Kailey Christensen (08:22)
You you know, I’ve started doing this new thing where I like when I combined my combos and I like to have everything in it, you know, I don’t I mean there are some where I’ll do just footwork, but I do love doing footwork. That’s probably my my favorite. I feel like it’s like the most dancey out of all of the other things and so

Dizzy Skips (08:44)
Mm-hmm.

Kailey Christensen (08:46)
Footwork is probably my go-to, but I like to combine everything. You know, I want to do a turn and I want to do a big trick or… I don’t know. I don’t know what my style would be.

Dizzy Skips (09:01)
Yeah, I mean, I have noticed that you do combine a lot of different things. Like you’re so good at rope wrangling and you’ve got the footwork going and turning around and yeah, you’re super fun to watch. You’re also an outdoor jumper like I am. Do you jump indoors at all?

Kailey Christensen (09:12)
Thank you.

No, I hate it. I feel so claustrophobic and mainly maybe because we don’t have like a lot of space in the house and I feel like I’m going to hit everything, but no, it’s claustrophobic. I just love to be out where I have lots of space and fresh air and yeah, I, I’m kind of a, this winter has been a little bit hard on me cause I feel like I have nowhere to go, you know?

Dizzy Skips (09:44)
Yeah, I know what you mean.

Like there’s some friends that I’ve seen on Instagram who go to health clubs and jump there, you know, and like, well, if I bought a membership for a health club, I would be going just to jump, you know, like that would be mainly what I would do and it doesn’t feel worth it. so, but when, it gets cold, do you do anything special to like prepare to go and jump out in the cold?

Kailey Christensen (09:58)
Yeah, me too.

Yeah, I mean I do. I’m almost 40 so stretching is like really important. And then yeah, I’ll do just some warm-up, just some small warm-up jumps, just like a basic bounce or high knees or stuff like that. And then…

Dizzy Skips (10:26)
Is that

a pretty standard warmup for you? Yeah.

Kailey Christensen (10:29)
Yeah, I think so.

Yeah, little footwork just to get the blood flowing, you know.

Dizzy Skips (10:34)
Yeah. How often are you practicing and jumping?

Kailey Christensen (10:39)
I like to go out every day if I can. If I have the time to, I’m definitely out there trying to learn a new trick or just get a little workout in. So I try. Right now the holidays are busy, so I haven’t been able to jump as much.

Dizzy Skips (10:42)
Mm-hmm.

When you go out and jump, how long are you jumping for usually?

Kailey Christensen (10:59)
So it’s really nice with my work. I’m allowed three 30 minute exercise time a week. And so during work if I can I’ll go out on my back patio and jump for 30 minutes. Yeah it’s so nice. I know it’s a great benefit.

Dizzy Skips (11:08)
Okay.

awesome that’s really cool yeah that is a cool benefit I want to jump rope benefit I have to talk to my boss do you always listen

to music when you’re jumping

Kailey Christensen (11:28)
Always. Yes. It’s a must.

Dizzy Skips (11:29)
Yeah,

yeah, you mentioned dance-y and that’s the way I am too. When you said that, it sort of occurred to me, yeah, that’s why footwork is like what I started with in my first love, is that it’s very dance-y.

Kailey Christensen (11:40)
Yeah,

it is. It looks very dancey with the rope. That’s what I always say. I’m always, I’m dancing with my rope on the daily. I think that’s in my bio.

Dizzy Skips (11:44)
Yeah.

Yeah,

yep, I saw that. And I do this and I think of it the same way and that’s part of the reason that I named them all, you know, because that way I can say, hey, I was dancing with Janie earlier. Terinka Terinka whacked me in the shin.

Kailey Christensen (11:53)
you

Yes, I I

love that you name your ropes and you know what I actually started naming mine too because I think it’s so cute that you do that Yeah

Dizzy Skips (12:13)
That’s great. Yeah, it’s

a lot of fun. Well, I talk to them, you know, we have, we have very serious relations. I spend a lot of time with these, you know, Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Like I’ve got this one hanging on the door here, which is that heavy beaded rope from Mira Wate It’s like about a quarter pound. I love the rope, but try and do a double under and whack yourself in the shin and you feel it.

Kailey Christensen (12:21)
It’s so true, I know. They’re like our frenemies, right?

