Becky Gibbs on Finding Confidence Through Jump Rope (Ep. 3)

Dizzy Skips (00:21)
Ladies and gentlemen, cats and kittens, this is episode three of the Skip Squad Chronicles podcast with me, your host, Dizzy Skips. I’m just crazy about the jump rope community. The people I’ve met through this community are relentlessly supportive, hardworking, hilarious, and fun. Jumping rope and dancing have changed my life for the better in many ways, and a lot of the credit goes to the support of wonderful people like my guest today.

Becky (00:20)
Go.

Dizzy Skips (00:42)
Several weeks ago, I was skipping in the park on a limestone bench as I’m wont to do, and I had this idea. I wanted to know more about my jump rope friends. And when we’re only connected on Instagram, it takes time to get to know one another when you’ve got a maximum of 90 seconds on a reel or 15-second stories or occasional DMs and comments. So I thought, what better way to get to know folks than to rope them into an interview where we can have a fun conversation and find out what makes our fellow jumpers tick?

So in our third skip session today, I’m thrilled to talk to my friend, Becky Gibbs. She’s a lovely person, super fun, and a skilled skipper. If you don’t know Becky already, you should. You can find her on Instagram at myrasonwylife. I’ll put her link in the show notes. So let’s jump right in. Becky, thank you so much for joining me today. This is wonderful.

Becky (01:20)
Hi. thank you so much. This is really exciting.

Dizzy Skips (01:26)
So excited to talk to you. Yeah. So I’m going to kick it off with just, can you talk about like when you started jumping and why?

Becky (01:33)
Yes, so I started jumping. I think I’m coming up for two years now. And I originally started to raise money for cancer research. So over in the UK, I don’t know if it’s the same over there, they do an event called 100 skips a day in February. I think they do it in several months, but this particular one landed at the right time. After losing my cousin, who was diagnosed with cancer eventually, wasn’t the reason for his death, but…

he did have it. I know so many friends that have had it and family members. So I was like, right, I’m going to do this. going to do something fun and raise some money. So I started off doing a hundred skips and it sounds like a lot. And a little bit of me was like, can I do this? Absolutely. I could do this. Like a hundred skips were gone in a couple of minutes. then so obviously with basic jump, I used to jump, no joke, like a gazelle. So I

was basically a gazelle with a rope and I couldn’t even do the basic jump so I was like I don’t know I think I’ve posted a video recently of like how I jumped one foot in front of the other hop hop hop hop it was ridiculous was ridiculous and there’s a video of my best friend just like laughing in the background and but we did it we did a hundred skips and then we got so addicted so early on of maybe we could do some routine

maybe we could do it in different places and cool backgrounds. I remember distinctively the first day we ever did our first joint crossover. The feeling of finally getting it and doing it in time was just incredible. And I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a feeling like it. And then I just suddenly realized that think jump rope was a bit of me. And then it just kind of evolved from there.

And then before you know it, you started following people and then I realized how big the community actually is. Yeah, so that’s why I started and I think we raised about 1600 pounds in the end, just under. Yeah, it was so good fun. Yeah, she still does it too, but she’s busier than me. So she doesn’t do it quite as much, but it’s good. It’s great. I still love it.

Dizzy Skips (03:32)
That’s fun. That’s so great.

Yeah, that’s one of the first, mean, early on when you and I were connected, I saw you post something about skipping first cancer research. Yeah, and I think I posted it to my story and you sent me something saying, hey, thank you for doing that. I just, you know, I, yeah, I, it does. Although it was still this year, which is kind of crazy, but yeah, my stepmom has had cancer four times and beat it four times. And so I’m all about the…

Becky (03:46)
Thank

How did you?

yeah yeah I remember now yeah god that feels like a lifetime ago right

Man.

Dizzy Skips (04:12)
the support of people going through stuff like that. It’s not easy on the people who have it. It’s not easy on their family members. And so I really respect you for doing that.

Becky (04:16)
Yeah.

No, I think it was really nice just to raise some money. I mean, I obviously don’t know who this money is going to. It’s going to quite a large organization. at the time, weirdly, it gave me the focus that I didn’t know I needed, but I definitely needed to do something. And I am so glad I did because actually, they say good things come from bad things. And I feel like it has shaped a little bit of who I am today and possibly more so in the future. So who knows?

Dizzy Skips (04:48)
Cool. Yeah, well that’s wonderful. So how often are you practicing or jumping now?

Becky (04:55)
So I was going for a really nice pattern of doing it every other day. I feel like my body and my brain needs the rest day. Mainly as you can appreciate when you are doing drills and you are so dedicated to doing this one particular trick. The more you do it and the more tired you get from it, the less you seem to be able to do it. And then I get really crass. I have got so crass with myself. There has been swear words in the garden. There has been rope throwing.

Dizzy Skips (05:14)
you

Yeah.

Becky (05:23)
And I’m not even an aggressive person, but I just get annoyed at my own feet and brain, like not coordinating. So I was every other day. Now, I’m currently living at my in-laws and the routines change slightly and it’s getting darker now, which also makes me cross by the way. It’s maybe not quite as easy. So at the moment I’m probably skipping an hour most a week.

Dizzy Skips (05:28)
Mm-hmm. Mm.

Me too.

Becky (05:48)
Whereas before I was doing every other day, maybe doing, it could be anything from 10 minutes to 20 minutes to 45 if I haven’t got cross.

Dizzy Skips (05:57)
Yeah. Yeah, I think, did you post a video a while back of you getting frustrated and throwing your rope? I think you did. And it made me laugh so hard. For whatever reason, that’s, yeah, I do too.

Becky (06:05)
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I swear a lot. I say a lot of f-sakes and f-this, and I think I’ve even called my rope a twat. And then I’ve picked up my rope and almost apologized because the rope is so much part of me now that I’m just like, I didn’t mean it.

Dizzy Skips (06:14)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Haha

I’ve done the exact same thing. I apologize to it when no one’s around. I’m sorry, I hope it didn’t hurt your feelings. It was me, not you. Yeah.

Becky (06:33)
It’s so ridiculous. I know and actually it really is you like I don’t think people realize when you’re a kid. Yeah skipping. Let’s let’s just do some skipping but you have to coordinate your brain your rope your arms your legs your whole body and If those two things don’t match up It makes you cross because especially in your especially in your head, you know, you can do it or you watch you watch someone do a combination in a lot. Yeah

Dizzy Skips (06:53)
Right?

Becky (07:01)
I can do it, I’m gonna do it right now. And then you’re like, I can’t do it. And you spend like a week trying to do it and some routines I still haven’t done. whoop, never.

Dizzy Skips (07:05)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. What have been some of the, well, I guess I’m curious, how have you learned? Like what’s your learning method? Do you use an app? Do you just watch people? Do you have a coach?

Becky (07:21)
no, well, sort of. It’s been a little journey with that too. So of course I started off with watching videos and tutorials and they’re all very lovely, but they’re a bit time consuming because you can’t try and watch at the same time. Now I very heavily rely on my phone. I don’t really have another device. And if I do, it’s my laptop and then it all just gets kerfuffily outside. So, and I’m not an indoor.

jumper at all. Can’t stand jumping indoors unless it’s a real big space. So initially I started off learning myself and then obviously everybody has heard of Lauren jumps but Lauren I found at first very fast, she’s very quick so to learn tutorials from her I mean yeah she’s a whiz and my god she’s beautiful but my brain just wasn’t ready for her so then I actually…

So then simultaneously I started following the jump rope coach Chris and also Eddie Jumps. And Eddie was probably the foundation of my jumping, which I give him all credit to. He was kind, he replied. It’s always nice I think when you feel like the coach is replying to you and you know it’s them and not some person working for them or a bot or whatever. And he was…

Dizzy Skips (08:21)
Mm-hmm.

Right, virtual assistant.

