Skipping Through Cancer and Into Community – Laura Davidson’s Inspiring Journey (Ep. 34)

Dizzy Skips (01:04)
Well, Laura Davidson, thank you so much for joining me on the Jump Rope Podcast. I’m just thrilled to have you here.

I looked up earlier and you and I have been connected since I joined Instagram and since I created my account in March of 24 and you’ve been supportive of me ever since. And I’ve been watching you and being inspired by you ever since. And so I’m so glad to be able to finally get to talk to you.

Laura Davidson (01:26)
Yeah, I’m excited to talk to you too. I feel like I already know you a little bit, so.

Dizzy Skips (01:30)
Yeah, that’s what I love about this podcast is getting to know people a little bit more. I just know like when I finally do make it to a meetup, there’s going to be a lot of hugging, you know.

Laura Davidson (01:39)
Yes, for sure.

Dizzy Skips (01:41)
So a couple things I have to tell you that I love about you is your relentless positivity. Like you’re so positive and supportive of people all over the globe. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been talking to skippers, friends, whether it’s on the podcast or not, and your name comes up. People just love you. And you provide so much inspiration and you’re so positive and helpful and it just comes through in everything you do. So thank you.

Laura Davidson (02:05)
Oh, that’s very nice of you to say. Thank you. Yeah, I love actually finding new jumpers online. I really enjoy watching people’s progress and seeing them grow and learn new things. So yeah, I love to follow new people.

Dizzy Skips (02:08)
Yeah.

Yeah, it’s fun, isn’t it? Yeah, I was kind of mystified when I joined and people were following me and I was like, wait, you’ve seen me jump, right? Like I’m not doing anything special here. And people are like, you’re doing good. And, I’ve learned that as I’ve gotten a little better, it’s fun to watch people who entered at the same point I did and sort of live that feeling of, my gosh, yeah, I got a boxer skip, you know, like that’s amazing. Yeah.

Laura Davidson (02:47)
Yeah, yeah,

It’s a lot of fun to watch people kind of succeed and yeah, I’m the cheerleader. I’m happy to cheer people on. ⁓

Dizzy Skips (02:54)
Speaking of cheerleader,

you are a fantastic cheerleader for Jump4Joy100, which just ended this last weekend, right?

Laura Davidson (03:00)
Yes, that was fun. That was a lot of fun. We had such a big group this time. It was hard to kind of keep track of everybody, but yeah, it was a lot of fun to see both really seasoned people and brand new jumpers kind of join in together and seeing kind of the experienced people really help the new people. So yeah, it was a lot of fun. It was a great group.

Dizzy Skips (03:05)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Do you know how many people ended up participating?

Laura Davidson (03:27)
I want to say it was like 134, something like that, 25 countries, I think. So yeah.

Dizzy Skips (03:31)
Yeah.

Yeah, I know the

group chat the first few days I tried to keep up and then I was like, my gosh, I might have to shut off notifications here because it’s just so much going on, which was great.

Laura Davidson (03:44)
Yeah, yeah, the chat got really busy sometimes. It was definitely hard to keep up and I tried my best, but yeah, there were some days where I just couldn’t scroll back enough to catch up on everybody, yeah. ⁓

Dizzy Skips (03:56)
Yeah, yeah, I

know what you mean. So where are you located in the world?

Laura Davidson (04:00)
I’m in the Midwest, Midwestern United States. live in Indiana and kind of just central, just north of Indianapolis.

Dizzy Skips (04:07)
North of Indianapolis, okay. I haven’t spent a lot of time there. I’ve been through like Gary, Indiana. I think the most fun I’ve had in Indiana is in Pawnee with the Parks & Rec folks. Did you ever watch Parks & Recreation?

Laura Davidson (04:10)
Just not her.

No, I actually haven’t.

Dizzy Skips (04:22)
my gosh, fun show. It takes place in a fictitious Indiana town with a very fun cast done by the same people that do The Office.

Laura Davidson (04:24)
Okay.

Okay, yeah, I definitely need to check that out. I’ve heard about it.

Dizzy Skips (04:34)
Yeah, it’s fun. And, so you just retired, is that right?

Laura Davidson (04:38)
Yes, just like about five weeks ago. Yes.

Dizzy Skips (04:41)
my gosh. Congratulations.

That’s got to feel different, huh?

Laura Davidson (04:45)
Yes, newfound freedom. I still kind of feel like I’m just on vacation. You know what I mean? It really hasn’t sunken in that I’m not going back to work, but I’m actually going back to work to see my work friends actually next week. So, yeah, just for lunch and a visit, yeah.

Dizzy Skips (04:49)
Yeah.

Just for a visit, but not for work, work. There

you go. So has your jump rope routine changed yet? Since you’ve got more time, or I’m assuming you have more time.

Laura Davidson (05:09)
I have a lot more time. Yes, it has changed a lot. mean, you know, in the hundred days trying to squeeze in jump rope every day, you know, when you’re now we were going into the office quite a bit more. So I have a 45 to an hour commute each way. So, you know, I used to skip when I worked from home in the morning. So that was easy. But now that I’m driving to work or was driving to work, really cut into it. So I’d have to do that in the evening, which I really don’t like as much.

Dizzy Skips (05:39)
Yeah.

Laura Davidson (05:40)
But now I have a lot more free time and I’m kind of exploring some different gyms in the area, trying to find, you know, which gym has a good spot for jumping. It’s not in everybody’s way and checking some things out on classes and things like that. So I have a lot more flexibility now.

Dizzy Skips (05:51)
Mm-hmm.

Cool.

When you say classes like jump rope related classes or other fitness classes.

Laura Davidson (06:01)
I wish. No, just like fitness classes. Just to kind of mix it up a little bit and do some different things. Get some strength training, weight training in. I took a step aerobics class, which I haven’t done in like 30 years. So yeah, do some different things too.

Dizzy Skips (06:12)
Yeah. Was that fun?

