Introducing Zac Tomlinson, a genuine jump rope star!

Check his page out on instagram https://www.instagram.com/zac_strum/

1.    When did you first pick-up jump rope?

 I first picked up a rope in when I was eight in 2009 while living in Berlin. I found it in our house and just started jumping over and over and over... until I got too hot and turned all the heat in the house off... in the middle of winter. 

2.    What made you stick with it? What is it that you enjoy about Jumping Rope?

In the beginning I think I kept going because it made sense to me and allowed me to practice by myself anywhere and anytime, to which I took full advantage of. As I continued it became more about the possibilities, I could be a break dancer, a gymnast, a parkour athlete, and an artists, all with one rope, so I was never bored. 

3.    How often do you practice, and what would you suggest is best for the average jumper?

I grew up practicing at least two hours three times a week, but it honestly would end up being upwards of 12 hours a week I would spend jumping. Currently I’m limited to just a few minutes a day, on average, just to workshop new ideas and tricks, or just relax and freestyle some rope manipulation. For jumpers who are interesting in developing new tricks and gaining strength/stamina I would recommend at least a dedicated hour three times a week. But I like to leave my rope in a place that I walk by often so I’m ALWAYS tempted. 

4.    Do you have any goals or performance targets as a jumper?

Over the past few years I’ve honestly achieved just about everything I could have ever dreamed of with jump rope. My only two remaining goals are to win 1st place in single rope freestyle at the International Jump Rope Union world competition, which I came one place short of two years ago. And choreographing a circus routine to music of my choosing. 

5.    What else do you do for fitness?

In addition to jump rope, I regularly lift weights to balance out the muscles I don’t use as much in jumping, and also greatly enjoy hip-hop dance and tumbling. 

6.    What advice do you have for someone just starting or thinking about getting started?

Don’t. Get. Intimidated. Jump rope is tedious to learn at first, there are endless tricks and endless styles of doing those tricks. Also, pay attention to why you’re missing, this sounds stupid to say, but it’s honestly they key to fixing any trick.

Spend as much time learning new tricks as you do questioning why those tricks are done like that, and it’s never too early to start making up your own tricks. 

7.    Can you share what effect jump rope has had in your life? What does it mean to you?

Oh man... jump rope hasn’t effected my life, jump rope is my life. Nothing about how I look, how I act, what I do for fun, or even how I view life, would be there without jump rope. I’ve lived in two different foreign countries because of it, and made hundreds of friends in the process. It taught me how to present myself in public with confidence and what it means to genuinely work as hard as you can at something and refuse to stop until it’s perfect. It’s been the cause of new relationships and the cause for relationships to end. It’s been the cause for some of the best moments of my life and the cause for some of the most difficult moments of my life. But most importantly, it has always been there for me without question. If I’m upset, or sad, or don’t know what I’m doing at all, I stop and start jumping while I think through everything, or simply forget about everything.