Becky (08:40)
Yeah, exactly. And he was awesome. And then he has grown himself and he brought out a tricks and skills workshop. So I thought, you know what, I’m going to treat myself. I’m going to give this coaching coaching, like a go, you know, I’m, I was reluctant to spend any money because I’d already bought my rope and I wasn’t keen to spend money monthly or anything like that. So I was like, right, I’ll sign up to it. It’s a cool program. And a lot of my foundations come from that program. So

I worked on it really hard. don’t know if know Patty, Patty Jumps. She worked with it with me and it was lovely. We were both learning at the same level and were very similar jumpers and seemed to learn at the same pace. So yeah, I learned from him simultaneously following Chris because Chris is just, he’s got a nice calm aura about him and he’s jumping just looks effortless. just.

you know, skip, skip, skip, skip, you’re like, yeah, lovely, lovely. And there’s me, skip, trip, skip, trip. So, yeah, I got through the program with Eddie whilst treating myself, trying to continue to draw the basics, but also always eager to learn that next trick. And then I treated myself again after a break and I’ve now signed up to Chris’s Trictionary app. So I’ve bought it, I think, for a year. I think I did in the end.

Dizzy Skips (09:51)
Mm-hmm.

Becky (10:02)
I think that because I bought it for a year, I think it continues to be that price every year. And now it’s really cool. I can log in, see how many tricks I’ve unlocked, how many daily challenges that he’s got, all at my own pace. And I think that’s probably why I fell in love with jump rope in the first place. Because you can just do it when you want to, can’t you?

Dizzy Skips (10:18)
cool. Mm Yeah, I’ve heard people mention Trixionary and I’ve not I’ve not actually seen it, but it sounds cool. I did sign up for Lauren’s app on a. I like it. She’s fantastic and she does. It’s well organized and.

Becky (10:26)
Yeah, it’s great. What did you think of Lauren’s app? I’ve not seen it.

Incredible.

Dizzy Skips (10:41)
Yeah, she was like my first introduction to the jump rope dancing. was hanging out late at night. Yeah, I ran across her on YouTube and I think the first video I saw was the mashup of hers. It was Bee Gees and ACD back in black. ACDC black and back. Her jump into that and I was just like my jaw hit the table and I was like, my God, this is amazing. I gotta do that. Yeah, she’s like a Barbie.

Becky (10:45)
Yeah, it’s so fab.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, she is amazing. She’s just as amazing in real life. I have been lucky to meet her. I met her at the last Dope Ropes meet and my god, she’s just as incredible in, but so down to earth. You know, for somebody that’s learned what she’s learned through COVID and got where she’s got to today, she’s still who I’d imagine was the same Lauren in during COVID, you know, she’s like very down to earth, very, so friendly, like.

Dizzy Skips (11:16)
Nice.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Becky (11:34)
You could easily get run away with these things and feel bigger than you really are via Instagram, but she’s not at all. She’s awesome and even more spectacular to watch. Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (11:39)
Right, right.

Yeah, she sure seems like it. I bet. I need to go to one of those dope rope meetups. That would be awesome.

Becky (11:49)
Yeah, it was really nice. I’ve been to one of Chris’s and I’ve been to two now, but one of Chris’s really, again, really chill, but I think that’s because he’s very chill. And the one in London was great because London being so vast and different cultures and hobbies are wildly accepted, you know, so it was just really chill. So many cool people there to meet and learn from and every there’s no gatekeeping in.

Dizzy Skips (11:59)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Becky (12:15)
in Jump Rope. Everybody is happy to help everyone, cheer everyone. We’re all in the same boat, which is lush.

Dizzy Skips (12:20)
Isn’t that awesome? Yeah, I just love that. So are you a dope, like what ropes do you use? Are you a dope ropes person or do you have a bunch of different ropes? Are you obsessive like me?

Becky (12:24)
Yeah, same.

So I’ve got, yeah, I’ve got five, but I only use two, so I don’t know why I keep the others. I don’t know if it makes me feel better that I’ve got more ropes than I really need. And in fact, I could buy loads of ropes. I feel like ropes suddenly are like necessity, like hoodies, you need them. I need them all, all the colors, all the types. But my first ever proper beaded rope was actually, coincidentally, from the jump rope Coach Chris, because I fell in love with the colors and I never knew.

how much I would love that rope. That was my first introduction to beaded rope and I am such a beaded rope person. I hate PVC. We don’t get on. I actually have a dope ropes PVC rope and I hate her and she hates me. So we, she looks at me in the bag and I look at her in the bag and we’re like, So she’s just looks pretty in the bag and I look, I just stare at her from the outside like hating her.

Dizzy Skips (13:16)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Becky (13:23)
The only thing she’s been useful for is maybe use it, maybe learning double unders, but even then it doesn’t really help learning double unders with bead. But my favourite rope, I proud of saying it, but is Eddie’s rope. So Eddie Jumps has got his own rope. It is my trusty rope, I call it. We have such a nice relationship, me and this rope. It’s so ridiculous. They’re not my colours.

Dizzy Skips (13:28)
Mm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

You

Becky (13:48)
They are blue, red and white. I’m a pink girl, I’m a purple girl. So I do frown upon it a little bit from that side of things. It makes me a bit cross. But it’s just, there’s just something different about it. It’s a bit weightier, but not weighted. The cord is thicker. And I don’t know if I love it just because that is the rope that I learned Mick released with.

Dizzy Skips (13:53)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Becky (14:15)
And now I just love it. because of the slight weight, I’ve only just started to well, successfully achieve Mick release with my Dope Ropes rope, which is a bit lighter. And I love the color. I love the color way more. So that’s my jazzy rope, I call it.

Dizzy Skips (14:27)
Mm-hmm.

Nice. Yeah, dope ropes, they have some really dope colors, don’t they?

Becky (14:37)
They’re so, are bit of me, which I think is why I’ve ended up being a brand ambassador for them, because I can totally get on board with their vibe. But I do love how Eddie Jumps’ ropes feels, which probably my favourite. Sorry about the

Dizzy Skips (14:40)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Cool, yeah. The ropes that I’ve made have thicker cords too and they’re a little heavier. so you, they do. They hurt when you hit yourself in the side of the fricking head though, know, going 100 miles an hour. They do.

Becky (15:03)
Yeah, they just feel really cool, don’t they?

They all hurt, they all hurt. my gosh, I think I even did a real one. It’s actually showing my bum cheek with one of them because it actually hurt so much I collapsed on the floor. Like, know, when you’re like, I’m gonna cry. No, I’m not, I’m not gonna cry. I have cried before with my rope. That got thrown across the road as well.

Dizzy Skips (15:22)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Have you really? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I was telling Janie the other day that I, two weeks ago or a week and a half ago, I was jumping and I was trying to jump really fast and I had one of my ropes that has longer handles on it, a little heavier and just flying and.

Becky (15:41)
yeah.

Dizzy Skips (15:47)
I tried to do a release and that handle came back and hit me in the side of the cheek so hard it left a bruise for like three days. I had this mark on my cheek. I know it’s like full contact jumping. That’s what I like to say.

Becky (15:54)
my gosh!

I’ve had one that a handle has actually knocked my glasses off my face and smacked the arm off my glasses. So like this frame has gone… Yeah, I think I’ve even done a slow-mo of it somewhere. But the glasses have gone this way and this arm has just like flurried to the ground like it was a proper… But I’m grateful because actually that would have been my face if it wasn’t for my glasses.

Dizzy Skips (16:03)
Yeah.

my gosh.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right, Yeah. I think I said earlier in some thread that I should be wearing a cup and supporter for the number of times that I’ve hit myself in the family jewels with a rope going so fast.

Becky (16:27)
It does hurt.

I am so grateful, I haven’t done that actually. It seems to be more my, I’ve whacked myself on my knuckles quite a lot and that really does make my eyes water. I’ve broke nails, but the lady parts I have definitely not hit. Bum cheeks, yes, maybe they stick out more.