Yeah. so you’re, a Crossrope athlete.

Laura Davidson (06:21)
Yes, yes.

Dizzy Skips (06:22)
Yes, and you recently

were a finalist in their casting call, right?

Laura Davidson (06:27)
Yes, crazy. Yes, I was selected as their female participant in the casting call. They had two male winners and myself. And actually we just were in Raleigh, North Carolina, I think just a week ago and did all the recording in one day, lots of video, lots of jumping, photos. It was a lot of fun. It was a great experience.

Dizzy Skips (06:48)
Yeah?

That’s really cool. are they going to use all of that footage in commercials or in like marketing?

Laura Davidson (06:57)
Yes, they’ll be using it in their social media and marketing and different advertisements, things like that. And actually, one of the guys that was one of the winners, he actually already is in an ad already. So that was, yeah.

Dizzy Skips (07:08)
yeah? Cool. I wonder if

I just saw that ad. I got a cross-rope ad served to me earlier and it was one of the cross-rope guys talking to another guy as if he didn’t know what the jump rope was.

Laura Davidson (07:20)
No, this one I think is just a still photo, ⁓ the younger guy holding out the ropes and it’s something like get and in parentheses your dad off the couch. Like Father’s Day related, but it was yeah, awesome ad. So I was just getting ready to, I took a snapshot of it and was going to send it to him because now we’re connected. ⁓ But he already had it and he posted it. So that was pretty

Dizzy Skips (07:22)
Okay.

Okay.

That’s great.

Cool.

So was that nerve wracking to go to a photo shoot for jump rope and have to like jump live in front of other people?

Laura Davidson (07:50)
Yes, jumping in front of people is not too bad. But when you’ve got three photographers around you and just kind of generating some attention in the park, ⁓ little little nerve wracking, and then they were videotaping. And so it’s like, okay, I said, what do you want me to do? Like, just do whatever you want. So, okay, well, you know, trying to mix up some footwork and stuff like that. And then, you know, there’s still

Dizzy Skips (07:59)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Laura Davidson (08:14)
video recording, I’m like, oh, I’m just gonna keep going. I was, know, whoo, I got winded because I’m not used to going for like, you know, two minutes or something. So that was a little a little different than my normal workout. But it was a lot of fun. Got to use some different ropes. Use the ropeless ropes, which are way more of a workout than people realize. Then they have the spin jumper. And I had, yeah. Well, if I don’t know my age group,

Dizzy Skips (08:19)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yes.

What’s the spin jumper?

Laura Davidson (08:43)
There used to be this thing, was like a lemon skippet. It had a little lemon on it. It went around the way. Yes, they have a version of that that’s like on a wheel. So the wheel goes around, but yeah. So we played with that. So yeah, it was a lot of fun. It was a full day. Met some really great people at Crossrope, met the owner, got to jump rope with Jenica the night before, ⁓ one of the Crossrope athletes.

Dizzy Skips (08:47)
Yeah, that you put around your ankle and it would go around in a circle. Okay. ⁓

Yeah.

Nice!

Wow.

Laura Davidson (09:09)
up with her. We jumped in the hotel gym together. Yeah, was the

Dizzy Skips (09:12)
Yeah. So

that, that sounds really fun. I know I did a photo shoot a little while ago and the problem that I had was we met at 6 a.m. to hike up the side of this big hill to do a sunrise photo shoot. And it was 6 a.m. and I had stayed up late and I forgot my headphones and I jumped to music all the time. And so the photographer was ready and I’m looking like I normally have like four pair of headphones with me in case, you know.

Laura Davidson (09:40)
Mm-hmm.

Dizzy Skips (09:40)
didn’t have one. And so I was like, I hope you don’t mind. I’m just putting music on my phone, throw it on the ground and just start doing my thing right in front of her. She was fine with it. It was great. But yeah, it is. It’s funny how I’ve gained a little bit of confidence with the jumping rope. Like I don’t care about jumping in front of people so much anymore. Whereas before, like a few years ago, before I started this, I would have just shriveled and died before I would have done that. You know? Yeah.

Laura Davidson (09:51)
Yeah.

Yeah, some

situations I feel a little awkward like they’re doing that my neighbor next door is building a deck and there’s guys out in their backyard like all day building a deck and I’m like, maybe I’ll come around the side of the garage or I’m not. I don’t know. But most of the time it doesn’t bother me too much.

Dizzy Skips (10:11)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. so I’m curious, like, aside from this photo shoot and stuff, how has being a Crossrope athlete affected your jump rope journey?

Laura Davidson (10:31)
You know, I got those ropes pretty early on. And I think it really helped just develop the skill of the jump rope because they’re weighted and, you know, having a little, as you know, having a little more weight to your rope kind of helps with the momentum and getting your form down. Sorry. Yeah, so I think that got me started. And plus they have all of these workouts on their app.

Dizzy Skips (10:46)
Right, get that extra feedback.

Laura Davidson (10:55)
So different kinds of, you jump and then you do some body weight exercises and now they have like dumbbells and kettlebell workouts and all these different options. it’s kind of like, if I couldn’t like think of something to work on today, I’m like, I’ll just find a little workout here and kind of dial in how long you want to go or how hard, how difficult you want the session to be. And then yeah, just knock out a workout. So, it’s more fitness jumping. So.

Dizzy Skips (11:12)
Sure.

Mm-hmm.

That’s great.

Laura Davidson (11:24)
I of feel like I enjoy both. So I enjoy the fitness Crossrope, weighted rope aspect and it’s kind of more simple moves, right? Cause their weighted ropes are kind of stiffer. You can’t do all kinds of tricks with them, but you can do enough things with them and you can get a really good workout if that’s what you’re looking for. And then of course, like the beaded ropes and the PVC ropes are great for tricks and things like that. So I kind of feel like I live in both worlds. I do both.

Dizzy Skips (11:26)
Yeah.

Sure.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, totally.

