Fast Skipping
Also works: Abductors · Adductors · Calves · Glutes · Hamstrings
A skip run for turnover rather than height: a right-right-left-left step-hop pattern with the feet barely leaving the floor and contacts as brief as you can make them. It trains ankle stiffness and rhythm, which is why sprint coaches use it as the low-amplitude end of a jump programme.
Own the movement
Set up first, then execute. Every cue below is something you can check on your next set.
Before the first rep
- Find 20-30 metres of flat, even ground. A running track or a firm grass strip beats a gym floor.
- Wear shoes with a firm, responsive sole. Thick soft foam absorbs exactly the energy you are training to return.
- Stand relaxed with one foot slightly forward and your arms loose at your sides.
- Walk through the right-right-left-left pattern once at low speed so the rhythm is set before you accelerate.
Every rep
Breathing & tempo — Breathe naturally and rhythmically through each run rather than holding a brace. Aim for ground contacts under a fifth of a second — the run should sound like a fast, even patter, not a series of thuds.
Sets, reps & load
Where to start, and what to change when it stops being hard.
Bodyweight only; ankle weights and vests both wreck the turnover. Progress by fitting more contacts into the same 20 metres, then by adding a run or two — a first session of three runs is sensible if you have never done reactive work. Stop the day's skipping the moment the rhythm turns uneven.
What goes wrong
The errors that show up most often, and the cue that fixes each one.
Cut the amplitude until you are barely leaving the ground and count contacts over a fixed 20 metres instead. More contacts in the same distance is the improvement you want, not more air.
Stay on the balls of the feet with a stiff ankle so the heel only kisses the floor. If the heels keep collapsing, shorten the run to 15 metres and rebuild from there.
Run 20-30 metres, walk back, repeat four to six times. Rhythm and contact speed are the quality markers, and both die in the second minute of continuous work.
Move to a track or firm grass and use a flatter, firmer shoe. Repeated contacts on hard ground in soft shoes is the recipe for shin and Achilles complaints that this drill should never cause.
Why bother
Almost every plyometric asks you to leave the ground as far as possible. This one asks the opposite: stay low, stay quick, and spend as little time on the floor as you can. The work happens at the ankle, where the calf and Achilles behave like a spring that only returns energy if you do not let the heel collapse.
That makes it the lowest-cost entry point in the plyometric family. Ground reaction forces in a low skip are a fraction of those in a depth jump, so you can accumulate contacts and build tendon tolerance long before you are ready for anything from a box.
Where it fits
Best used in the warm-up before running or lower-body training, in 20-30 metre runs with a walk back. Four to six runs is enough. Because the intensity per contact is low, it tolerates two or three sessions a week where a depth jump tolerates one, but it is still a rhythm drill and not a way to accumulate breathless minutes.
If this one isn't it
No kit, too hard, or too easy — here's where to go instead.
Same job, different kit
When this gets easy
Asked and answered
How is this different from skipping with a rope?
A rope keeps your feet together and locks you into the rope's tempo. Fast skipping is a travelling drill with a step-hop pattern, so each leg alternates through a running-like cycle and you can push the turnover as hard as you like. The rope is a conditioning tool; this is a rhythm and stiffness drill.
Should I skip for height or for speed?
For speed, in this version. High skipping is a separate drill with its own uses — it builds hip drive and single-leg force. If you want both, run a set of high skips first when you are freshest, then finish with fast skips for turnover.
Is this enough to count as plyometric training?
It counts, but at the mild end. Low-amplitude skipping builds tendon tolerance and rhythm and is genuinely useful, particularly early in a programme. It will not develop maximal jumping power the way bounds and box work do, so treat it as the foundation rather than the whole structure.
Does fast skipping actually carry over to running?
To the elastic side of it, yes. A large share of the energy in a running stride is returned by the Achilles and the arch rather than produced by muscle, and a stiff, brief contact is what makes that return possible — which is precisely what a low skip drills. What it will not do is make you fitter or lengthen your stride. Use it to sharpen contacts before a run, then go and run.