Dizzy Skips (16:42)
Yeah.

Yeah.

good for you.

Yeah, I’m sure well, I don’t know if you’ve done this but I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve launched my headphones off my head like caught him with my rope and then my headphones go flying around. where are these, you know, like clip on earbud things and I’ve thrown those across the park.

Becky (16:57)
You

Yeah, I did for a time and I don’t know if it was that little transition of like to learn the mic release I had to shorten the beads slightly so then I had a bit more of a shallower loop. So I was not knocking them off because they’re quite tight to my little peanut head but I would what I found I did was knocking them forward which was

Dizzy Skips (17:28)
Mm-hmm.

Becky (17:37)
Terrible by the way dizzy because then if they knocked forward they smacked my glasses Especially if I was wearing my glasses on this jump I try not to but quick jump so I can’t bother to transition from glasses to lenses but and then if they hit my glasses my glasses and smack my nose bones and then that literally You know when you stand there and you’re so seething that you just You can’t move because you’re so cross

Dizzy Skips (17:41)
Yeah, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Your eyes are watering with anger.

Becky (18:07)
Yeah, you’re literally in disbelief that it even just happened and you’re just like, I hate all of you. I hate my glasses, I hate my headphones and I hate the rope. And then you like stomp off and you’ve achieved nothing. So yeah, I can totally relate.

Dizzy Skips (18:09)
You

Yeah.

Yeah. You know, one of the first, I’d say one of the most memorable reels that I saw of yours, or one of the first ones that just stuck with me was a reel that you did where you were trying to learn the Mick release and you were just doing it over and over again and missing and missing and missing. And then there was that one time that you caught it and your face just lit up. It was just so beautiful. It was amazing. I just thought, that is that feeling. That is that feeling. She just…

Becky (18:43)
It was a great day.

think I know what reel you’re talking about.

Yes.

Dizzy Skips (18:50)
totally conveyed it in video and I loved it.

Becky (18:52)
I think I know what real you mean and actually the whole, that whole real, the song is my favourite song. It’s actually on my bio. I live by that song. Like the song itself is how I live life. I’m about dancing, all about healing, all about like just trying to be as positive in day to day as you can. And I was so determined. This was about the time I was going through Eddie’s Tricks and Skills programme.

And apart from the Double Under, the Mick release was at the end of the program. So I was kind of desperate to get to the end. I was like, I’m going to do this. I feel like I’ve been doing this bloody program for so long and I need to progress. So it was around Easter and the kids were off for two weeks and I had no real plans. And I was like, right, I’m going to get this bloody Mick release. so yeah, I did it. I honest to God, tried this Mick release every day for

two weeks, two solid weeks every day just drilling this Mick release and there was this one particular day and I, it was hot. I was really hot. It was, I can’t even come out of one of your jokes, but it was hotter than. It was hotter than and I was so, so hot. And I remember, look, I was looking at the kitchen, my husband was like fanning around making lunch for the kids or something. And I was like, I’m going to do it. I’m going to do it over and over. And

Dizzy Skips (20:03)
Yeah.

Becky (20:18)
And then I just did it. But I caught it in such a clumsy way. So like, obviously it was all about the spin and then the catch. And then you think you’ve done, but you’ve not, you’ve then got to get it over your head. So then it was like a catch and a skip, a catch and a bit of a fall over the rope, but I’m still jumping the rope. And then, and then I finally got it. And then after that, I just worked on getting that rope quicker over my head. So I was catching it, getting quicker, catching it, getting quicker. And

that particular day I literally, I don’t really drink so even tonight is rare but I literally, I think I had about four glasses of wine. I was so elated that I’d even managed this trick in some shape or form and I think my husband at the time was just doing a few tip runs or something like this and I was just like celebrating in the garden like some lunatic with my headphones on which probably made me project my voice at 100 megahertz because I had my headphones on.

Dizzy Skips (20:59)
Thanks

Yeah.

Becky (21:13)
So, but that day, and actually that was a turning point. I really felt like I’d leveled up that day and it’s been a real learning curve since then. That MIC release has suddenly just released all kinds of different things that I’m able to achieve. So it’s pretty cool. That was a good day. Cheers to that day. I loved that day.

Dizzy Skips (21:29)
That is interesting. Yeah, cheers.

So do you like speaking of music, do you always jump with music or?

Becky (21:39)
Yes, when I was first learning I didn’t. I used to listen to the rope a lot, so it was always that click, click, click, click to try and get used to the sound. But actually, I think I’ve learnt that I’m so inspired by music that actually whatever music I’m listening to, it seems to chuck out the tricks that I need. And a lot of my reels, they don’t…

Dizzy Skips (21:44)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Becky (22:04)
I don’t jump from start to finish. mean, have to be, honestly, I wish everyone knew this, but you have to be a seriously good jumper to do an entire combo from start to finish without messing up. So I tend to do mine in sections and I feel comfortable with sections and I will glue them together, but not glue them together to make it look like it was one, like there is a clear transition. But I think it’s really…

It’s really good to jump to music. You get the right rhythm, the music gives you the right oomph to get going and it almost spurs you on to get the trick at the right time. So like I’ve tried really hard to skip in the right rhythm. I’ve tried hard because in jumping you do tend to jump fast and I’ve tried recently to slow that down, catch the rope slower, skip slower, control the rope rather than the rope getting faster and faster. So I always skip to music now.

I think I’d feel lost without it and I feel it’s my release almost. I feel like I’ve done something creative, amazing in the garden even if it’s been for 10 minutes. And I go back in and I feel like a better person and a better mum because I’ve actually been outside for 10 minutes jumping to music.

Dizzy Skips (23:07)
Yeah.

That’s great. Do you have, like, do you make a playlist and like put things on the playlist that you’re going to jump to or?

Becky (23:18)
Yeah.

Yeah, as obviously there’s old classics, we all love these old classics. Naturally, I am a drum and bass garage girl. And I think that just stems from the era that I was brought up in being a 1985 baby. So by the time I was clubbing, guess I was, I don’t know, 2000s, late 19, late 90s. So it was all about drum and bass and garage where I’m from.

So I’m kind of definitely on that wave. Sometimes I use music that’s not trending. Sometimes I use music that’s trending, I think. And my playlist, I guess, is mainly drum and bass and marriage. Or some cheese thrown in. There’s a couple of Instagram musicians, DJs, whatever they call themselves, that I follow, that I’ve chucked a few of their songs on my watch. And I do have a list called Jump Rope Playlist.

What I do is, if I’ve jumped to that song already, I delete it off the playlist so I don’t jump to it again. But I might revisit it, but yeah, I have a cool playlist. I probably should visit rock. I do like rock sometimes, but yeah, I should probably double in the rock.

Dizzy Skips (24:23)
Yeah.

Yeah. I do that same thing with the playlist. And although I do jump, you know, I will go jump for longer periods of time. And so like last night I jumped to one song for, I don’t know, maybe 40 minutes or something like that. And I can make, yeah. And I can make like three or four reels out of it. And so I, I’m sure I bore people with the same song over and over again, but, but it’s for me. So.

Becky (24:42)
That’s a lot, yeah. That’s long jump.

I think it’s how you put them together though, don’t you find? Like, I sometimes, if I haven’t got out to jump, but I’ve only used half of the video I’ve videoed, I’ll use the other half of the video another time. And generally that’s when I then use one that’s not trending, but I do try, that is trending, I do try to always jump to the one that I was listening to, and I’m the same as you, if I’m inspired by that song, I will keep listening to that song over and over over again until I’ve got the trick that I wanted to do or…

Dizzy Skips (24:57)
Mm-hmm.

Sure.