Laura Davidson (11:52)
So yeah, it’s nice variety. Thanks.

Dizzy Skips (11:54)
Yeah,

I don’t, I don’t have a Crossrope yet, but I think you also have a Hererope or you have used a Hererope and the one I have is in similar build to a Crossrope. And one thing I learned is yeah, releases are risky.

Laura Davidson (12:05)
Yes, it is.

Yes, and I have the amp handles. I don’t know if you know they’re Bluetooth connected. So they track how fast you’re going and all these different data and metrics, which I geek out on. But yeah, that one has a little Bluetooth device in the handle. So I don’t dare throw that anymore. Like that’s too expensive to be tossing around. Heavier handles. Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (12:14)
I’ve heard of them. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, I suppose you don’t want to break that.

Yeah. And it doesn’t critique your releases or anything like that. It just counts your skips, right?

Laura Davidson (12:36)
Yeah, it kind of counts your speed, like how fast you’re moving, like beats per minute kind of thing. So that’s kind of nice to know, like how fast you’re going and how many calories and you know, those kinds of metrics. And then they have a leaderboard too. So if you’re just jumping, it’s a lot of fun, you can see yourself on the leaderboard. So you’re kind of like, oh, 10 more skips, I just passed that person. Okay, I got 15 skips, I passed that person. And then it’s very motivating, let me tell you.

Dizzy Skips (12:41)
That’s interesting.

Yeah.

Yeah. I don’t know if my OCD would let me ever quit.

Laura Davidson (13:04)
Thanks.

That’s exactly, yeah. And for me, it’s like, okay, so I pass the next person. Okay, well now I’m at, you know, let’s say 1400 jumps. Well, that’ll just make it around 1500, right? And then I hit, but I’m like, you know, 20 minutes. Well, let’s just get to 20, you know, whatever. So yeah, I just keep you going.

Dizzy Skips (13:18)
Yeah. So close to 2000.

Yeah.

Yeah. So you mentioned looking for gyms to skip in. In your videos, I’ve seen you skip outside. I’ve seen you skip inside. Why is it in particular that you’re looking for a gym to skip in?

Laura Davidson (13:37)
I mean, I have a really nice basement, so I can’t do a lot of flow stuff that requires movement because I’m going to hit the ceiling. But honestly, now that I’m retired, I think I’m going to need to get out of the house. yeah, I skip. I have a nice patio I can skip outside and in the basement. yeah, I’m just thinking, you know, I’m going to want to get out of the house. So kind of looking for a gym that would have a space, you know, to accommodate that.

Dizzy Skips (13:39)
Thank

Sure.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Totally.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. That makes total sense to me. I love skipping outside or at least getting out, you know, like I work from home and so I’m here all the time. And so when I can go to the park and lose myself for a few hours, it’s the best.

Laura Davidson (14:18)
Yeah, that’s great. Yeah, skipping outside is the best for sure. ⁓

Dizzy Skips (14:21)
I totally love it. Yeah.

Even when it’s raining or snowing or whatever, I just dig it. So Laura, when did you start jumping?

Laura Davidson (14:26)
Yeah.

I think actually look this up. I ordered a rope off Facebook in 2020, I think the end of 2020. And it was a terrible little plastic coated wire rope that was too long, had no weight to it. And I really struggled to learn how to jump rope. I like to do some basic bounce for a long time. But that’s kind of what started it. But then I don’t know, I don’t even know why.

that actually was fun for me, but it was just to jump. And so I started seeing ads for different things, jump rope, started learning more, finding like @kathyjumps and Lauren on Instagram, and then ended up ordering a beaded rope. And so that, you know, kind of changed things and then ordered Crossrope, and then I just got hooked. And then now I have just crazy number of ropes, but they’re all different, right? They’re all just a little different.

Dizzy Skips (15:01)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that’s actually

one of my questions for you is how many ropes? It’s right on my screen. How many ropes, Laura?

Laura Davidson (15:29)
I don’t know, I’d have to go count. My husband would say like 100, but I really don’t have that many. But I don’t know, I mean I was coming on, you know, at a time where jump rope was becoming, you know, kind of popular. And there are a lot of rope companies coming out and they were having a lot of giveaways and they were sending out a lot of free ropes. So I have a lot of ropes that I did not have to pay for. I’ve been gifted a lot of ropes. So that’s a lot of what I have, ⁓ as well as some of the Crossropes that I’ve got.

Dizzy Skips (15:31)
I don’t either. Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Laura Davidson (15:59)
So yeah, I have a lot. I don’t know. I don’t want to guess that I never.

Dizzy Skips (16:02)
Yeah, yeah, I know.

Yeah, I have an embarrassing number as well.

Laura Davidson (16:07)
It’s

in that category. Embarrassing.

Dizzy Skips (16:09)
Yeah, I have been giving them away though.

Laura Davidson (16:12)
been lucky. Yeah, I’ve been given a few away to try to get people interested and yeah, nice.

Dizzy Skips (16:17)
Yeah.

Yeah. Have you noticed over time, like you’ve developed affinity for certain builds of rope, like not just brand, like with beaded ropes, I have some that are heavier and some that are lighter and things like that. And over time, my stable of go-to ropes gets smaller, you know, cause I get, I’ve kind of found what I like.

Laura Davidson (16:30)
Okay.

Yeah, I do prefer a beaded rope that’s just a little bit heavier. So yeah, I mean, you know, if I want to call out my favorites, I’d say Coach Chris with thick cord is a favorite. have like many colors, a couple different colors. And then recently I just got the Crossrope beaded rope, which is Kathy Jumps beaded rope. She talked about a lot. I love that one too. The handles are amazing. They’re kind of grippy.

Dizzy Skips (16:48)
Yeah.

Yep.

They’re

different, aren’t they?

Laura Davidson (17:04)
Yeah, they’re different and I seem to be able to do releases better with that. Well, and with the Coach Chris too, but definitely having a little more weight in the beaded rope makes it makes it good for me at least.