You

yeah, I’m sure. That’s a good bruise tomorrow,

Dizzy Skips (12:41)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just always think

it hurt you about John Mellencamp, you know, it hurts so good. Because at least I can be out there jumping and hurt myself that way rather than, you know, injured in some other way. Do you do you choreograph things or I mean, I’ve seen you remix a few people’s other routines, I think. But do you like actually plan something out?

Kailey Christensen (12:52)
Yes, yes.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

yeah, so I have like, I have a very scattered brain and so getting into my older age I have to have like…

Like I have to be organized and my brain needs to be organized or I have a really hard time like putting stuff together. And so everything is very thought out and very choreographed. And recently what I’ve started to do is in my Instagram folders, in my saved folders, I’ve created a folder for all of the different tricks. So like I have a release folder and I have

a like just a trick folder and I have footwork folder and I have all these different I have like I don’t even know I have like 10 different ones and then every time I see like a certain tutorial or something cool that I want to do I’ll put it in one of those folders and then I have a folder that’s set up for my next routine and then anything that I want you know I’ll move into my next routine and then I kind of combined all of those different

Dizzy Skips (13:56)
Mm-hmm.

Kailey Christensen (14:13)
tutorials that I’ve saved and I’ve wanted to try.

Dizzy Skips (14:17)
That is so clever.

So when you say in your folder, is that Instagram where you like favorite something and it asks you what you want to like, what category you want to put it in or something? That’s the folder.

Kailey Christensen (14:24)
Yeah, like you, yeah like

if I, if I save it, if I save something from somebody else’s profile, yeah, I’ll just create a new folder.

Dizzy Skips (14:29)
Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Kailey Christensen (14:36)
and put whatever, put

Dizzy Skips (14:37)
That’s so clever.

Kailey Christensen (14:38)
it in. Yeah, it’s really nice. And then it’s not all in one folder where you’re like scrolling and scrolling trying to find what you wanted to do, you know? So yeah, I’ll put like five or six things in my next routine folder. And then I like to combine them however they, you know, flow best. And then there’s my routine. There’s my combo.

Dizzy Skips (14:43)
scrolling for all day.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

So when you’re

combining them however they flow best, is this something you’re thinking through or do you go out and just kind of work through it and then kind of say, yep, this goes with this and this is gonna be my routine.

Kailey Christensen (15:14)
Yeah, if it like if I can get into it, you know if I can Move from one move to the next while jumping and it fits really well then I’ll just kind of leave it or sometimes to I mean always My first step when building a combo is the song I’ll always pick the song

Dizzy Skips (15:31)
Yeah, I was gonna ask, like, doesn’t

the song influence kind of what you do?

Kailey Christensen (15:35)
Definitely that’s usually like where I’m going. So like I could see like if I picked a rap song I could see like this move would go really great at this part of the song and then you can kind of just add on to it. So yeah, it’s very thought out.

Dizzy Skips (15:45)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

What was the hardest skill or trick for you to learn or what were the most challenging?

Kailey Christensen (16:01)
I’d say the mic release is still a big challenge for me. The toad, yeah, it’s hard, you know, and I still really struggle with it to this day, even though I can do it and I know how to, but it’s just never consistent.

Dizzy Skips (16:06)
Mm-hmm. Me too.

Mm-hmm.

You said the toad. So the toad, can you describe that for people who may not understand what the toad is?

Kailey Christensen (16:23)
Yeah, so the toad is where one hand, one of your arms goes under the opposite leg and then you’re like cross, so you’re crossing underneath. If that makes sense, saying it like that. But that one’s hard. It’s really tricky and I can do it, but I know I’m not doing it correctly. And so to figure out what I’m doing wrong has been really hard for me.

Dizzy Skips (16:42)
Mm.

Yeah.

How have you learned? Like how do you approach learning? you, have you ever used an app or had a coach or read books or what’s your method?

Kailey Christensen (16:57)
So initially when I first started jumping, I was just finding tutorials on Instagram of other jumpers. And so I kind of started out that way and it was mainly footwork. And a lot of it, well initially I didn’t really even know there was a jump rope community. I was like just finding like shuffle dancers.

Dizzy Skips (17:16)
Mm. Mm-hmm.