Becky (25:23)
until I feel like I’m done. Although recently I feel like I’ve been done a bit quicker. I think I’m getting a little bit out of touch here. I’m getting out of breath a bit sooner because I’m not jumping every day.

Dizzy Skips (25:24)
Mm-hmm.

you

Yeah. So when you say trending, are you actually like looking up on Instagram, what are trending songs and then like,

Becky (25:41)
I don’t really go looking for them. If you know like when you doom scroll at night and you really should actually just have gone to sleep 20 minutes ago But you’re still there on Instagram with one eye open and I’ll scroll through and look at people’s funny videos And if I know if I feel like I like a song and it’s trending I’ll save it So I’ll go back and I might even go and find that song and put it on my playlist so I can Really get into the rhythm of it, but no, I don’t really go searching for trending

Dizzy Skips (25:49)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Becky (26:08)
It’s what it is for you.

Dizzy Skips (26:09)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve never really done that either. So do you plan out like, do you ever choreograph stuff? Do you ever plan out what you’re gonna do or just more like free flow?

Becky (26:21)
Now, I do free flow more. I tend to use these to revisit old tricks that I want to keep on top of, but I’d use Chris’s app to throw in a new one. So I should, I’m not progressing as quickly as I would like, but recently I think he, I’ve been learning like the switch cross. So you’ll do a cross and then switch straight into the next, the other side.

Dizzy Skips (26:32)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Becky (26:46)
And I just threw that into a routine. So I feel like I’m progressing, but still practicing like the old routines.

Dizzy Skips (26:52)
Mm-hmm. Cool.

Becky (26:54)
But yeah, no real choreography, not yet anyway.

Dizzy Skips (26:58)
Do you have any sort of like warm up or cool down routine that you use?

Becky (27:03)
No, I really should. No, I really should and I probably should warm up because my calves get tight pretty quick. So what I do is in my jump rope I’ll start off really enthusiastic and then I’ll think, that’s starting to seize up a little bit. So then I’ll, all of my videos are stretching midway, but I should have probably cooled up and cooled down. But that’s because my nature is impatient.

Dizzy Skips (27:04)
new.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, you know, I’m pretty good about, yeah, I’m pretty good about the warming up. It’s the cooling down I just forget to do, you know, it’s usually by the…

Becky (27:28)
I want to jump right when I jump right now.

See you.

Dizzy Skips (27:38)
Yeah, and so like I had it happen last night where I didn’t really cool down. I came home and I think I got something to eat and I was sitting watching TV or scrolling through Instagram or something and then all of a sudden my calves start to cramp, know, just like they’re letting me know they’re there or I’ll be in a weird position on the bed and then I’ll step down and be like, my gosh, I could barely walk.

Becky (27:52)
You

I’m bad at both, at least you do one of them.

Dizzy Skips (28:01)
So.

I don’t know. Yeah, I mean, honestly, what I do is I follow Lauren jumps. She’s got warm up and cool down things in her app. And so I’ve been just doing her warm up thing. And then I throw in some other stuff, know, like push ups or things here and there.

Becky (28:17)
my god, Chris might have these as well, you know. I’m just, I’m all about the challenges and the tricks, me. I’m just like, warm up, what’s that? Scroll on. I’ll regret it one day.

Dizzy Skips (28:26)
Yeah.

Yeah. So I’m curious, like when you started jumping and you kind of fell in love with it with your friend, what kept you going or like, was it the fun of it? it?

Becky (28:44)
Probably the highs and I don’t know, I guess I’m a little bit of a party girl clubber at heart and now I’m a mum, I don’t really get to do that. So I feel like I get to live that life through my jump rope. So like I’m not hurting anybody, I’m not looking after anybody. I’m not being a wife, I’m not not being a mum, I’m just in the garden.

Dizzy Skips (29:08)
Mm-hmm.

Becky (29:09)
a secret rave in the garden with me and my rope. Yeah, and I think I just get to live that life out there because I can’t go clubbing all the time. I love dancing. Yeah, I just love it.

Dizzy Skips (29:13)
That’s nice.

Yeah.

Yeah. I don’t know if this happens for you. Yeah. Me too. Have you always loved dancing?

Becky (29:30)
Yes, when I was a little girl I did dance classes, I ballroom and contemporary and eventually I did go to performing arts school but you do realise that unless you work really really hard, bless you, unless you work really really hard or you’ve got parents with money, the opportunities don’t come to you, you have to go and get them and…

Dizzy Skips (29:43)
Excuse me, sorry.

Becky (29:52)
I suppose a little bit of my personality back then was not as confident as maybe I would be now. I guess age has made me feel like I don’t give an F anymore. So yeah, guess I have always, I just love dancing and I just love music so much, like love it. I can’t, if the world ever went silent on me, I think I would end up definitely drinking and becoming depressed.

Dizzy Skips (29:58)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I’m you.

Yeah. Are you a musician? No. Just music lover. Yeah.

Becky (30:21)
No? I sometimes sing and I used to sing a lot when I was little but now if somebody gave me a microphone I would probably have to be drunk and then actually what was coming out probably wouldn’t be what I thought I was singing.

Dizzy Skips (30:36)
Yeah, it would sound good to you, but everybody else would be like, what is Becky doing?

Becky (30:41)
Absolutely, yeah, it might even be with my rope, singing with my rope, which I have actually done before. With my hand or… Exactly.

Dizzy Skips (30:46)
Yeah, I’ve done the same thing. Done the axle rows out there on the limestone bench, yeah.

Becky (30:55)
Yes, absolutely. Love a bit of rock set. Maybe I should jump to rock set.

Dizzy Skips (31:00)
Yeah. There you go. So, do you have days where you just don’t feel motivated to jump in? You kind of have to make yourself or.

Becky (31:03)
Mm-hmm

I don’t ever make myself. So when I was going through Eddie’s tricks and skills program, I would come to what I’ve started to call jumper’s block. And it was where that your feet and your brain and your inspiration had just gone. And I found for women, especially, I find that I’m quite clumsy and tired. I’m not really with it close to women’s time. So monthly time.

So I’m very kind to myself during that time and go, you know, it’s coming, comes every month. So just let it come, it will pass. And then a lot of women, I think, call it like this spring, summer, autumn, winter, whatever it is. Like when I’m in winter, just don’t even bother. Just accept the fact that you’re tired and that nothing’s going to come. So I don’t really push myself anymore because I did find I was getting so frustrated that my frustration was then not helping my progression.

Dizzy Skips (31:38)
Okay.

Becky (32:08)
So now I just accept those days and sometimes I’m jumping for like 10 minutes and I’ve tripped over a million times on the basic jump and I’m like, you’re a twat, just go in. Don’t even know why you’re bothering. And I do, I drop my rope, I hang it up and I’m like, well that was pointless. No progression, no real, no nothing has come of that today. Bye bye. But then a week later or a couple of days later even, you’ll smash something out that you were trying to do for hours.

Dizzy Skips (32:08)
Sure.

you

Yeah.

Becky (32:37)
in the space of like 15 minutes. So yeah, I don’t push myself. If anything, I get more frustrated if I’ve not been given the opportunity to do it. So like the day’s been busy or the kids have faffed around and now it’s dark and it’s just like, well, I might as well not bother now. Then I get annoyed. And then I start to feel guilty if it’s been a few days. And then I’m like, I haven’t jumped rope. I haven’t really done anything. I really want to, but I actually haven’t had the time. So I get frustrated with that, suppose.

Dizzy Skips (32:37)
Isn’t that crazy?

Sure.

Yeah.

So do you set any specific goals for your progress? Like do you make plans or are you just kinda go with the flow?