Dizzy Skips (17:11)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I ordered, well, you know, I think you heard the episode with Coach Chris right after I got off the line with him, I ordered a couple of his ropes I haven’t got his ropes yet, but I’m looking forward to it because I’ve heard such good things about the weight of them. the, no, I haven’t tried one before. No, but

Laura Davidson (17:29)
So you haven’t picked one before. ⁓ OK. Get ready.

Get ready for your new favorites coming. I predict it.

Dizzy Skips (17:37)
Yeah. Yeah.

Well, I’m already trying to think of names for them, you know, because I have to name my ropes. So when you, when you started with that less than perfect rope, was it, did you fall in love with it? Even though it was not your favorite rope? mean, like, was it enough to get you hooked?

Laura Davidson (17:43)
⁓ yes you do.

I guess, yeah, it was. And I don’t know why really, but yes, I remember distinctly, you know, I had like a plastic acrylic chair thing, you know, for when it’s on carpet. So I had that on top of the carpet and I would just spin that little rope and do nothing but basic bounce. I guess I kind of remember trying to go fast, but that’s all I could do for a while. And yeah, I don’t know why some things still made that joyful for me and I would pick

Dizzy Skips (18:13)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Laura Davidson (18:24)
over getting on the elliptical machine.

Dizzy Skips (18:26)
Gosh, yeah, I’m with you. Yeah, I did this. I did a very similar thing where I went to a local sporting goods store. think it’s called Dunham’s and I bought a, a rope and it was, you know, a cheap, very, very flimsy. And it wasn’t even a wire in the middle. It was more like fishing line, you know, just like a thread. and I broke one of the handles on that pretty quickly, but I had a ball with it until I broke it. It only just, it just took a week, you know, yeah.

Laura Davidson (18:28)
Ahem.

Yeah.

Yeah,

yeah, they don’t last so long, some of those.

Dizzy Skips (18:56)
I’ve broken handles on some of the brands that say they have indestructible handles because I’m kind of hard on ropes. How did you start learning? When you really were like, “hey, I’m to get good at this,” how did how did you approach learning?

Laura Davidson (19:08)
You know, I think I just really focused on Instagram. I was just watching people, watching tutorials, trying to learn things on my own. And that, you know, works a little bit, but you you listen to enough people that know what they’re doing and you kind of take in those tips of where to put your arms and all of that. So yeah, I pretty much just learned everything on Instagram and now I’m discovering there’s a whole bunch of stuff on YouTube too, which would have been a lot easier.

than me just looking at my little phone all the time. ⁓ But yeah, and then I did, I have taken two lessons, which I, which were good. I enjoyed those, but I just never, you know, trying to get it scheduled was a bit of a hassle. And I found that to be very, very good. It was a very good training session. So I’d like to pick those back up actually.

Dizzy Skips (19:40)
Yeah.

Now that you’re retired, hey, yeah. Yeah, that’s great. So I wanted to ask you about meetups, because you’ve been involved in a few meetups and I’ve seen pictures I know you went last year to New York, right? And met with Kathy and Peta and Brandy and all sorts of, Anna and all sorts of people, right?

Laura Davidson (20:01)
I I have a lot more freedom to do that now. Yeah.

Yes, I went to New York last year. It was a lot of fun. mean, I, well, let me take it back. Let’s not take it back, but let me go back a bit. I actually attended one meetup in, I think it was 2021 and I was a new jumper. I didn’t really have any skills and I didn’t know anybody. So I hadn’t really connected even on Instagram with most of these. They were all on the West coast and they all knew each other. So I show up at this meetup.

you know, and I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t have any skills, but I was just like floored at how they all just came together. Were doing these crazy tricks. So I met Rhea and Eunice and Chasey boy, Chase and Quincy, several of those guys out there. And that was a lot of fun, but I will tell you going to New York was a different experience because I had already connected with a lot of people through Instagram.

and felt like I knew them like Brandy and Peta and @doc.jumps and Pam ⁓ and so many others. so going there, I felt like I was meeting up with all my friends and we all like got hotel rooms together. like Dana, had, I had never met her before and we shared a hotel room and like I was sleeping when she came in and I was up and out of the room before she got up. And it was just kind of a weird thing, but you know, this little jump rope thing.

Dizzy Skips (21:25)
Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

Laura Davidson (21:48)
connects us and you just feel like you just get to know people and then seeing them person is just like, it’s just was incredible. And Kathy Jumps, mean, I was so starstruck meeting her and she was just amazing. But yes, so many people, Marie, I have known Maria forever. we were in a little jump rope group that was shortly after I started as well. So I’ve been chatting with her for like four years.

Dizzy Skips (21:50)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Laura Davidson (22:15)
finally meet her was amazing too. So it’s great. You gotta do it. You gotta do it sometime.

Dizzy Skips (22:19)
Yeah, I…

Yeah, totally. I’ve actually even sent a message over to Kathy saying, right, you gotta let me know when the next one happens, because I will move mountains to get out there, you know. I think that would be so much fun. There’s a introverted part of me that thinks like, scary, scary, but also when I see these pictures of everybody jumping together, it just looks like the most fun thing you could ever do.

And now when I look at these videos, I know everybody and I’m like, friend, friend, friend.

Laura Davidson (22:48)
Exactly. It’s totally different when you’ve already made connections with people and then going to meet in person and you just pick up right where you left off, you know, and it’s great. I I loved it.

Dizzy Skips (23:03)
Yeah,

that’s cool. And you’re, are you also planning to go to London in July for the July 5th meetup?

Laura Davidson (23:09)
Yes, yes, Peta and I have been scheming on this for probably close to a year. Um, we reached out to Coach Chris and we had set the date with him a long time ago and have been like secretly trying to get people excited about it and, uh, coming to it. So yeah, I, I can’t believe I talked my husband into it, but I had to make it into like a whole trip. So we’re going to be in London for five days and then we’re going to go to Amsterdam for five days. So it’ll be like, you know, European trip and.

