How I started my ‘Lauren Jumps’ jump rope journey

When I talk about my jump rope story and how I built my Lauren Jumps and Fancy Feats brands, people are always surprised when I tell them why I started.

Most people assume I started for fitness reasons, but I was never a cardio lover!

I loved going to the gym, but was much more into strength training. I found cardio mundane, to be honest.

Then, March 2020 came around, and the UK lockdown started.

The beginning of ‘Lauren Jumps’

I couldn’t go to the gym; I was on furlough and suddenly had all the time in the world.

I knew this would probably be the one chance in my adult life to pour all my time into learning a new skill.

I’d tried jump rope maybe once or twice in my twenties and realised how hard it was.
So, it seemed like the perfect challenge to take my mind off everything going on in the world. Like many people, my mindset had taken a hit during lockdown – and jump roping for my mental wellbeing felt like exactly what I needed to lift my mood and stay focused.

Plus, the weather here in the UK during lockdown was GLORIOUS, so I wanted to make the most of being outside!

Documenting my jump rope journey

A few days after receiving my rope, I started my Instagram profile.

I just wanted to connect with other jumpers, have somewhere to track my progress, and find jump rope inspiration (I never set up that profile thinking that, soon enough, I’d be the one inspiring other people!).

I began following hashtags like #jumprope and #skipping and found a whole community using lockdown as an opportunity to learn something new.

But I did too much jump rope, too soon!

I had so much time to scroll through my phone, find videos of others doing jump rope, have a go myself, film my session, work out what I’d done wrong, have another go…

I did that endlessly: there was a lot of trial and error!

But sadly, I learned the hard way, and ended up with a knee injury from doing too much, too soon. This set me back quite a bit and took me a while to get over.

Despite this, jump rope turned my life around

Despite getting injured, I can honestly look back now and say that that lockdown, and discovering jump rope as a way to get through it, turned my life around.

Beginning my jump rope journey when I did gave me:

A reason to get out of bed when I wasn’t working.
Satisfaction when I unlocked new skills.
Something to focus on.
A way to keep myself active and have fun.

It kept me healthy. It connected me with people around the world. It gave me a sense of togetherness.

And it soon became my therapy.

As I progressed and improved, I gathered a bit of a following on social media; and that led to where we are today, where people starting their jump rope journey for the first time look to my videos for inspiration.

Why I created Fancy Feats

As the world returned to normal, there was an ever-growing community of people who loved jump rope and wanted to progress but didn’t have endless time for trial and error any more.

And that’s why I created Fancy Feats. It’s the resource I wish I had myself during all of those days doing jump rope on my own in my garden.

It helps you learn the right skills in the right order, so even if you’ve only got limited time to dedicate to your practice around your everyday commitments, you can still progress quickly.

Join me on my jump rope journey

The fact that so many of you now follow my journey and either get inspired by what I do or simply feel uplifted watching my videos brings me so much joy.

I am so grateful for the support and absolutely love connecting with you all.

But my jump rope journey is still evolving – and I’d love you to join me!

So, if you’re not yet part of this incredible jump rope community and are wondering how to start jump rope training at home, here are a few ways you can get involved:

• Download my FREE jump start guide. I personally wrote this to help people who are in the same position I was in March 2020.
• Download the Fancy Feats app and join a community of people all over the world learning new tips, tricks, and skills using my video tutorials. If you’re new to the app, you’ll get a FREE 7-day trial!
• Join my FREE Facebook group. There are over 10k incredible people in the community who all encourage each other, give advice, and are there when people need a pick-me-up! It’s an amazing space to be part of