Kailey Christensen (17:19)
the like shuffle district and they put on like different tutorials and I learned the footwork and then I tried to add the jump rope to it and that’s kind of how I started out. And then I did Lauren Jumps Fancy Feats app.

Dizzy Skips (17:33)
Mm-hmm.

Kailey Christensen (17:33)
and I paid

for that for about a month. And that was really amazing because all of the tricks are just right there and there’s an order to how you should learn and which trick should come next. So that was really helpful and that progressed me a lot.

Dizzy Skips (17:50)
Yeah, that

is a fantastic app, isn’t it? And she does such a great job of talking through each individual trick and then showing you the common things people get wrong with the trick. Like, you’re gonna want to put your hands out like this when you come through, but you need to keep them in here, you know? I just love that. She’s a good teacher.

Kailey Christensen (18:07)
Yeah.

Yeah, she’s done a

great job with that app. It’s really organized and really thought out. She’s done a great job. I’ve actually thought about doing it again just because it’s so nice to have all the tricks in one place.

Dizzy Skips (18:14)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

I did it a year at a time and I’ve still got several months on it because I think I started in March. yeah, I use it almost every time I go out, especially for the warm up really is like she’s got the warm ups in there. And so I’ll do that. But I found it. Yeah, I found it really helpful. Do you have times where you’re just not motivated to jump or you’re having trouble or are you always raring to go?

Kailey Christensen (18:41)
Yeah, that’s so nice.

no. Winter’s really difficult for me because it’s cold and I just don’t want to go out in the cold. But yeah, there’s definitely times where I’m not feeling motivated or I just want to stay cuddled up in a blanket.

Dizzy Skips (18:53)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Do you make

yourself go or do you have like tricks to keep yourself motivated?

Kailey Christensen (19:10)
Yeah, definitely. I’ll make myself, I’ll push myself to do it. You always just feel so much better afterwards. Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (19:18)
It’s crazy, isn’t it?

What’s crazy to me is that I know that and I know it from so much experience and I still have those days where I’m like, ugh, I don’t wanna go. But every time I get out there and I start, it’s like, my day’s better already. Like, I’m dancing. It’s fun.

Kailey Christensen (19:34)
Yep. You

put, you turn the music on and you just go and the music is a good mood booster and then the jumping is a good stress reliever and you know, you kind of forget about responsibilities and you know, being an adult.

Dizzy Skips (19:47)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. So,

right, yeah, adulting is hard. Do you, so do you always choreograph everything you do or do you sometimes just go out and jump and flow with music just for fun?

Kailey Christensen (20:06)
If I’m not choreographing something, then I’m just doing, you know, something to work out. I’m just trying to get my body moving and get a nice workout in, most of the time I’m trying to like come up with, or I’m learning a new trick. I want to learn a new trick. So I’m out.

Dizzy Skips (20:22)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, you had a video that you posted recently of you trying to do or learning the Mamba, I think, where the mech release where you kind of go from one side to the other. And I love that video. And it’s another illustration of a video where you’re showing like, hey, this stuff is not easy. Like it takes time and you almost hit yourself in the head.

Kailey Christensen (20:36)
Yes.

Yes, many times. I actually

did off camera. It whacked me so hard. I saw stars afterwards.

Dizzy Skips (20:51)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

I’ve joked about you getting frustrated and throwing the rope, how do you handle the mental side of like a jump rope, like focus and frustration and pushing through tough sessions? You’ve got a charm in your husband, apparently. You can drag him out and he helps.

Kailey Christensen (21:08)
it’s hard. Yes. Yep.

My lucky charm does. He comes out when I get really angry and tries to cool me off a little bit. no. I get so frustrated. It is hard business jumping and, you know…

it, the swear words and the crying and the throwing the rope, it’s, it happens a lot. But the thing is, is…

Dizzy Skips (21:34)
Yeah, I was wondering about your neighbors.

Kailey Christensen (21:37)
my gosh, I know, I know they watch me too because their balcony, their back balcony is like on the second level of their house and we’re kind of on a little bit of a slant. And so I know they can see right into our yard from like their balcony or their kitchen and I do sometimes I have to like stop myself and be like I know they’re watching. Like don’t make a fool out of yourself. But…

Dizzy Skips (21:41)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Right.