Dizzy Skips (23:36)
Nice. That’s

great.

Laura Davidson (23:39)
meet up there’ll be a day maybe two with everybody.

Dizzy Skips (23:42)
That’s great.

I used to work for a Dutch company and so I spent some time in Amsterdam and it’s a really interesting town. I just think it’s beautiful.

Laura Davidson (23:51)
Yeah, I’ve never been there. I was in England once for work, but didn’t really get a chance to go see anything. So I’m excited to go. And actually, my brother and sister-in-law are coming too, so it’ll be lot.

Dizzy Skips (23:58)
Yeah.

Cool, that sounds like so much fun. So one thing you have on your profile that is interesting and I would like to hear more about is that you’re a cancer survivor. If I’m correct, you’re a two-time cancer survivor, right?

Laura Davidson (24:13)
That’s right. That’s right. Two-timer. Yes. It’s been 18 years now. Long time. But yes, went through breast cancer treatment twice. And I think, you know, the important message there is number one, I’m like the poster child for early detection. So ladies, get your mammograms. ⁓ I had a mammogram at 40 and it was normal and it went back a year later and it was not normal. So that’s why you don’t

Dizzy Skips (24:30)
Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

Laura Davidson (24:39)
skip those, you gotta go. And then, you know, do your self-exams, make sure you know your body and, you know, I found a lump two years later and it was cancer again. So it’s really important. I think it’s really important to take care of ourselves and make sure that we’re, you know, living a healthy, happy lifestyle. ⁓ So I think that also, you know, makes me more motivated to make sure that I’m

Dizzy Skips (24:59)
Mm-hmm.

Laura Davidson (25:04)
eating well and exercising and doing something for my bone density and jumping is fantastic. It really turned mine around actually after all the treatment that I had for my cancer. ⁓

Dizzy Skips (25:07)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, no kidding.

Yeah,

you had a difference in bone marrow readings, right? Like you actually had testing done.

Laura Davidson (25:25)
Yes, yes, they do a bone density test every other year for me just because my cancer was early on and because of the type of cancer I had and I had it twice, I had to have my ovaries removed. So I went through menopause at a very early age before I normally would. So, you know, your bone density drops as you become postmenopausal.

Dizzy Skips (25:41)
Yeah.

Okay.

Laura Davidson (25:47)
And so

I ended up having to start treatment because my bone density continued to drop over the years. And I went on treatment and I came off and it kind of went up a little bit and then it was just kind of steady. But once I started jumping rope, though, it continued to climb, which is amazing without any additional treatment. So that’s been super helpful. So I definitely will carry that flag, ladies. You need to be jumping even if it’s just without a rope.

Dizzy Skips (26:12)
Yeah.

Laura Davidson (26:14)
Just 100 jumps a day. I’ll help your bone density. Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (26:16)
Yeah.

Yeah, that’s incredible. That impact that constant impact, right, is just kind of building things up. I know when I used to do martial arts, this Sifu that I had this instructor, he had done martial arts since he was a kid and his bones were like adamantium. I mean, they were just like steel. We would do these, you know, arm things where it strike arms together. And it was just like hitting a brick wall, like a really hard brick wall.

But he couldn’t float in the swimming pool. Put him in a swimming pool and he was just on the bottom like that. Right.

Laura Davidson (26:47)
Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (26:48)
well, congratulations for making it through cancer. That’s, I mean, I think your tips are fantastic. And, as someone who has relatives that have gone through that kind of thing, I know how horrifying and unsettling and, just

disconnected you can feel and alone. I mean, even though there’s a lot of people that go through this, it’s something that you’re dealing with yourself. And so I love to see people get through it and then broadcast a positive message.

Laura Davidson (27:16)
Yeah. And I will say, you know, is the jump rope community is amazing. So supportive. would say the breast cancer community is pretty darn close to that. ⁓ Cause I have been on discussion boards with ladies that are dealing with metastatic terminal cancer and they are still lifting up the next person, helping them, giving them tips. mean, it’s very similar community. Like, you know, nobody goes through this alone.

Dizzy Skips (27:24)
Yeah.

Laura Davidson (27:42)
People are very supportive. So I would say the community there is, is amazing too. Just like the jump rope community. Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (27:48)
That’s great. ⁓

Like with the Jump for Joy 100, how many times have you done challenges yourself?

Laura Davidson (27:57)
I’ve done at least two of the 100 day challenges with Peta and I’ve probably done some shorter ones too, know, 30 day challenges, things like that. So quite a few, guess, but and even like non jump rope related. So I’ve actually kind of started a few like plank challenges and things. Yeah, just fun to get other people involved. And at least for me, it helps with accountability. It’s like, hey, I’m

Dizzy Skips (28:16)
cool. Yeah.

Sure.

Laura Davidson (28:25)
joining this group and we’re all doing a plank every day. So I got to do it, right? can’t, it keeps you accountable for sure.

Dizzy Skips (28:30)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, I have no problem getting out and jumping most of the time, but the Jump for Joy 100 challenge, which I participated in, there were a few nights, well, like a podcast production night where I was up late and I was like, I still got to jump. And, you know, I went and kind of threw the rope a few times and it’s like, all right, that was actually jumping. It wasn’t much, but I’m curious about like your jumping happy place. Like if you can just go out and skip and have fun, what does that look like for you? Is there music?

Laura Davidson (28:47)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, okay. You and I are very similar with this. I am all about the music. I will put on a good song and just skip and just kind of freestyle. And actually a lot of the things I do even on Saturday song, I’ll just kind of make it up as I go. ⁓ But I love doing that. I get lost in the music, in the beat. I’m always looking for a new song to jump to. So I always jump with music.

Dizzy Skips (29:18)
Mm-hmm.

