One of the most versatile training tools is the faithful skipping rope. Easy to put in your kit bag and just as effective as a cardio warmup as it is for coordination and reaction training.

But where to start? If like may of us you didn't skip during childhood, then to try and master it later on can be a little challenging so we thought we would provide some links to the basics so that anybody can get started, regardless of their current level.

First things first, start with the right equipment. You want a rope that doesn't twist, can easily be adjusted to the right length and has good quality, comfortable handles. Of course we recommend our very own Reactionz Ultra Fast Skipping Rope as it's what we use ourselves.

Next step is to make sure its sized correctly for you. We suggest the following technique:

Step on the rope with one foot, bring your feet together, and pull the rope tight.

1. Bring the handles together and point the top towards your chest. (Only check where the cable ends - do not include the handles with rope size.)
2. You ideally want the cable to reach your sternum or lower pecs.
3. The rope should not go higher than this point.
4. Any longer than this will have too much rope over head, and will slap the ground excessively.
5. Using the adjusters, adjust the cable so that it is meets the above. If you will be the only person using the rope, feel free to trim the cable (refitting the end caps to the newly cut rope) to prevent excess cable swing about when training.

Now to start skipping. We provide some basic instructions in our own brief guide, but actually nothing teaches so well as watching somebody doing, and there are some brilliant resources already available. The video below is one of our favourites and will get anybody looking like Ali in no time. Enjoy!