Double Dutch is no longer just kid’s play.
Every Saturday, several adults — mothers, grandmothers, a vegan chef, the inventor of a natural hair care tool and another who works for a television station — gather in the Dance 411 Studios in Atlanta to jump rope for fitness.
It’s an intense hour of exercise that leaves most participants panting, dripping with sweat and longing for those days when their waistlines were smaller and double Dutch was for summer nights outside with friends.
“As a child, it was all fun and games,” said Jamila Crawford, 40, owner of Earth Candy Art. “As an adult, it’s equally as fun, but it’s a workout, too. It’s nostalgic for me. Growing up in New York City, double Dutch was the thing! That’s all the little girls in my neighborhood did.”
For Crawford, of Decatur, it’s also a big stress reliever, and she hopes to soon get her certification as a double Dutch aerobics instructor.
Instructor and Double Dutch Aerobics owner Michelle Clark, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., jumped rope competitively when she was a teenager. She decided to turn her love of double Dutch and teaching into a business that she hopes will inspire others to get fit.
“The treadmill, boot camp, bands — if you’re tired of any of that, this is definitely something to try,” she said. “It burns way more calories than the treadmill. It’s playtime as a workout.”
Clark runs the business with her husband, Sean, who also owns a teleprompter company and had never jumped rope before meeting his wife.
“The more you do, the more your body will get used to it,” she said. “The only requirement is that you be physically able to jump up and down.”
And sturdy sneakers are a good idea, too.
Double dutch is a form of jump rope that involves two “turners” with separate ropes. “The key is to jump high and listen to the rhythm.”
One-two. One-two.
In Double Dutch Aerobics, participants incorporate a combination of routines including squats, jumping jacks, pushups and other arm exercises.
Caroline Thomas-Favors, 41, a mother of a 5-year-old daughter, has taken classes and lost about 10 pounds. She attributes part of that to double Dutch.
She had been looking for a class, but “I couldn’t find anybody in the South who knew how to jump,” said Thomas-Favors, who grew up in metro Atlanta but spent a lot of time in Illinois, where she learned double Dutch. “This makes (losing weight) a lot of fun. It’s absolutely a great cardio workout.”
The coup de grâce, though, is the turn while jumping.
It’s no easy feat.
“I can teach anyone to jump, but turning takes training,” said Clark, who said she will start offering classes several days a week at different sites in metro Atlanta. She is starting a program in New York and hopes to take it to other cities.
And it’s not just for jumping rope.
Many of the movements can be used when participants aren’t actually using a jump rope.
“Remember, whatever you do inside the ropes, you can do outside the ropes,” she tells one class.
