Pāriet uz galveno saturu

An interview with a visionary and the inventor of the Rx Jump Rope - David Newman

Soon after the CrossFit Team Series had ended, a guy from Latvia thought to contact a company, that was mentioned in every Team Series Update Show - Rx Smart Gear. Considering that LatvianCrossFit is a small blog like website and Latvia has no Regionals (not to mention Games) level athletes, what are the chances that someone is likely to respond? Probably not big but one has to try anyway.

So the author of this site found an e-mail on the Rx website and wrote a message. Saying that it would be nice to make an interview with a representative of Rx Smart Gear, in order to inform Latvian readers about Rx products, the company, its athletes and maybe even about its future plans. The e-mail was brief and simple.

What to expect? The author knew that it was a 50/50 chance of someone responding to a student from Latvia who writes competition reviews and interviews with Latvia athletes - in Latvian.

You have to imagine the look of the authors face when he received an e-mail not from a representative or a spokesperson from Rx Smart Gear. The e-mail came from the Man himself, the inventor of Rx Jump Rope, founder of Rx Smart Gear - David Newman. A dream had came true. A chance to have an interview with a person that has directly influenced the CrossFit community (not to mention an opportunity to talk with a real live American). The author is truly grateful for the time that was spent in writing all those responses and answers. It is an honour.

Below you will find answers to what makes the Rx Jump Rope the best jump rope in the world, how did Rx Smart Gear become what it is today and what will it be tomorrow, and other interesting stuff, that should not be mentioned already in the introduction.

If you can not make quintuple-unders with your current jump rope. Then you know that changes have to be made. Read this and consider getting a new jump rope for the 2015 CrossFit Games season.

LatvianCrossFit: Usually I would like to start my interviews with a simple question. Who are you and what do you do for living? 

My name is David Newman. I am the owner and founder of Rx Smart Gear and inventor of the Rx Jump Rope. Which, was the first functional speed rope developed specifically with CrossFit in mind. I also developed the Jumpropeology double under workshop geared for functional athletes. My latest creation is the Rx Smart Ring, which, is a gymnastic ring created to help athletes train and learn muscle ups by developing the false grip. We manufacture all of our products in Southern California and distribute them worldwide. We also travel the country teaching our specific brand of double under workshop and muscle up workshops.

LatvianCrossFit: Few weeks ago the whole CrossFit community experienced the ending of the first Team Series. Rx Smart Gear presented it. Everyone heard the name of this company; everyone knew that it made the Rx jump rope. But what it really is (the company)? What is Rx Smart Gear? When was it established? Why it was established? 

David: The company started innocently enough as a hobby out of my garage sometime in late 2008 /early 2009. I had started CrossFit in early 2008 and fell in love. I was fairly decent at most CrossFit movements except double unders. At that time there were not many jump rope options available. There was also very little information on proper sizing and training the way jump rope is used in CrossFit. But, in short I developed the Rx Jump Rope for very selfish reasons. I wanted faster WOD times and I couldn’t accomplish that with the jump ropes that were available at the time so I decided to make my own. And it wasn’t that the ropes weren’t fast enough. It was quite the opposite in fact. It was that the ropes didn’t offer enough feedback and consistency to allow me to develop good timing. It was never the plan to start a business and sell my jump ropes. In fact I probably gave hundreds of jump ropes away as I was testing and tweaking my designs. I believe that I was very lucky with timing because there were many more people like me in the world having the exact same problems as me. So, CrossFit really pulled me into the business realm and I couldn’t be happier. 

LatvianCrossFit: So I believe that the main product is the Rx Jump rope. Why is it so special? Can I use it the same way I use any other jump rope? CrossFit athletes can buy all sorts of jump ropes on the market. Why would one buy the Rx? 

David: The Rx Jump Rope was the very first rope developed specifically for use in CrossFit. Every detail about the design and construction was rooted in being the most effective for CrossFit Training. The handles have the most ergonomic diameter to allow for the most reliable hold, yet require the least amount of grip pressure. This promotes a relaxed wristed motion that helps eliminate shoulder fatigue when performing double unders. The handles also most closely resemble the size of a barbell, pull up bar, kettle bell, dumb bell etc. The weight of the handles also provides a gyroscopic effect to assist rotating the rope. It was built to be extremely functional, durable and reliable. The various cable thickness allows the athlete to find the right resistance level to accommodate their ideal rope speed. Rx ropes are custom sized to each individual and do not adjust. This eliminates the potential for tiny screws to come loose or tools to be misplaced rendering the rope useless. Our philosophy is that the rope should fit the athlete and never need adjusting unless the athlete improves their technique and opts for a shorter cable. In that case the cable can be switched with another cable very easily. The other big message that we try to promote to the CrossFit world is that a person shouldn’t only train with one jump rope. CrossFit is about constantly varied stimulus but for some reason CrossFitters think they should always use the lightest jump ropes. That is a very one dimensional approach that goes against CrossFit philosophy. We suggest that you compete with your most dependable jump rope but you should train with everything else whenever you can. That means using heavy ropes, light ropes, long ropes, short ropes and everything in between. This will ensure that you develop into a well rounded athlete.