Kailey Christensen (22:05)
The thing is, is you put so much time and effort into creating the combo and all the work, you know, trying to nail the combo and it truly does get really frustrating when you hit that record button, you know, pressure is on and I can’t tell you it’s 50 plus times that you trip up and you mess up and you fail and I’ll

Dizzy Skips (22:23)
Mm-hmm.

Kailey Christensen (22:33)
I’ll say like when you nail that combo and in all of my reels after I finish a combo there is like a surprise face or this excitement face and it’s legit it’s genuine because I’ve worked my ass off yes I worked my ass off to nail that combo and I just did and it’s like like it’s so exciting

Dizzy Skips (22:44)
Yeah

No, it’s totally, yeah. Right?

Yeah.

Right. Yeah, that’s when it’s such a delightful part of your videos is that that moment of the light bulb and this huge smile like I got it. I got it.

Kailey Christensen (23:08)
I did it! Finally, I did it!

Dizzy Skips (23:09)
Yeah, yeah.

You mentioned earlier, like not really knowing that there was much of a jump rope community. Obviously, you know there’s quite a community now and you’re a big part of it. What does it mean to you or what has it meant to you to be part of that community?

Kailey Christensen (23:24)
Dizzy. The world needs more people like the Jump Rope community. Like, they’re so supportive. They’re good-hearted, genuine people. I mean, I can’t tell you how many friendships I’ve built and bonds that I’ve made with people from all over the world. Like, it’s incredible. They’re…

Dizzy Skips (23:48)
Mm-hmm.

Kailey Christensen (23:49)
I am so lucky to have stumbled upon this community because they’re just the best.

Dizzy Skips (23:56)
Yeah, I’m so with you. And you don’t have to be a pro jumper. you know, I’ve said this on previous podcasts, but, my first video, I can’t make myself go back and watch it right now, but I know that I posted it and within maybe 10 minutes, like @jennyjustjump gave me a, you know.

thumbs up or whatever and I was like, my gosh, there’s somebody out there who actually watched that and it felt kind of good. And so I love doing that with other people too. It’s just, it feels so great to help out and be part of people’s journeys.

Kailey Christensen (24:21)
Yeah. It does.

It’s so true and I love, I love like the newcomers and the beginners and the rookies, you know, I have a soft spot for the rookies and I just, wanna cheer, I wanna cheer the rookie on and let them know that, you know, they can do this and they can get to that point that everybody else is at.

Dizzy Skips (24:37)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

Yep, because you worked through it all yourself and you know that how awkward it felt to learn the shuffle, you know, right?

Kailey Christensen (24:59)
Yeah.

Yes, it’s so true.

Dizzy Skips (25:03)
Yeah.

So I know you are an ambassador for, I think, Elevate Rope and then Dope Ropes as well. You are also a fellow Beaded fan, or at least I know you jump with Beaded quite a lot. Can you talk a little bit about the ropes that you like?

Kailey Christensen (25:18)
Yeah, I mean I am definitely a beaded girl for sure. And I have the Elevate Ropes and I have the Dope Ropes. And I have the, I think I have one Elite SRS Rope that’s a beaded rope. And I love them all. They’re all really great ropes. I’m not a huge fan of PVC yet.

Dizzy Skips (25:30)
Mm. Mm-hmm.

Mm.

Kailey Christensen (25:38)
I have some, but

Dizzy Skips (25:39)
Mm-hmm.

Kailey Christensen (25:40)
they’re not my, we’re not the best of friends.

Dizzy Skips (25:43)
They’re tough like

this time of year in our climates, like when it gets this cold, outside, they get stiff, right? Like I snapped one last winter after using it for maybe two times, something like that. Yeah, yeah. So it’s gotta be above freezing here, otherwise they’re…

Kailey Christensen (25:51)
yeah.

no, really?

Dizzy Skips (26:03)
difficult. I’ve even taken them and wrapped them around my belly under one of my, you know, hoodies and left them there to warm up. Yeah, I totally just to warm it up enough so that it’s flexible so that I could just hop for a little bit until it gets stiff and unwieldy again.

Kailey Christensen (26:04)
Yeah.

Stick it in your armpit. Yeah, put it in your pit.

Yeah, I feel like the PVC rope is for, you know, speed and I’m not quite there yet. So I just dig the beaded rope.

