Don't skip this fitness tip...

[SusieO]

I love it! Sign me up!

[lindrusso]

How funny. Just today my 3-year-old had gym day at preschool. Apparently many of the kids were quite upset because they didn't know how to skip! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[Jessica]

This was in today's Wall Street Journal.

Skipping Exercise Movement Proves
Too Youthful a Pastime for Some

By TIM TOWNSEND
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL


On a recent Saturday, 20 brightly dressed people gathered at the Manhattan end of the Brooklyn Bridge. "What are you protesting?" a tourist asked. "Gravity," he was told. Then the group set out across the bridge, skipping all the way.

In 30 communities from Litchfield, Conn., to Mesa, Ariz., skippers have organized skipping groups as an alternative to running clubs. "Running," says the movement's Web site (iskip.com), "comes from our fight-or-flight reflex, so it is a fear-based activity. Skipping, on the other hand, comes from a place of happiness and joy."

The force behind the jaunty movement is 31-year-old Kim Corbin, a former book publicist in San Francisco. "You wouldn't believe how hard it is for adults to skip," she says. "But when you finally get someone to do it, it's instantly like, 'Why did I stop doing this when I was eight?' "

Some think the inner child that skipping brings out is best left where it was. Jay Owens, the operator of Bringdown.com (bringdown.com), named Ms. Corbin his "Moron of the Month" last December, declaring that "years of dysfunction are behind this chipper skipper, I just know it."

Undeterred, Ms. Corbin has joined forces with Project Fit America, which will send her on an RV tour. She also contacted Skippy Peanut Butter to see if it would be interested in sponsoring her. Said spokesman Tom DiPiazza, "We've reviewed her proposal, and we've decided to skip it at this time."

[BeckyM]

I think this sounds like great fun too!

lindrusso, it's interesting you mentioned about kids learning to skip. When my niece was in kindergarten, she couldn't yet skip, and the teacher thought that was such a big deal that she suggested to my sister-in-law that they have her tested for developmental delays! She's in first grade now and can skip fairly well -- she's just not the most coordinated kid in the world. But she loves to show off her new skill!