Becky (33:12)
No, I think if I wasn’t part of Chris’s app, I think I would probably flail around, maybe not really knowing what trick to do next. So it is great that there are other people out there that are way advanced than me. You know, they have created an app, they’ve become a coach, etc. Because otherwise I think I wouldn’t really progress in a good way. I’d probably progress in a, I’m going to do this trick, but…

Sometimes I find doing tricks individually doesn’t really necessarily make you good at combinations. one thing I’m really bad at is learning a trick and not actually knowing how to release out of it to create the combo. So, I get quite frustrated with myself that naturally I always release on an open rather than a swing and that really annoys me. So like, will do a, I will do a, I don’t know, a swing cross.

Dizzy Skips (33:43)
Sure.

sure.

Hmm.

Becky (34:06)
open rather than a swing cross swing open. But my head wants to do a swing but my arms do an open and then I can almost see it on my reels sometimes that my face has realised that I’ve done that when I planned to do a swing and now I’ve done an open again. And actually sometimes it’s I know in my head it’s so much easier to come out of with a swing because getting the rope back round for an open is a lot harder than

Dizzy Skips (34:09)
Okay.

Yeah. Yeah.

Becky (34:33)
swinging it to open. So yeah, I guess no.

Dizzy Skips (34:35)
Mm-hmm.

And I’m curious, like, for me, and I think I even say this on my bio and my Instagram profile, that to me, jumping rope is meditation and it’s mental health. And I wonder if you have any of those, like if you have any of those feelings about jumping rope. I think for me, one of the most beautiful places that I can reach is where I switch off my brain and I’m just moving with the rope.

Like just freestyling, not thinking too much because thinking gets me in trouble sometimes. I wonder, is it meditation for you at all or is it just work or, I mean, obviously you have fun.

Becky (35:10)
Hehehehe

No, I wouldn’t really say it’s meditation. mean, I’m naturally not really a deep thinker. I’m really not. Unless I’m in a bit of a more miserable place where I’m tired or everything’s getting on top of me, I tend to, I really do take each day as it comes. But I suppose for me, it’s more actual just release. Like I just need to get out of the house or…

Dizzy Skips (35:22)
Hahaha

Yeah.

Becky (35:43)
I just need to listen to some music but at full volume that’s not, I mean my watch tells me regularly you need to turn that down. I’m not turning it down, you know, like. There’s no way, it’s on full whack, you know. So if my eardrums are bleeding, that’s how I want it. But yeah, no, it’s definitely more just a release for me. I feel like Rope gives me purpose. Otherwise I would actually just probably be.

Dizzy Skips (35:52)
Mine too, I talk back to her. You shut up. That’s right.

That’s right.

Becky (36:13)
dancing in the garden with my headphones like a mentalist. Whereas at least I’m actually using a rope and learning something. Otherwise I think I would just be crazy lady in the garden.

Dizzy Skips (36:16)
Hahaha.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, that’s interesting.

Becky (36:29)
you

Dizzy Skips (36:29)
I know, you know, when you were talking about being frustrated with the rope and stuff, I have had those days, especially like on a work day like this, if I like today, yesterday, I had six meetings in a row and I get to the end of those days and I’m just like, yeah, it’s just one after the other. And there’s not even a full half hour between them, you know, so I get done with the day and I’m like, what did I get done? I feel like I’m behind on everything and I’m tired of talking because I feel like I’m kind of an introvert or whatever. and so

Becky (36:40)
Best of luck.

Yeah.

Yeah.

and then you’re doing there.

Dizzy Skips (36:58)
I know. But see, the trick here is that I get to make other people talk more, which is a good tactic for introverts, But

Becky (37:04)
Truth. Truth.

Dizzy Skips (37:07)
But I’ve had those occasions where I get out and I’m, jumping and I just can’t seem to shed the day. I’m frustrated something is, or there’s, you know, things that have gone on in my life that have been especially stressful. And for whatever reason, I can’t get out of my head. And I have multiple times in the park in front of other people just sat down on a bench or sat down somewhere. And then I put on the headphones and I put on some sort of meditation music and I will just sit and meditate for like 15 minutes and

and focus on my breathing.

Becky (37:37)
At least you know how to do that though. I’m not sure what I do in those moments. I definitely hear you in a lot of my reels. There is literally what you’ve just described, just sitting there, heading hands.

But I think, because I’m not a deep thinker, I think it’s more just a case of why are you tripping up on your basic rope? Like, you’re such a flat. Like, what is wrong with your feet? Or I’m out of breath and that frustrates me as well because actually I’ve only been jumping for five minutes. Maybe I had too much chocolate yesterday. But yeah, so I totally get what you mean. But there are times when I guess it’s been a bit of a hard day or someone has wound me up and I’m just like, you do just sit there.

Dizzy Skips (37:57)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Becky (38:17)
I suppose I get more annoyed at the rope not doing what I wanted to do. It annoys me. I just wish it would just do what I said.

Dizzy Skips (38:21)
Yeah.

Yeah. Do you ever find that the like changing up the music changes your approach? Like I had this happen the other day where I was jumping to a song and I really liked the song, but for whatever reason, I just felt like I had two left feet and I just couldn’t, I couldn’t skip for more than like 10 seconds without goofing up. And I was getting so frustrated and I, and then I let the song pass and I came to the next song and it was just like, boom, now I’m on it, you know?

Becky (38:45)
No!

Interesting. Maybe I’ll try that method next time, but no, think I don’t think I’ve experienced that actually. I’m generally just more, my brain is not coordinating with my feet for whatever reason. I don’t really think it’s more of song thing, although I did think for one period that there’d been a lot of like breakup songs.

Dizzy Skips (38:58)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Becky (39:14)
And I did think for a second that I wonder if anyone on my news feed thinks that something’s gone on here. It really hasn’t. It just happened to be like a couple of like Linkin Park songs or Avril Lavigne and stuff, like real deep, deep relationship issues. And I was like, this couldn’t be any more opposite.

Dizzy Skips (39:19)
I

Right, right.

Yeah.

I know, I think about that a lot, because I jump to a lot of sad songs, or songs that are know, jilted lover shit, and then I’m wondering, like, if somebody watches this, are they thinking that I’m just miserable all the time, and you know, whatever. I’m just a mopey little, you know, Robert Smith from The Cure.

Becky (39:50)
I don’t have any relationship issues but hooray for those songs!

Dizzy Skips (39:53)
So

Good for you. Yeah, I wish I was in that situation. But so, hey, you mentioned earlier that you had jumped with a friend and how fun that was to kind of do that. I’ve never really jumped with anybody else. And so I’m curious, how did that come about? And and how do you coordinate your jumps together?

Becky (39:59)
It’s perfect.

Yeah.

Well this is, it’s tricky. So we started learning at the same time. her, she is my bestie so I call her my wife which also sounds very confusing for some people. Especially if they don’t really know me. They do I think assume she is actually my wife. Yeah in some ways she is. So she started learning at the same time as me and sadly her dad did have cancer as well so it…

Dizzy Skips (40:30)
Your rope wife, yeah. Yeah.

Becky (40:41)
gave us both focus I think and it if anything solidified our friendship even more because we were spending every day together. We would meet up in the morning and do our jumps and we’d meet up in the afternoon and do our jumps and the kids would be playing in the park in the background while we did our jumps. So we both started on the same level and interestingly what I’ve found since going to a couple of meets is you are either the same sort of jumper or you’re not. Now what I mean by that is you get

Dizzy Skips (40:43)
Mm-hmm.

Thanks.

Mm.

Becky (41:11)
some jumpers that are really good at footwork, some jumpers that are really good at releases or actual wraps, anything, know? But really, we jump the same. Me and her jump the same. yeah, we talk it through really quickly. I mean, there’s been some people on meets I’ve tried to do jump tricks with. I just can’t get it. And I don’t know if it’s a confidence issue, because I know they’re better than me, or they don’t.

Dizzy Skips (41:20)
Yeah.

Interesting.