Dizzy Skips (26:27)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah, I like the weight and the feedback and the sound too, although I’m usually listening to music relatively loud, but the sound is satisfying as well.

Kailey Christensen (26:37)
Yeah.

I agree.

Dizzy Skips (26:40)
I’ve noticed on several of your videos you have said like this has been inspired by Kathy jumps or this is something that I learned from Kathy jumps and She by the way is fantastic and she seems like so down to earth. I love watching her videos What is it about her style or her jumping that? speaks to you

Kailey Christensen (26:59)
I think she’s incredible. I mean, there’s so many incredible jumpers and I’m inspired by all of them, honestly, but she has this style that is just energetic and she’s just flailing the rope and has so much fun with it. And her tutorials are really great too. When she does her tutorials, she’s got some pretty in-depth and detailed…

tutorials, so I really like to I really like to use some of her things that she teaches

Dizzy Skips (27:29)
Mm-hmm.

Have there been other people that have been especially inspiring to you or that you’ve looked to learn skills from?

Kailey Christensen (27:37)
I mean there’s a lot. There’s so many. I don’t want to just pick a couple because they’re all so great and have all of them have such great styles too. I know when I first started

Dizzy Skips (27:39)
I I know what you mean, yeah.

Kailey Christensen (27:53)
When I first wanted to start jumping, Lauren Jumps obviously. She’s always just dancing with her rope. And I think that’s what really drew me to jump rope was her style. Who else? Jump Rope Sisters. They’re really fun with their dancing moves too. But really, honestly, everybody is so inspiring.

Dizzy Skips (27:59)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

And I love that you point out everybody’s got their own style and that’s great. It’s so cool to see people just have their own take on things. They move a little differently. So when did you decide to pick up a rope? Like I think your profile says you started in what August of 23?

Kailey Christensen (28:22)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yep.

Dizzy Skips (28:38)
And so why did you do it?

Kailey Christensen (28:39)
so my kids were getting older and you know more independent and didn’t need me as much. too cool for mom.

No, I’m kidding. But I kind of started to notice like I had more free time than I was used to and kind of started to get a little down in the dumps because I didn’t really have anything going on. My husband kept telling me, you know, you need a hobby and you need something exciting to look forward to. And I’d seen Lauren Jumps on Instagram and I, you know, saw her style and her dancing with her jump rope.

Dizzy Skips (29:16)
Mm-hmm.

Kailey Christensen (29:16)
I thought, how cool! And I ordered a cheap jump rope off of Amazon and I think my very first Instagram jump post, my caption said, I want to be like those cool bitches that dance with their jump ropes. And here I am. Here I am. I’m still doing it, which is so cool.

Dizzy Skips (29:22)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, me too. Yeah.

Yeah,

that is awesome. Yeah, I just remember how insanely captivated I was by watching those videos. Like watching Lauren, I watched her forever. And then like Kady Jumps I think she’s out of LA or something. She’s insanely good too. And I just spent so much time, like I gotta learn how to do that. That is awesome.

Kailey Christensen (29:54)
They’re so good.

Yeah, they’re so fast and they’re so talented. It’s just, it’s unreal.

Dizzy Skips (30:06)
It is, but I remember looking at it and thinking like, that is magic. But what I have learned over time is like, you go out and you…

put in the time, like you put in a lot of time and sweat and tears and blood and you learn this kind of stuff and you’re amazing. Like if I would have seen your video at the same time, I would have been like, these women are insane, you know? And so if you put in the time, you can, even those people who are just starting out, like I know what it was like when I started in March and was like, my feet don’t work the way my brain wants them to, you know?

Kailey Christensen (30:27)
No.

Thank you.

I know you’re so awkward and so uncoordinated, but it’s pretty crazy. And your style is so cool. And I’m so jealous how you can freestyle the way that you do. And it comes out so great every time.

Dizzy Skips (30:46)
Right.

Well,

that’s nice of you to say, and I really appreciate that. But there is also a lot of video of me whacking myself in the back of the head and swearing and just laughing constantly at myself for making mistakes. There are the times where I’ve got a 10 minute video and trying to find 30 seconds of usable material is like a challenge, you know?

Kailey Christensen (31:06)
Yeah. Yep.

you

Yeah, yeah, the editing part of your, of finding what to post is always the longest process, it seems like.