Laura Davidson (29:27)
And it’s mostly freestyle. really wish actually, there’s a long list of things I wish I could learn or I would like to learn or I will plan to learn. But it’s always like, this is a good song. I’m just gonna skip to the song, right? And then I don’t really ever get to, I should look at that tutorial and I should drill this thing that I’m not good at. But just music kind of takes over and then I just get lost.

Dizzy Skips (29:29)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

I know totally what you mean. There’s just something magic in the flowing, isn’t there? I mean, it’s just that, that, and I’ve said it here before, like Sarah Marshall said that once she gets the rope going, she’s in her force field. And I feel that, you know, like get that force field going and yeah, sometimes my brain saying, Hey, you should be working on EB swings or whatever, you know, like, yeah, I’ll do that. But right now I’m just going to rock.

Laura Davidson (30:06)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, get it. Totally. Yeah, just like that. Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (30:16)
Yeah. Do you

have a curated playlist or do you add songs to playlists for your jumping?

Laura Davidson (30:24)
Actually, you know, I have a Apple music, so I just add things to my, I just download my list, but my whole music is all for jump rope. I mean, every now and then I’ll find a song that was like, okay, this is definitely not for jump rope. But for the most part, I don’t even have a separate playlist because pretty much all of my music is, is something that’s got a good beat somewhere between like 120 and 170 beats a minute.

Dizzy Skips (30:30)
favorites.

Yeah.

Yeah, that’s a speedy pace. 170 beats a minute. Yeah. Yeah. I love the speed too. I’ve done the same thing. I guess I use Spotify. I have used Apple Music before. And in both cases, I would make playlists for like the week, you know, like, and I would add songs because the problem I would have is that I would, if I just go with my favorites playlist and I let it play,

Laura Davidson (30:54)
Yeah, yeah, I can do a little bit there. Not a lot.

Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (31:18)
I don’t always announce what it is that I’m skipping in front of it. And so then later on I’m like, okay, the beat here, I’m dancing to like this, what was that?

Laura Davidson (31:25)
I’ve run into that where I recorded a nice segment I want to use or something. And then I’m like, I have no idea what song it was, you know, try to go back through the history to figure out what I was, what I was jumping to. That was the one benefit of actually driving into work was that, you know, I would listen to music and then, I need to download that song. need to download. So it gave me some, you know, some music choices to add in.

Dizzy Skips (31:32)
Yeah.

Yeah, I’ve totally had to do that.

you

Yeah.

Yeah. your music taste is pretty wide too. I think you’ve commented on some of the heavier music that I’ve jumped to. I think I did Soundgarden one time and you made a comment about Soundgarden.

Laura Davidson (32:04)
like all kinds of music. I mean, I like old retro 70s stuff. I like, you know, like Soundgarden, some of that 80s 90s. And, you know, some of the new stuff, I like kind of electronic music, I’ll listen to country music. So yeah, I listen to it all really. And, know, you know, depending on the beat, even a slow song, you double time, you can you can skip to that too. Yeah. Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (32:06)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I love doing that. It’s a lot of fun. And

it’s kind of arty in a way to take a song that’s really slow and to try and work a speedy skip into it and make it look smooth. I don’t know that I’ve ever done that, but I try.

Laura Davidson (32:37)
Yeah.

I think

you have. Because I know some of your music can be kind of like a little slower and moody, but you’ll skip fast to it. Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (32:45)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah, I have a lot of fun trying to find the beat or the half beat or double time it or stuff like that. Yeah. Are you a musician?

Laura Davidson (32:52)
Yeah, that’s the fun part.

No, I’m not a musician, but I was in marching band in high school, but I was in the flag corps, so I twirled the flag. So I kind of know about being able to listen to the beat ⁓ and learn routines and things like that. But yeah.

Dizzy Skips (33:07)
Yep.

Yeah. And

you got pre-qualified with the twirling, right?

Laura Davidson (33:12)
Yeah, I guess, yeah.

Dizzy Skips (33:15)
So what is the weirdest place that you’ve ever jumped rope?

Laura Davidson (33:18)
Weirdest place. So one year we took a vacation in the summer to a ski resort and of course there was no skiing going on but I did climb up on a ski lift. The platform up there and I skipped up there. yeah, Nice view down the hill.

Dizzy Skips (33:32)
Yeah?

That’s cool. bet that was a nice view. Yeah.

Yeah. I am just, I’m so stuck on these meetups. just can’t wait to go to one of these meetups.

Laura Davidson (33:47)
I know it

sounds like maybe they’re talking about one this summer then. know there was a couple posts lately, I think from Kathy and Joe. They were talking about a meetup and I’m like, come to the Midwest, right? Cause you’re, you’re not too far really Minnesota, but yeah, they need to like do one in the middle. Cause they are always like East coast or West coast. And I’m like, let’s come to them, come to the Midwest. There’s a lot of us here.

Dizzy Skips (34:03)
Right. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, you I went to the Chamber of Commerce in Red Wing today because they run the Visit Red Wing Instagram account and all of the marketing that goes into the tourism stuff. And I went in because I’ve tagged them in a few videos and they’ve posted them as like things to do in Red Wing, skip in the park. And then they show me skipping in the park. So I went in to say, hey, you know, I’d love to do a collaboration with you or something like that. And one of the guys there told me that

Laura Davidson (34:26)
Mm-hmm.

Dizzy Skips (34:41)
The Amtrak has a new route that is from Minnesota down to Chicago. It’s like a speedy route that goes between Chicago and Minnesota. And I was like, well, Janie’s down in Chicago. I know some other folks down in Chicago. Maybe we could, and I mentioned it to the guy and he’s like, hey, maybe we can do a thing where we promote Amtrak and Red Wing and we bring people to Red Wing. And I was like, all right, we’re gonna have to do a Red Wing Jump Rope Meetup.

Laura Davidson (34:49)
Okay.

Yeah, that would be awesome. Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (35:06)
Yeah,

I’ve got plenty of limestone benches for everybody.

