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My jump rope was torn to shreds . . . again. Nothing I could find on the entire ship (excepting lengths of chain) could stand up to the abuse of the solid, rough-textured non-skid decks.

“I bet they didn’t have this problem when Navy ships had teak decks,” I thought. Yes, those were the days.

Jumping rope was my cardio workout of choice while underway. I was a Navy helicopter pilot with months of at-sea time under my belt. I’d tried running laps around the main deck of the destroyer on which I served, but was nearly tossed overboard in rough seas or had a steel hatch opened in my face one too many times to make a habit of it. Also unsatisfying was the stationary bike tucked away deep in the bowels of the ship. Sea motion made for a strange, up- and downhill workout, and the lack of visible horizon while riding often made me nauseous.

Jumping rope, on the other hand, enabled me to be out in the fresh air and get a good sweat going without taking up too much space. I could even conduct business while working out, often discussing aircraft maintenance schedules with my Maintenance Chief while jumping rope on the flight deck.

But the problem remained: after three or four uses, my homemade, nylon jump ropes were severed completely in half. I’d tried expensive leather jump ropes, but they, too, suffered the same fate.

I never cracked the code on the perfect, at-sea jump rope. I just made sure there was always plenty of nylon rope on hand to create “disposables”.

After leaving sea duty, my quest for the perfect jump rope continued. While not my primary cardio workout on terra firma, I still jump rope almost every day as a warm-up.

I recently joined U.S. Tactical’s CrossFit Training Center in Encinitas, California. The center is staffed by a former SEAL and Navy Diver, and the workouts routinely eclipse anything I’ve ever done by way of intensity and fun. As a matter of routine, I jump rope at the studio prior to every workout.

At this point, I consider myself a jump rope aficionado. You can imagine, then, how thrilled I was to find what might be the PERFECT jump rope at the U.S. Tactical CrossFit Training Center: the Superope. It’s made of stainless steel cable encased in flexible PVC with ball bearings between the rope and handles for full freedom of movement. It weighs only one pound, but is superbly balanced. AND, most importantly, it stands up to abuse like no other jump rope I’ve used. I typically do my jump-rope warm-up outside on the concrete in the SoCal sunshine, and my Superope, even after weeks of such punishment, has yet to show even a hint of wear.

We military types are often prone to bouts of nostalgia. Every time I use my Superope, I venture back in my mind to the countless hours spent on the flight deck jumping rope. Sometimes, I miss the experience . . . but I never miss my disposable jump ropes.