Dizzy Skips (31:27)
Yeah, it sure can be, especially if you’re trying to like sync it with music and make it kind of come out so that it looks, you know, cool or intentional.

Kailey Christensen (31:34)
Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (31:35)
You’ve come so far so fast, so what’s next on the docket for Kaylee to learn? Or perfect?

Kailey Christensen (31:40)
there’s.

There’s so many. The jump rope tricks are endless and it can almost feel kind of overwhelming sometimes because they’re just like, my gosh, there’s so much to learn. But I feel like right at the moment, the Mamba is one that I am definitely working on. And then, did I already say this? I feel like I said this already, but just different variations of mic releases and different

Dizzy Skips (31:46)
Yeah.

Mmm.

Kailey Christensen (32:09)
variations of double unders because right now I I don’t I can do like the basic double under and like the side swing double under but that’s about it so I kind of want to learn different variations of all those

Dizzy Skips (32:19)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah,

you know, you’re right. There’s so much to learn. And that’s part of the cool thing too, is that it’s not like you win the game and then, you know, there’s always something more to do or another song to dance to.

Kailey Christensen (32:31)
Yeah.

Yep, there’s always a new challenge for sure.

Dizzy Skips (32:40)
Have

you ever done like a coordinated jump with another person? I know you’ve remixed things, but like have you ever gone to a meetup or done coordinated jumps?

Kailey Christensen (32:48)
No, I’ve never gone to a meetup, but I did do a collab with Cora. What’s her name? OnlyJumpsRo, I think is her Instagram handle. We did a collab, which was really cool. And then I did recently one with Yaz. And that was really cool too. That’s really fun to do. That was new for me. So, yeah.

Dizzy Skips (32:56)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Yeah. So, and

how did that work? Did you both just decide on like a song to jump to and then work out a routine between the two of you?

Kailey Christensen (33:20)
Yeah, so Cora and I, picked the song together and then I choreographed half of it and then she choreographed the other half and then we learned each other’s parts and then just put it all together into one. So that was really fun. And then Yaz and I did…

Dizzy Skips (33:34)
That’s so cool. How long did that take you to

kind of put together and get to the point where you could film it?

Kailey Christensen (33:42)
It was, it took a little bit longer just because there was such a time difference. I think she’s, I think she’s from Romania. And so there was, it was like almost a whole day difference. And so it probably took a week, maybe a little over a week to actually get it and record it together.

Dizzy Skips (33:47)
sure, Romania.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Cool.

Kailey Christensen (34:02)
And then when I did it with Yaz, he did it, we did it a little bit different. We just found a bunch of different footwork tutorials and then just said this one here, this one here, this one here, and we put that one together really quickly. Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (34:15)
Cool. That’s

neat. I have this dream of going to one of those big meetups. Like I’ve seen, you you see like Mira’s posted meetups from Frankfurt, you know, on Instagram, or you’ve seen pictures of the ones in London and it looks like it would be so much fun.

Kailey Christensen (34:30)
my.

it would be so fun. I would love to go to the London meetup. It seems like there’s so many jumpers in the UK too. More so than the US, I feel like. I don’t know.

Dizzy Skips (34:33)
Yeah. Yeah, me too. Me too.

Mm-hmm.

Well,

one thing is like they, Cancer Research UK is constantly putting on these jump rope challenges and that’s one of the ways that they’ve been raising money. I think three, four people that I’ve interviewed so far on the podcast all kind of got introduced to or inspired to continue jumping because of those fundraising benefits.

I just don’t see that kind of stuff around here. Not that they don’t have them in the US, I just am not aware of them.

Kailey Christensen (35:14)
Right, that’s so cool. I love that they do that.

Dizzy Skips (35:15)
Yeah, it’s really cool.

So what advice or experience would you give somebody who’s just starting out, who’s kind of like that newbie you were talking about?

Kailey Christensen (35:24)
Yeah, ooh, that’s a good one. I’d say practice is key. That’s huge. You have to practice to be able to progress. Another one that’s really worked for me that I’ve been pretty consistent about is learning one new trick every week. And that’s really helped me fill my bag of tricks pretty quickly.

Dizzy Skips (35:45)
Yeah.