Laura Davidson (35:08)
Yes, yeah, because I need one by myself because I’ll knock somebody off. Yeah, that’s cool. That’s a great idea.

Dizzy Skips (35:13)
Yeah.

Yeah, I think it would be fun to do something like that. And certainly, like I’ve heard rumors, I don’t know that there’s anything set in stone yet of something maybe in the fall in New York. yeah, that would be great. So what is next for you in Jump Rope? Like, do you have goals for things that you would like to learn how do you approach learning new things?

Laura Davidson (35:35)
I’m gonna kind of guess I have like a mental list right of things like leg crosses are not really my thing But I kind of want to learn some of them. I’ve done a couple of them, but I’m not proficient And then I want to get back to my double unders So I last year was really working on them hard and I’ve kind of laid off for a while, but I you know, I’d like to hit Honestly, I’m gonna be 60 this year. I would like to do 60 double unders but

Dizzy Skips (36:01)
you can totally do that.

Laura Davidson (36:02)
And

I’m still, last time I tried, think I was stuck at like 45.

Dizzy Skips (36:06)
you’ll do it, Laura, I know it. So that’s exciting. When you do double unders, are you always using Crossrope?

Laura Davidson (36:13)
Now I just use, well I take it back, it is a Crossrope actually, it’s a Crossrope freestyle LE rope, it’s a PVC rope, but there’s several PVCs that I have that I can do double liners with. Whatever reason I always pick that, the one with the handles, but.

Dizzy Skips (36:20)
Okay.

Are they,

are they a 4 mm PVC, like thinner PVC, or are they thicker PVC?

Laura Davidson (36:33)
I want to say there are four or five, I can’t remember. Yeah. So pretty lightweight.

Dizzy Skips (36:37)
Okay.

Mm-hmm. What do you get out of Double Unders? That’s a weird question, but…

Laura Davidson (36:45)
You know, I

think for me it’s just a competitive, internally competitive thing. Like I want to be able to do 50. I’m still trying to get to 50, right? So it’s just kind of a goal, you know? ⁓ And I think I just need, I need some help trying to figure out how to turn faster. I need to kind of relax because I get really tense and then I get tired. So I need to figure out how to like relax more and

Dizzy Skips (36:55)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Laura Davidson (37:12)
spin the rope a little faster so I don’t have to jump so high, because I feel like I jump really high. the rope. So I need to learn how to move those wrists a little faster to get the rope rotating quicker. I need a coach. I need a coach. Awesome. We’ll the money on that one. Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (37:17)
Yeah.

Yeah, I know what you mean. What’s that? You need a coach? Yeah.

Yeah, Coach Chris, when I was talking to him, he one of his comments was like, learn to let go of the handle, you know, or something to that effect, basically, like, hold it with less, you know, don’t grip the handle, but just hold the handle and

And it’s the same sort of principle in martial arts. Like when you watch Bruce Lee, the reason he could move so fast was that guy was relaxed as heck and he could just punch like lightning. But he wasn’t tensed up like this punching. He was really, you know, and I think the same thing as with jump rope. If you can be relaxed, you can guide the rope rather than force the rope.

Laura Davidson (38:04)
Yeah, I heard that tip today. I actually listened to that podcast this morning when I was out walking. And yeah, I mean, having a little looser grip on the handles. I yeah, I heard him say that. And I’m like, I’m gonna have to try that with my doubles because I have thought about that. I’ve heard Kathy Jumps say that too. It’s just to kind of hold it loosely. And I feel like it makes it more fluid. So yeah, we need to apply that to my double unders. See how that works.

Dizzy Skips (38:09)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. I, I, I have been working on that and I think I do a decent job. I’ve been wearing like grip gloves because it helps me hold onto things when I get sweaty. Cause I kind of sweat like a gross person, but, ⁓ yeah. ⁓

Laura Davidson (38:40)
I hope you like that too. You’re giving me

all kinds of tips, I love it.

Dizzy Skips (38:45)
I got them at Costco like this eight or eight or 10 pack of grip gloves for like nine bucks or something. they’re basically like gardening gloves that are just breathable on the outside, but the inside has grip, gription.

Laura Davidson (38:58)
Yeah, I have some weight training gloves. Maybe I’ll try that. Really? Yeah.

Dizzy Skips (39:00)
Yeah. Yeah,

those would work too. Just something to kind of protect your hands. Honestly, I started wearing them because I was working on releases so much and I just kept whacking the bejesus out of my hand and I’d have bruises along the bottom of my hand or I thought it would give me some protection. yeah. Yeah.

Laura Davidson (39:16)
Yeah. Yeah. They can leave a mark. They

hit me in the right spot. It’s like, my gosh. Yeah. Really nice bruise there.

Dizzy Skips (39:23)
Yeah.

Yeah. Have you drawn blood? ⁓ yeah.

Laura Davidson (39:28)
yeah.

Several times. Yeah, mostly on the hand. I think the handle trying to catch a release or something seems like I’ve gotten quite a few little cuts. Yeah, cuts and…

Dizzy Skips (39:39)
Yeah,

yeah, I’ve got a few on the face too. And lately I’ve been experimenting a lot more with like wrist wrapping. And I’ve realized that depending upon how much space you have between the handle and the first bead, you can pinch the living bejesus out of your skin in a wrist wrap. It’s not necessarily the most fun but but all those things remind me I’m alive and that I’m able to skip and so I try and smile and laugh it off.

Laura Davidson (39:57)
Yeah.

That’s right. Be thankful we can actually move. don’t take that for granted. I honestly have a friend that lives on my walking path through the neighborhood and she’s my age and had a stroke like four years ago and she can’t walk the way she used to. And I think about her every day. I walk past how we take our health for granted quite honestly and I’m thankful that I can just walk and thankful I can jump rope. Cause you never know when that’s gonna get taken away.