Becky (41:36)
They’re not making me feel that way, but in my head I feel that way. Or they just jump faster than me. But me and her are like the same pace. So we jump at the exactly same pace. So it’s quite easy, but we talk each other through. So she goes, there’s a lot of, are you starting on your right? No, I’m starting on my left. Ooh, I start on my right. Okay, let’s give it a go on the right. No, let’s try it your way first. There’s a lot of that. And then I guess eventually it just, whether the left or the right start.

Dizzy Skips (41:39)
Sure. Yeah.

Cool.

Becky (42:06)
starts better and we just go from there. But yeah, there’s been a couple of people I’ve not been able to successfully jump with because they transition quicker than me or but then others where it’s just, my god, yes, you are my jumper. You are transitioning the same as me. You are doing stupid open releases like me. I can jump with you. So yes, that’s kind of like how it works. You just talk it through, talk the steps and hope for the best.

Dizzy Skips (42:08)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Becky (42:33)
Hope you catch it.

Dizzy Skips (42:33)
Yeah. And it’s interesting that you point out the different styles that people have because it’s one of the things that I really appreciate so much about the jump rope community is that there’s no one right way. mean, you do it your way, I do it my way, and that’s perfectly fine. And I’ve said before that I think early on when I was jumping, one of my, actually the first person who ever commented on one of my videos was Jenny Just Jump from Sweden.

Becky (43:00)
I love Jenny, she’s so cool.

Dizzy Skips (43:01)
I know, isn’t she just a marvelous person?

Becky (43:04)
The coolest, I would love to just jump into her. That’s probably more realistic. I’d love to bump into her into a gym, that’d be so cool.

Dizzy Skips (43:08)
I, yeah. Right, right.

Yeah, yeah, she’s amazing. And one time I was making just a joke. I it wasn’t really a joke. I was watching her and I made a comment on her video that, you know, I can’t wait to grow up and so that I can jump like you. And she had a response that was really nice. That was like, you know, my jumping is my jumping and your jumping is your jumping. And that’s OK. And and it actually totally.

Becky (43:28)
you

Okay.

Dizzy Skips (43:37)
gave me a little paradigm shift. Like that’s true. It’s okay that I don’t, you know, do everything like everybody else. I think one of our common friends is AaronJumps365. I love this man. my God. But he can tie himself in like the number of crosses and switches. Like it is hard for my brain to process what he’s doing. He does it so fast.

Becky (43:48)
It cracks me up daily.

Which is the only way I can explain Aaron. I watch him and my eyes just literally like twirly-whirly emoji. Sometimes all I can say to him I’m like I don’t know how you just got out of what you just got yourself into.

Dizzy Skips (44:03)
I know.

right? Yeah, yeah, I just I don’t get it. But I love him to death. He’s just such a great guy. But yeah, that is not and there are other people that I’ve watched who are really into like wraps and they can wrap their legs, they can wrap their arms, they wrap around their neck. Yeah, me too.

Becky (44:15)
He is.

I haven’t actually tried wraps yet really, only arm wraps. I’ve been actively avoiding footwork. So this winter I am trying harder to do more footwork because I naturally gravitate towards the jumps, I guess, and the releases. But I really want to be better at footwork because I think it’s quite a good foundation to have. Obviously you need your feet and they need to move. But yeah, I might progress into wraps maybe in the spring.

Dizzy Skips (44:41)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Becky (44:52)
You

Dizzy Skips (44:52)
Yeah. Yeah. I said early, like in the spring, like this is going to be dizzy summer of footwork because I just wanted to get good. And, I’ve got so, so much more to go, but I have done that at the expense of learning, like good rope wrangling. Like my releases are terrible.

You know, I keep clocking myself in the head and stuff, but, but that’s okay. I love the footwork and I don’t think I’m ever going to be one those people that wraps themselves up and does, you know, I can’t even name all the different, there’s the toad and the frog and the turtle and I don’t. Yeah.

Becky (45:25)
Yeah, I like those. They make me cross though. Most tricks make me cross until I’ve got them to be honest.

Dizzy Skips (45:32)
You’re such a happy person, I can’t imagine you cross.

Becky (45:35)
I’m definitely crossed. I think I’ve taken a bit more of a positive attitude towards it recently, maybe because I feel like I’ve levelled up a little bit. But there are definite points where I get really cross and I’m just like, F you then. Don’t even look at me, you stupid rope.

Dizzy Skips (45:42)
Yeah.

Yeah. You said something to her.

Becky (45:52)
If you get that to a rope once don’t look at me.

Dizzy Skips (45:55)
Yeah, I think, yeah, you’re personifying the rope or what. Yeah. So what outside of the enjoyment that you’ve got from it, what is jumping rope done for you? Like, like how has it changed your life or how has it affected you?

Becky (45:57)
like it’s even looking at me.

Okay, so that’s quite a big one really. So, erm, and this is not to make anybody feel bad, but in myself, last Christmas, no, how many years, it doesn’t matter, one Christmas ago, erm, I probably was at my heaviest, my chunkiest, and boy did I know it. So, I’m naturally quite a petite frame, so for…

to have any kind of like extra baggage, you do notice it really quickly. And I don’t know, I suppose one day I saw a picture of me and my belly was hanging over my leggings. I had a glorious double chin and that’s never been me. And I think it was just a real visual of how miserable I felt at the time. I guess I’d…

Dizzy Skips (47:08)
Sure.

Becky (47:09)
unknowingly been comfort eating and not doing any exercise. Snacking at night time, that was terrible. So when I started jumping rope, it didn’t happen overnight, but by the time end of February came and I’d done my 28 days of 100 skips, I was something like nine stone two. And at Christmas prior, I was 10 stone three, something like that.

So I think it was that. So it absolutely knocked my confidence out of the park to the point where I was back in clothes that I wanted. I suddenly decided because I felt better in my actual body, my waist, my legs, I’d get my hair done. And I never paid to get my hair done because it’s so sodding expensive just for it to grow and get cut again. It makes me cross. But I am having, I do have my hair. I’m having my hair done regularly.

And then I also decided I would like to get my teeth straightened. By the time I’m 40, which is next February, I don’t want to have wonky teeth. I’ve always had wonky teeth. I’ve always hated them. I’m a full grown adult earning money. I’m going to get my teeth done. So I’ve been having braces. So if anything, it’s given me the absolute confidence to just be who I am and who I want to be, but continue to not feel like I’m drilling at the gym or.

singing. I liked classes because they involved people but then I was always on somebody else’s schedule and so it was stressful especially with little ones like to try and leave the house and get to that class at the right time. So suddenly I felt like I was doing it for me, doing it on my time and doing literally just doing it for me and and that’s all I do it for and and now I feel like it was shaping who I am and potentially who I want to be in the future which I’ve been investigating lately.

Dizzy Skips (48:50)
Hmm?

Nice. Yeah. I don’t you, don’t you feel like it also snowballs a bit? Like once you start to feel, once you start to lose that weight or increase that confidence or whatever, it’s just almost self perpetuating in a way like, Hey, I did this. I can do that. You know,

Becky (49:00)
Mm-hmm

I don’t know. I guess again this comes into my simple brain. I’m very much like in the here and now so I don’t really feel like it does snowball. I suppose it did in a way because I lost weight, got my hair done, got my teeth done. I’m not getting my eyes done there. I’m quite happy with my glasses. I don’t want someone to strip away the laser of my eye. But no, I think…

Dizzy Skips (49:32)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Becky (49:43)
If anything gets snowboard into can I do this permanently? So I’ve been talking to Chris lately about becoming a qualified PT, which is something I never ever thought I would do. I don’t want to coke yoga or go into gyms or anything, just jump rope and maybe do some workshops with him. and that’s something if someone said to me three years ago, you’re going to be jumping a skipping rope and skipping around the garden with headphones on and.

Dizzy Skips (49:56)
Mm-hmm.