Kailey Christensen (35:48)
I feel like another one that’s been huge for me is don’t compare or judge yourself to somebody else’s skills because I know that’s a lot easier said than done and I’m definitely guilty of doing that same thing because you want to be as good as them of course but don’t ever compare yourself. Embrace your own journey.

and be you, be yourself, you know? I think that’s huge.

Dizzy Skips (36:15)
Yeah.

Yeah, I’ve seen you post a video about that, as a matter of fact, and where you were giving some tips and one of them was, like, don’t compare yourself to somebody else. And I think that’s really good advice. It is hard not to think like, my gosh, I want to be able to do the Mamba like Kayleigh, but…

But I think I said in an earlier podcast that I at one point was joking. I think.

Jenny, or yeah, Jenny Just Jump posted a video of her doing some skipping in a gym and I just love her and I love her skipping and I was like, I can’t wait till I grow up and I can jump like you do. And she said something back to me and I should go look it up because I keep kind of misquoting it, I’m sure. But it was something to the effect of, you know, jumping is your jumping and my jumping is my jumping and that’s okay.

Kailey Christensen (37:05)
Yeah. Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (37:05)
And it

is okay, you know, and it’s actually taken a lot of pressure off of me because I have a lot of time over the summer. I didn’t really work on learning new tricks as much as just getting out and flowing. And I was using it more for mental health and stress relief and fun. And I didn’t put so much pressure on myself to learn tricks. But then I would see people who started jumping after I did like doing the mamba and stuff. And I would think, well, should I be better or should I be further along? No, give yourself a break, you know?

you

Kailey Christensen (37:33)
Yeah,

yeah, that’s not fair to yourself. Yeah, I agree. yeah, just be you and just embrace your journey. And don’t worry about what anybody else’s journey is like. And have fun. That’s the whole reason why we’re doing it. We just want to have a good time.

Dizzy Skips (37:36)
Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And see you throw your rope and swear at it. Boy, I can’t tell you how much joy those videos have brought me. So I’m sorry it’s your misery, they just make, I just like rope throwing in general. It makes me laugh. So can you talk, I mean, we talked about the community and how it’s affected you, but in general, like what has jump rope done for you physically or mentally, or how has it changed you personally?

Kailey Christensen (37:58)
and get frustrated, yeah.

I know.

Right.

loads, it’s done so much. mean mentally it has built my confidence. It’s allowed me to be creative. It’s something I look forward to every day.

Physically, it’s built my stamina. You know, I was just telling my husband the other day, I walk our dog every day. And recently I’ve started to jog rather than walk. I can, you know, I’m jogging the whole way and I’m still jogging when I get into the driveway. that’s, that’s, yeah, it’s huge. I made it the whole way. Normally I would stop halfway and just continue walking. So it’s…

Dizzy Skips (38:47)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and you’re not winded.

Mm-hmm.

Kailey Christensen (39:03)
built my stamina, it’s helped with definition in my legs, in my arms, it’s perked up some other areas of the body that I’m happy about. So it’s done so much. Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (39:12)
Mm-hmm.

That’s awesome. Yeah.

It is so cool that something that is so fun, or at least to me, is so fun, comes with so many amazing benefits. Like, the mental health benefits were not something that I thought about upfront. I mean, I always want to feel better mentally, but the amount of improvement that I’ve had or relief that I’ve had, you

going through tough times or stuff and being able to go out and just kind of put it all away and hear the rope whack and dance. So favorite rope color combo.

Kailey Christensen (39:41)
Yes.

Yes, it’s so true.

Rope color combo. I love like bright happy colors. So pinks and purples. Green is my favorite color, but pinks and purples are really pretty together.

Dizzy Skips (40:07)
Yeah,

they are. In fact, I’ve got a pink and purple one here. I made this one.

Kailey Christensen (40:09)
yeah.

very pretty.

Dizzy Skips (40:12)
And about the music that you jump to, do you like make playlists on an app or something like that?

Kailey Christensen (40:19)
Yeah, I have a, I have just the unlimited Amazon music and I do have a jump rope playlist and I’m adding to it constantly and my husband is so stinking cute. He sends me like text messages and will like add the song to the text and be like, this would be a really good one to jump to. So I’m constantly, yeah he’s so cute. So I’m constantly adding so many songs to it.

Dizzy Skips (40:23)
Mm-hmm.

Nice.