Dizzy Skips (40:20)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I’ve mentioned this guy before on the podcast, but I actually passed him today while I was driving back from a presentation I was giving. And I think he is 102 and he lives in some assisted housing and I’ll see him walking around town with, you know, a nurse or some sort of caretaker. And he’s literally bent over like this, like he can’t look up and

And of course, you know, like he’s a hundred and two, but still I, I want to keep my spine flexible and straight. And so I’m going to keep at this jumping until I, until my legs fall off. I Yeah, I’m sure. Yeah.

Laura Davidson (41:07)
Right. I’ll be right there with you. I don’t plan on quitting. Keep

going.

Dizzy Skips (41:15)
Do you have any other upcoming challenges or planning big meetups or?

Laura Davidson (41:20)
Not really at the moment. I mean after the 100 day was finished, there’s a lot of us that still want to keep jumping every day. So there’s another little group chat going on with that. And I think it is organizing another 100 day challenge, I think March of 2026. So of course, you know, I’ll be happy to jump on that again.

Dizzy Skips (41:30)
you

Laura Davidson (41:41)
do that, but I don’t really have a lot. mean, again, I need to kind of get organized and think about what skills I really want to learn now that I have a lot more time. Now I got no excuse. So I need to dive into some of these tutorials or get a couple lessons and things like that. So definitely a lot of skills. I need to work on my mamba. I kind of have it, but it’s just, I don’t know, I tend to lose it somewhere after one or two passes. And then ⁓ I want to kind of

Dizzy Skips (41:50)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Laura Davidson (42:09)
clean that up. there’s a lot of things on my wishlist, I guess.

Dizzy Skips (42:13)
Yeah, well, it’s

better than my mamba, Laura. I lose mine after about half a pass, but I’ve landed a couple, but they’re not pretty, but it’s fun to make enough progress, learn enough things that you realize, that thing that looked like magic before, that mamba, that, you know, how can anyone do that? I’m sure I can do that. It’s just gonna take a little more time. You know, I just keep showing up and.

Laura Davidson (42:17)
Yeah.

Yeah, just like the mic release, took me forever. took me, I mean, I didn’t work on it as much as I should have, but I want to say it was a good nine months to get it. ⁓ But then once you get it, you kind of got it and yeah, that’s a lot of fun. It’s just, there’s never, never ending list of things to learn. So the other thing that I like about Jump Rope is just, you know, you never really finish. There’s always something else to learn and to be able to do.

Dizzy Skips (42:45)
Mm-hmm.

Laura Davidson (43:02)
So or even putting things together.

Dizzy Skips (43:04)
Yeah, absolutely. And then when you’re a music lover and there’s a never ending well of good music to dance to and and ⁓

Laura Davidson (43:11)
Yeah,

somebody said that the other day. Somebody saw a reel and said, it’s almost like dancing. And I’m like, you know, you’re right. It’s like dancing, but slightly less awkward because I feel kind of awkward when I dance, you know, like at a wedding or something. like dancing with a rope for some reason doesn’t feel awkward like that. But it is, it’s like dancing.

Dizzy Skips (43:31)
Yeah.

You know, I have never danced at a wedding. I’ve never danced like that. Yeah, I would totally do it now. Like, but two years, two years ago, I didn’t dance, you know, it just was not something that was on my radar.

Laura Davidson (43:39)
Probably. Get out. Don’t believe.

When you just go out there and shuffle your little butt off, you’d be a superstar out there.

Dizzy Skips (43:49)
Yeah. Some guy who I met in the park as I was jumping and I see him, you know, oftentimes on weekends, walking his dog. said, I bet you are so fun at a wedding. And I was like, no, I’ve like, I’ve never danced at a wedding, but I would love to go to one. I need to just meet someone who’s getting married so I can go.

Laura Davidson (44:07)
There you go. Go crash a wedding.

Dizzy Skips (44:09)
Yeah, I probably will. have, there’s a nice hotel here in Red Wing called the St. James and they have a nice view of the Mississippi river and stuff. I see they have weddings up there every once in a while. And so sometimes when I’m down on the, in the park skipping, I’m watching them dance up there and I’ll think, maybe I should bust in there in my, know, jump rope clown outfit and see what, see what they think my shuffling.

Laura Davidson (44:25)
Have fun!

Yeah,

I think you’re right.

Dizzy Skips (44:35)
Well, Laura, I just can’t thank you enough for the support that you’ve given me and the support that you give the community. You’re just such a bright, smiley, happy person, and it’s just so fun to see

how much of an effect that you have had in driving that progress and making people feel better about their jump roping. So I would like to thank you on behalf of myself and on behalf of my friends in the community who know and love you for everything that you do to contribute to the jump rope community because you’re awesome.

Laura Davidson (45:02)
Thank you, thank you. And you know, I’ve gotten that same from other people. So we’re just spreading the love around. So, you know, I’ve been inspired by so many people and, and, you know, people paid me compliments on my reels and, and lifted me up. And that’s what we’re supposed to do, right? We’re supposed to lift the next person.

Dizzy Skips (45:08)
Yeah. Yeah.

and

That’s right. Yeah, and it feels it feels great. There’s no downside, right?

Laura Davidson (45:26)
No, that’s right. No downside.

Dizzy Skips (45:29)
Thank you so much for joining me, Laura. It was so fantastic to talk to you and I can’t wait to meet you in person, hopefully at a meetup before too long.

Laura Davidson (45:36)
Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it was a lot of fun talking to you. Anytime anybody wants to talk about jump rope, I’m always I’m always available. But yeah, it’s been great. Thank you. And thank you for doing the podcast. I really enjoyed listening. have a few episodes to catch up on from the past, but I really enjoy hearing other people’s stories and stuff. So keep doing what you’re doing because you’re really connecting the community to. I appreciate you.

Dizzy Skips (45:44)
Yeah.

Well, thank you Laura, I appreciate that. It’s so much fun. It’s so much fun to learn more about these people who have such an effect on me, you know? Yeah.

Laura Davidson (46:05)
Yeah