Traveling 101

This post was inspired by the RelayRides Travel Must-Have's campaign. Because I am the worst, I didn't write this post before the holidays and ended up ignoring my own advice and that's how I found myself in Walmart at 9:30 PM digging around their workout clothes section. Do you know they don't sell shorts in the winter?

I've got quite a bit of travel this month and this time I won't forget these fitness travel essentials.

1) ALWAYS pack one workout outfit in your carry-on. If you don't, your checked luggage will 98.9% of the time make a detour, even when on a direct flight to your grandma's. This is a major bummer when you have the 12 Days of CrossFit early the next morning.

2) Pack lightweight multi-purpose shoes. I love to bring my Saucony racing flats because I can use them for running and CrossFit and they barely weigh anything.

I own the Grid Type A4s but the newer Type A5s are on sale.

You could also spring for the Type A6s but I don't like the colors as much.

3)  Bring a jump rope. If you're into CrossFit, you know how annoying it is to do doubleunders with someone else's rope. And no matter what you're into, you can get a great workout in wherever you are with one simple piece of equipment. I have an Again Faster rope but I covet an RPM Fitness bare cable rope. They're absolutely beautiful and they really hurt if you miss.

Jumping Rope

So back in the early spring, the 23-year-old would be rambling on about something call double-unders and then he would persist in asking how many double-unders I could do every time we had this conversation. My answer never changed from no. It also took me a while to finally ask what the hell a double-under was and I was like, ohhh, I can jump rope, but yeah, "jumping rope" is not the same as double-unders.

The average person expends way too much energy trying to jump rope. Their jumps look like donkey kicks and they jump when the rope is in the air, forcing them to jump higher to clear the rope as it hits the ground. If you jump right when the rope hits the ground, it takes a lot less effort. These are single-unders. I can do these.

Double-unders require the rope to make two full rotations (hence double-under) for each jump. Woah. Mind blowing. The premise isn't difficult but the execution might as well be brain surgery.

I have watched at least an hour's worth of video on the double-under. These are three of my favorites. I am a huge fan of the second one.

So I haven't been able to do a double-under yet but I did track down my old jump rope and get some practice in on my single-unders. Because my mother is a saint, she came outside in the disgusting humid weather on her own volition to videotape me jumping about.

And yes, that is my sorority softball uniform.