Becky (50:10)
you might even start coaching people, I would have been like, are you alright? Probably whilst munching on a bar of fruit and nut or something, you know? But yeah, so maybe that has spurred on snowboards and stuff, yeah, no. Skinny, skinny now, but skinny wasn’t my goal, it just happened to happen at the same time and make me feel better at the same time.

Dizzy Skips (50:28)
Yeah.

Yeah. I had a similar thing where I, when I moved out to Minnesota from Washington, I, know, the Midwest here in the U S it’s a meat and potatoes place, you know, and there’s, especially where I live in Minnesota and across the river in Wisconsin, there’s lots of cheese and good cheese, you know? And so it’s really easy. I know it’s great. It’s like Wallace and Gromit, right?

Becky (50:55)
love tea.

you

Dizzy Skips (51:01)
But yeah, so I put on some weight and then once I started skipping, it didn’t take too long. I probably noticed after a month or something, wow, my wrists, yeah, just like I’m losing a little weight and I think you’ve heard me joke that I’ve lost like three or four dress sizes.

Becky (51:13)
Same, it’s about the same as me.

Dizzy Skips (51:22)
And actually I’ve had to replace so many of my clothes because just the pants that weren’t that big anyway, but now I don’t fit into any of the clothes that I brought with me, you know? And that has felt good. Even though I’ve had to spend some money on clothes, I kind of like feeling like this and I kind of like seeing, I actually have leg muscles, you know? And I didn’t know that before.

Becky (51:30)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I know what mean.

Yeah. The funniest thing I think I notice most on myself is I’ve got a pair of like, I mean obviously as a jumper you wear leggings a lot and I’ve got a pair of like just basic cotton leggings like your crappy Primark, I don’t know if you’ve got Primark, have you got Primark over there? No, okay. It’s basically a very cheap clove shop and they’re just your basic leggings and they now, I keep them now for sort of real.

Dizzy Skips (52:00)
Think so. Pro mark.

Yeah.

Becky (52:11)
at home comfy days no one’s gonna see you because the weirdest thing I never thought would ever happen to me is they’re baggy on the knees so I look like I’ve got this weird elephant’s knee like where it’s like really creased because my knee just doesn’t fit my leggings but they’re so comfy so I leave them at home and I remember looking down one day I was just standing in the queue at like the supermarket and I was like my god my knees they’re like

Dizzy Skips (52:14)
Mm-hmm.

You

Becky (52:38)
disappeared and I just look like I have this weird saggy knee.

Dizzy Skips (52:42)
Yeah, that’s so funny.

Becky (52:43)
So it’s nice to actually put on leggings that are a bit more tighter now. So I used to avoid them because they used to, you know, give you what we call a muffin top over here in the UK where it like sits over here. And so yeah, it’s done wonders for my confidence for sure.

Dizzy Skips (52:50)
Yeah.

Right, Yeah, I know exactly what you’re saying.

Yeah, that’s lovely. So there are people of all different skill levels in our community, and I think it’s wonderful that people are just coming in. I started in March 1st was when I started my Instagram account and started recording my jumps and stuff.

I mentioned that Jenny came and commented on one of my first videos and gave me encouragement when I know that my jumping was, you know, pants. It was just not great. You know, I was trying and I have to say I respect myself for going out and trying even when it was, you know, 40 degrees or cold outside. But.

Becky (53:34)
Yeah!

Dizzy Skips (53:36)
But for those people who are just starting out and looking at you going, my God, I’ll never be like Becky. What sort of advice do you give new jumpers or what experience could you give to a new jumper who might be what?

Becky (53:48)
I would say definitely try and push past that basic jump. Don’t give up on the basics because I think if you skip the basics you get frustrated really early on and if you don’t have a naturally addictive personality it is easy just to be like God I’m so out of breath I’m not doing this or I’m not learning anything I’m tripping constantly.

there is a real breaking point and I think that is the point where you either give up or you carry on. I think for me it was more just sort of like, God I feel like I’m having an asthma attack even I don’t even have asthma, know? Like get past that point, start jumping but start slowly. Like I would say do 10 minutes a day and feel proud that you’ve done 10 minutes a day. Try and get through those 10 minutes without tripping. mean

Dizzy Skips (54:36)
totally.

Becky (54:39)
Come on, I still trip. I’ve been doing it a long time. Sometimes I still trip up at the basic. And that would be it for me. Don’t give up because the first couple of sessions were shit. It takes time.

Dizzy Skips (54:41)
Yeah. Right,

Right, right. It does. Yeah. I think that’s good. And I like your point about do 10 minutes because I’m the kind of person who wants to go out and do two hours. And I did in the very beginning, you know, like my first few jumps were hours at a time. And it wasn’t that I was jumping. I did. I hurt myself to the point where I couldn’t walk for six weeks and it was miserable, you know.

Becky (55:03)
I’m sorry.

You will hurt yourself.

Yeah and then that’s frustrating because your mind wants to go and jump and your body says you can’t.

Dizzy Skips (55:20)
All I wanted to do was jump or dance or whatever and I just couldn’t. And that’s one of the reasons why when I did get back to jumping, I took it a little slow. And then the videos that I would take of me jumping, I would mess up all the time. But once I messed up, I was dancing. I was happy. I was happy that I was messing up because I could mess up because a few weeks ago I couldn’t even walk, you know, and now I can be out there on my feet and hopping around.

Becky (55:24)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah and I think it’s that old age saying don’t compare yourself you know some people get it really quickly I mean I think there’s jumpers out there that look phenomenal but they’ve been doing it in less time than me but my journey is my journey I will get there when I get there and I think I think it’s important not to think well I’m never going to be like that well who knows maybe you should just keep going see what you can achieve but yeah I mean

Dizzy Skips (55:51)
Yes.

Right.

Becky (56:12)
I think you should look at it admirably, I can never say that word, but you know what mean, rather than I can’t, because you probably can, but it does take time, like everything. I’m terrible at running, but I will never give it a go because I hate running. That’s why I jump rope, because I hate running.

Dizzy Skips (56:20)
Right.

Yeah, yeah. I know, right? Like I was just saying the other day, one of my favorite places to skip is on this limestone bench in this out of the way place of the park, you know, and I don’t see a lot of people out there and that’s one of the reasons I like going out there, but I’ll see dog walkers and occasionally bikers or runners and.

Becky (56:37)
I know, I love it.

Dizzy Skips (56:47)
And biking seems okay, but running just seems so freaking boring to me after jumping rope. Like I will never go run again because I can jump rope. I can dance. can listen to music and have fun.

Becky (56:51)
It does. Yeah.

What I used to love about running and I’m rubbish at running and probably look like a gazelle running as well as I did when I roped but I was fine leaving the destination but bloody hell the realisation I had to run back that I’ve got what so like I’d be all like Forrest Gump on like the first part of the first part of my run and then I’d be like my god I have to run back where I’ve just decided to run

and I hated it. Whereas at least here I can… Yeah, yeah, like I’ll just walk and wish I’d never run. So yeah, I hated running. Whereas at least with Jump Rope, you literally, you have a choice. You go out there, you do 10 minutes, you might fuck it up, but actually go in, fine, have a cup of tea. The next day, you might smash out 45 minutes and actually find that you can do so much more than you did yesterday and still feel just as proud and you’ve run nowhere and you’ve done…

Dizzy Skips (57:26)
You’re like, Uber, Uber.

Yeah.

Becky (57:53)
more work jumping rope than you would have done running 5k so that’s why I love it.

Dizzy Skips (57:58)
Yeah.

Yeah, me too. So I have asked this of everybody I’ve interviewed so far and so far I’ve not got a really good answer. Well, I actually I did get it. Okay answer. But my I get these cravings after I jump rope, you know, and sometimes I am out there for a couple hours or more and whatever, but I will leave and yeah, like food, like food. Yeah. Like, do you ever

Becky (58:10)
They pressed it!

cravings is in food?

munchies.