LatvianCrossFit: Jump ropes are used in many sports. Boxing, MMA to name a few. Why did you choose CrossFit specifically? Was it because, that only in CrossFit athletes have to perform double-unders or was there something else? 

David: Yes, I was a fanatical CrossFitter when I started. I trained 7 days a week and sometimes multiple times a day. I needed to improve at double unders as it was a weakness of mine at the time. My singular goal in developing the Rx jump rope was so that I could become a better CrossFitter and get faster Wod Times. Singles, double unders and triple unders are the primary skills a CrossFitter needs to be proficient at. We are now finding our jump ropes spreading nicely in the boxing/mma, military, police, fire fighter, universities, professional sports and general fitness world. The surprising arena that Rx ropes are making progress is in the Competitive Speed jump rope tournaments. We have never advertised or made claims that Rx ropes are extremely fast. But it turns out they actually are. Even with the slightly heavier handles we are finding that Rx ropes can keep up with most “Speed” ropes out there. We even have athletes on our Demo Team that can perform Quintuple (5) Unders with the Rx ropes.

LatvianCrossFit: What is your own relationship with CrossFit? 

David: Like I mentioned, I started CrossFitting in early 2008. I competed at the Regional level in Southern California in 2009, 2010 and 2011. My best competitive finish was First place Masters at the 2012 OC Throwdown. I received my Level 1 Coaches Certificate in 2009. I also received the CrossFit Gymnastic and CrossFit Kids certification. I currently CrossFit at least 5 times a week while my wife and kids are avid CrossFitters as well as most of our staff members. Currently my staff and I travel the country teaching Jumpropeology Clinics and muscle up clinics at CrossFit Boxes. 

LatvianCrossFit: Does Rx Smart Gear have its own CrossFit Box? 

David: Yes, the gym at the Rx Smart Gear headquarters in southern California is called CrossFit Smart and its nickname is Rx University. We only teach specialty clinics and workshops there utilizing all of the products that we manufacture. For example, we teach Jumpropeology workshops, but we also teach muscle up clinics on the Smart Rings and rope climb clinics using the Rx Shin Guards. We get visitors from all over the world who come in to try our jump ropes or other products and get some world class coaching. It’s really a lot of fun.

LatvianCrossFit: Lets say that I just received a package from Rx Smart Gear. About what can I be sure of without even opening the package? 

David: Every one of our products ships from the same location in El Cajon, California. No other company can use the brand Rx Smart Gear or Rx Jump Rope without permission. 

LatvianCrossFit: I believe that Rx Smart Gear is present at the CrossFit Games. When was your first CrossFit Games and what was the experience there like? 

David: Our first time at the CrossFit Games was in 2010. That year Jason Khalipa was the first athlete to use the Rx Jump Rope in the Games. That was the first year at the Home Depot Center (now called Stub Hub Center). The vendor area was very small compared to the size at this year’s Games. Bill Henniger, owner of Rogue Fitness invited us to sell Rx Jump Ropes out of the Rogue booth to see how people would respond to them. We were the first to help people select the right size and then give them coaching before they purchased a jump rope. The crowd went wild. We were a huge hit. We sold out of our entire inventory that weekend. From that moment forward Rx Jump Ropes could be found on Rogue Fitness website as well as our site - www.rxsmartgear.com. 

LatvianCrossFit: Which Games level athletes are proud users of Rx Smart Gear? Can you name a few? 

David: There are a lot of Games level and International athletes that have used Rx ropes in competition such as Rich Froning in 2011 and 2012. Josh Bridges in 2012 and 2014. But we have an amazing team of sponsored athletes such as Annie Thorisdottir, Julie Foucher, Neal Maddox, Scott Panchik, Elisabeth Akinwale, Annie Sakamoto, Frederik Aegidius, Val Voboril, Josh Everett, Wes Piatt, Chyna Cho, Shawn Ramirez, Amanda Allen and several others. We have a wonderful team of athletes who have competed at the highest level of CrossFit and who are genuine ambassadors of Rx products.

LatvianCrossFit: Does Rx Smart Gear organise any special events? For example, a jump rope competition, maybe a Throwdown or something else?

David: We do not currently organize our own event. We are much to busy to take on a commitment of that size. However, we sponsor hundreds of event each year whether a fundraiser for charity, a large competition or a local Throwdown competition. We try to give back to the CrossFit Community as much as we can.

LatvianCrossFit: What are your and Rx Smart Gear plans for the future? 

David: We are growing our reach everyday. Our goal is to make the Rx Smart Gear brand and Rx Jump Ropes the most well known and well liked personal gear company on the planet. We are not like a Rogue Fitness. Our specialty is creating products that can help more CrossFitters either train better or protect them from the negative pains of CrossFit like hand tears or rope burns and things like that. We are also looking to expand our facilities to over seas to make our products more accessible to CrossFitters outside of the U.S. Right now shipping cost and duties in some countries is quite excessive. We would like to find a way to put our products in people’s hands at a reasonable cost. Given that we still have sold to over 150 countries around the world.

LatvianCrossFit: What is your advice for the future Rx Smart Gear users? 

David: My only advice is to explore your options, expand your experiences and express your fitness any way that makes you feel good. And to keep your eyes open as we release new products to help crossfitters in the coming months. Thank you so much for the wonderful interview.

Photo courtesy of David Newman

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