Kailey Christensen (40:47)
I like I don’t even I can’t even pick anymore because I have so many I’m like which one am I gonna do cuz they’re all so good

Dizzy Skips (40:54)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. So, well, you already said that you kind of jump during the day sometimes when you get a break. I was going to ask, do you do morning or night jumps?

Kailey Christensen (41:06)
Well, not in the winter time I don’t. In the winter time it’s usually too cold in the morning or night so typically I try to do it in the afternoon. But in the summertime when it’s really hot I will try to wake up first thing in the morning and jump in the morning.

Dizzy Skips (41:09)
Yeah.

Yeah, that’s always fun. Especially on weekends, I will get up and be at the park right when it opens or shortly after it opens and spend a ridiculous amount of time there. It’s so much fun. Yeah.

Kailey Christensen (41:34)
Right? my gosh. Yes. I don’t know

how you jump in like public places. I get so like self-confident. You know, get like my self-esteem gets a little…

Dizzy Skips (41:46)
Yeah, I’m

that it’s a relatively new thing. Honestly, Kailey like I well, first of all, jumping for me started in March, right? So everything’s relatively new in that regard. But I would say I have had a few things happen in my life over the last two years that sort of changed some perspectives. And I decided, you know.

life’s too short to let other people rule my happiness. And so if I want to dance to the song while I’m walking downtown, I’m going to dance. And so I do. And I don’t really care what people think. It’s kind of their business if they like it or if they dislike it. And I would love I would love them to like it. But and when I dance and when I’m jumping in public places like honestly at the park, I will most often try to get places that are a little out of the way of people. like it’s not like I’m edging people out and jumping right in front of them, you know.

Kailey Christensen (42:18)
Good for you.

Dizzy Skips (42:34)
But yeah, I don’t mind if people are around. I just try not to be intrusive. Like I don’t want to be the center of the stage or whatever, but yeah.

Kailey Christensen (42:45)
Well that’s so great

and good for you. I wish I had that confidence where I could just go out and not have a care what people think of me. But sometimes I do. Sometimes I’m a little self-conscious about that kind of stuff.

Dizzy Skips (42:54)
Yeah.

Yeah,

I still have bouts sometimes where I feel a little of that, yeah, I guess you get to a point where there’s not so much left to lose, you know? And so, why not? Yeah.

Kailey Christensen (43:10)
Yes. Right? And who

knows? You’ll probably never see him again anyways, right?

Dizzy Skips (43:16)
Yeah, well,

I don’t know that I’ve said this on the podcast, but I had, before I moved out to Minnesota, I lived in Washington.

South of Seattle in a place called Gig Harbor. And I would sometimes go on walks, but I would also be just driving around town and I would see this lady, this lady, I would guess she was in maybe her 60s or early 70s and she was a walker. so she would go out with her headset in and she would be walking down the road and she would get into it like she was dancing her butt off, you know, and having so much fun. And I remember seeing her and thinking that is so lovely. Like I wish I had the confidence to be able to just bust loose in town like that and it always made me smile and I always felt better after I saw her and that was also motivating for me too. Like hey if I want to dance somebody might see it and go yay you know and I have that happen where people you know hoot and holler or take pictures and so that’s fine it’s fun.

Kailey Christensen (44:07)
I love

that, that’s so cool.

Dizzy Skips (44:10)
Yeah.

Well, Kaylee, I really, really, really appreciate you coming on and talking to me. This was so much fun. And thank you so much for sharing your jump rope videos. I’ve learned a lot from you and and I’m sure I will continue to learn a lot from you. And thank you so much for your support as well. I really appreciate it.

Kailey Christensen (44:27)
Thank you, Dizzy. And you are so supportive also. You are always so kind. And thanks for doing this. This is so cool. You know, you always like, you know, you get to kind of know all these jumpers and you become friends with them and you kind of want to know a little bit more about them. And I’ve binge listened to all the episodes and it is so fun to get to know everybody. So thank you.

Dizzy Skips (44:50)
Hmm.

Isn’t it? Yeah.

Well, my pleasure. I’m so glad that it’s made some people happy and that people are enjoying it.

Kailey Christensen (44:56)
Yeah.

Yeah, I’m loving it. So keep them, keep the episodes coming.

Dizzy Skips (45:04)
Yeah.

All right, well, will do.