Dizzy Skips (58:29)
Yeah, do you ever have, do you have repeat cravings?

Becky (58:34)
really, really love crisps. I love crisps. If I was put on a desert island, I really would struggle to choose between chocolate and crisps. I love crisps that much. I think, initially, I went through a real bad period of just having granola and yoghurt all the time. I found it really refreshing, but the crunch was also really nice, which makes me sound like a psychopath. But I really liked it.

Dizzy Skips (58:38)
Yeah.

I totally get it.

Becky (58:58)
And then I realised because it’s a slow release kind of cereal that actually was wired at night and bloated. So I felt like just like an overreactive whale. So I had to stop doing that. But I really could, I really love crisps and Cadbury’s fruit and nut. And I never used to like fruit and nut before I had a granola craving. So now I feel like the chocolate’s replaced the granola.

Dizzy Skips (59:05)
You

Yeah.

Yeah. That’s good.

Becky (59:26)
So I guess so, yeah. You’ve made me think about it now. I wasn’t thinking about it. And I have not, so…

Dizzy Skips (59:30)
Right. I had, I live in a relatively small town, you know, it’s 16,000 people, I guess. And so there’s not a lot of restaurants that are open really late. And especially in the winter time or early spring when it was still cold out, I would jump until, you know, 10 or 11 PM sometimes later. And there’s, yeah. And there’s one little taco shop that’s open in town and they would be open until like 3 a.m. And so I would go there and

Becky (59:51)
That’s late.

Dizzy Skips (1:00:00)
get tacos at midnight. That was my guilty pleasure. I’d reward myself with tacos. But I felt like I’m burning a heck of a lot of calories here. I can handle a few tacos.

Becky (1:00:09)
looking like you were, like you’d had a good night out or something with the munchies but actually no, you’ve just been jumping on a limestone.

Dizzy Skips (1:00:15)
Right, yeah. I’d walk in there all sweaty in my gear and my stretch pants or whatever. Right, Raving in the small town with no, yeah, with no entertainment, but really.

Becky (1:00:19)
He’s been out raving, yeah? Raving.

I’m very similar here though to be fair. My little village is very small so I’m from a bigger town called Kent originally where there are a lot of things that were 24 hours and you kind of get a bit used to that. Here it’s like Sunday’s rest day and you’re like okay well fine I guess you’re closed then or like they even have like service periods so here they’ll be like open for breakfast but they’ll be closed for lunch until the lunch service starts and

Dizzy Skips (1:00:37)
Okay.

Becky (1:00:56)
That throws me all the time. Still now, still now.

Dizzy Skips (1:00:58)
Right? They do it here too. like after COVID, so many, exactly. So many of the restaurants here close on Tuesday. Like Tuesday, they’re just closed, which is weird. And then there’s this one chicken place that’s only open like from.

Becky (1:01:02)
But why are you closed? I’m hungry.

Dizzy Skips (1:01:18)
spring to late fall and they have great fried chicken which of course is you know but great fried chicken but they’re only open till 7 p.m. in the middle of summer and when it’s light till like you know 930 they close at 7 p.m. and like this is Midwest small town I don’t I don’t get it but yeah

Becky (1:01:22)
Thanks

Yeah, very similar here, yeah. There’s not much light life here either, so it’s just as well I’m used to raving in my garden.

Dizzy Skips (1:01:42)
Yeah, well, you rave in your garden and I’ll rave on my limestone bench and we’ll trade videos of each other.

Becky (1:01:47)
I know, if anyone ever gave me a limestone, I’d probably fall off of it to be fair. I think you do really well. You’re like the dirty dancing version. Have you ever seen that?

Dizzy Skips (1:01:51)
Yeah

Dirty Dancing, you know, I don’t think I’ve ever watched the whole show. I’ve seen bits of it. I think I had a girlfriend once who really liked Dirty Dancing.

Becky (1:02:04)
You should watch the clip where she’s like tiptoeing and dancing across the river on some piece of wood. That’s you.

Dizzy Skips (1:02:11)
Is it? Is there, isn’t that the, or no, I’m thinking a flash dance with the chair and the rain and stuff.

Becky (1:02:17)
Yeah, no, that’s a good film, but no, not that one. Dirty Dancing, you should YouTube it, like the clip of her tiptoeing on this piece of wood across this lake. It’s what I think when I see you doing it. And if I was on that limestone, I would have broke my ankle by now, probably.

Dizzy Skips (1:02:26)
Yeah.

You know, in this park there’s seriously probably, I don’t know, good 10 limestone benches around of different lengths and stuff and I’ve jumped on all of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if I have spent more time on those benches than all of the other visitors that have come to Red Wing sitting on those benches combined because I’ve spent hundreds of hours out there this summer.

Becky (1:02:38)
Better.

She wrote her name on them. What’s your favourite one?

Dizzy Skips (1:02:55)
What’s my favorite one? Yeah. Yeah. I have several. You know, the ones that I like, the ones that are the most fun to jump on are the ones that are a little bit longer because I like traveling when I’m jumping, know, like skipping forward and back and stuff. But, yeah.

Becky (1:02:57)
you

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The sunsets that you get are incredible. I think they’re my favourite ones. Yeah, they’re so nice.

Dizzy Skips (1:03:15)
Yeah, there’s some great ones. Last night I was out there and there was a lightning storm and so I posted a few videos in the last 24 hours of me jumping with lightning behind me. Yeah, they’re fun. Well, Becky, I have taken up so much of your time. I really appreciate you coming on the show and talking to me. Yeah, absolutely.

Becky (1:03:24)
I’ll have to check those out.

Mm-hmm.

No, thank you for having me. It’s nice to talk about jump rope because my husband just nods.

Dizzy Skips (1:03:38)
Yeah, that’s my crazy wife and yeah, she loves the jump rope thing.

Becky (1:03:43)
I think he definitely thinks I’m crazy after today’s performance, yes. In my Halloween costume, serving lunch to my children, as you do. It’s coming soon.

Dizzy Skips (1:03:47)
Yeah.

my gosh, yeah. Yes, well, I’m looking forward to the Halloween videos. I have to put together my costume. Yeah, I still have to put together my costume, but that’ll be fun to see.

Becky (1:04:01)
I’m looking forward to putting it together. Yes.

Yes, I can relax jump now because I’ve done my bit so I can just collect everybody else’s lovely jumps and make them into a big reel. I just hope I can fit everyone in.

Dizzy Skips (1:04:13)
Yeah.

Yeah, I saw your preliminary video earlier and it was just so fun. I can’t believe how creative people are and I’m just so, it is, it’s just so great to see all these people that I love jumping in costumes and having fun.

Becky (1:04:25)
It’s lovely, isn’t it?

I know, I was really nervous asking everyone and I did try to pick people that I talked to regularly because I thought at least then I’m not just some wacko that’s asking them to put a costume on and start jumping for me. But I’m really blown away actually by how many people were like, yes, let’s do this, it’s so fun. And I’m just like, yes, I’m not the only weirdo in the costume in the garden. So.

Dizzy Skips (1:04:39)
Yeah.

Yeah, that costume from Mother Moth Jumps that I call her teach. Yeah, my gosh, she is just amazing. She’s so talented.

Becky (1:04:57)
Amazing.

Doesn’t she look really sexy though? I might have watched it too many times. Like I think she just blew me away with her little with her combo and her outfit I just thought it was brilliant. But yeah. Well I hope you have a lovely evening and well yeah I guess evening because it is sort of late afternoon for you. I’m going to bed I guess.

Dizzy Skips (1:05:06)
Yeah.

I have to watch what I say. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining me again, Becky. I just think the world of you and I hope you have a great evening and I hope to talk to you again soon.

Becky (1:05:31)
yes, absolutely. Bye!

Dizzy Skips (1:05:33)
Cheers. Take care. Love.