Talk:Jumping jack

Jack Who?
Jack McFadden, also known as Jack "Jumping Jack" McFadden, named greatest player of all time

Player of what? 84.58.13.42 16:40, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Split
Before the night is over, I'll split this article into three separate articles, as well as create a disambiguation page. Anthony Rupert 00:14, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure, but I think this should be at Jumping jack even though it purports to be named after someone. But that's just my OCD shining through. 152.91.9.144 05:47, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Split complete. Anthony Rupert 06:14, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Hardly, and it's even been a full year. You've had a LOT of time to do so, me amigo. --82.44.213.242 17:24, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

...........
I am shocked that it seems some people here do not know exactly what a jumping jack is, there is not one single American that has not performed at least one thousand of these in their lives. There is not one school is this nation that doesn't require it as part of its physical education program, as for the rest of the world I have no idea and as for the citation needed for Jack Lalanne inventing the jumping jack, I'm not sure if it should need citation since it's a very well known fact and well... they don't call it a jumping 'jack' for the hell of it 71.87.7.14 11:12, 28 November 2006 (UTC)
 * First of all, calm down. Second of all, the citation wasn't because people don't know what the exercise is; it's because, well, if Jack LaLanne was the inspiration for it, then why isn't there any mention of it in HIS article? Anthony Rupert 15:42, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Hi Anthony, a few ideas - I put them on this page as this is where the discussion is If you type in "jumping jack" and click "go" it still comes directly to this page, not to the disambiguation page, should it go instead to the disambiguation page? Should we include "Jumping Jacks" the film in the disambiguation page? You have rewritten the music-related definition, but it is not correct actually. The normal action of a harpsicord is that the jack goes up when the key is depressed. The jack then hits the jack rail and stops. The term "jumping jack" refers to when somebody has taken the jack rail off and and forgotten to replace it before starting to play. In this case there is no jack rail to stop the jack moving up, so the jack actually flys up into the air about a foot or so. This is quite amusing if the keyboardist has hit a big chord to start their piece and you get several jacks flying up into the air. This is the original usage of the term "jumping jack" although I don't have any citation for that assertion other than the fact that harpsichords were around from the early 16th century and common until the end of the 19th which is before the Jack Lalanne fellow was around.
 * I didn't know that; I just stated what was already on the article. That's why I noted that it was unreferenced. Anthony Rupert 03:40, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

I thought I'd go "to the horse's mouth" and see if LaLanne himself takes credit. Here is the relevant text from Jack LaLanne's own FAQ: 14. Was the "Jumping Jack" exercise named after Jack? The two schools of thought on the "JUMPING JACK" are that the exercise name evolved because the movement necessary to do the exercise makes the human body look like a "JACK" (the kind you used to play with as a child with a small bouncing ball). However, both Jack La Lanne and the name above evolved together and if the exercise was not named after him, he certainly made the "JUMPING JACK" world famous as his trademark through his 34 years on television and we believe historians will credit him with the name as well. HTH --Eliyahu S Talk 21:25, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't like that at all. This quote (currently in the article, btw) seems to try to imply that Jack La Lanne should be credited with the name, despite not actually having anything to do with it, simply because he WILL (they surmise) be credited with it by historians, so what the heck, why not? To a casual reader, it might even give the impression that the excercise is named after Le Lanne.

I don't have a reference, but I came here trying to find out about the toy called Jumping Jack, and I think the excercise is most likely named for that. The toy (according to Wikipedia) has been around for thousands of years. The name I can date at least as far back as 1909, five years before Le Lanne was born, as it appears in L. Frank Baum's "Road to Oz" (Gutenberg E-Text). The toy, when used, looks a lot like the excercise.

Obviously, this is guesswork and does not belong in the article, but I'm putting it here as a lead for anyone who wants to look in to this further. 68.43.156.190 19:23, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

That picture's not a jumping jack! For Christ's sake.... HTH --Sinde

Side Straddle Hop
I was told that we call the jumping Jack a side straddle hop in the military because 'jumping Jack' has racial connotations. Can anyone shed some light on this? 98.218.196.224 (talk) 06:13, 24 September 2009 (UTC)

The explanation I was given was that the military considers the side straddle hop a different movement from the jumping jack. The biggest distinction (if I remember correctly) was that the SSH (I'm abbreviating out of laziness) requires you clap your hands over your head on the even counts and how it's a four count movement (whereas a JJ just requires you raise your arms about head level and allows more bend at the elbows, along with being a two count movement).

Then there's also the point that the SSH is *far* more formalized than the JJ (the start position is defined, as is the position at each count).

However, this could all just be rationalization that's been made up to cover some racist origin; however, knowing how conveluted the military mind can be, I actually doubt it in this case (especially considering that the JJ seems to predate racial sensitivity in the military and itself is not derived from any racist roots).

currently
Referring to any event as "current" doesnot comply with the Wikipedia standard - the date (or at least year) should be indicated: "in 2010(?) the world champion was ..." — Preceding unsigned comment added by RGwroc (talk • contribs) 22:58, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

Star jump
A side straddle hop is not a star jump. A star jump begins in a squatting position with the hands on the ground between and slightly in front of the feet. Execution is to jump straight up, extending the arms over the head at the peak of the jump. Landing is the reverse, touching down and resuming the squatting, hands on the ground position. That is one repetition. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.162.128.55 (talk) 14:48, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

Different people have different names for exercises. No branch of the military is the definitive source for any exercise name outside of itself.

Disappointing
I can't help but find this article disappointing. It's common sense that jumping jacks are one of the most commonly practice exercises yet on its wikipedia page there is barely any info. How about variations of forms? How about the health benefits? How about any risks from not using the proper form? I'm not qualified to answer any of these questions, I'm just shocked to not see the answers here. Honestly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push-up VS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_Jack ... Come on work-out gurus, get on this! :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tripphwiki (talk • contribs) 06:01, 11 December 2011 (UTC)


 * You are welcome to expand the page yourself. There's no such thing as being "qualified"; all you need to do is find reliable sources that support whatever you want to add. One minor point, though, on your mention of "risks": Wikipedia is not a how-to guide, so be sure that whatever you add in that sense is not writing like a set of training instructions about how to do them well.  Qwyrxian (talk) 02:06, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

Star jump different
I thought a star jump involved jumping into the air, making the star shape mid-air (arms out not up) and then landing with the feed together again?  Tu rk ey ph an t 01:07, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

Moved
I moved the page from Jumping Jack to Jumping jack. It's clear that this is not named after Jack Lalane or a specific Jack, and the article states that it's likely named after the game, which is lowercase. Additionally, the internal use of the word is lowercase and so are the variants. I've moved it per naming conventions. Keegan (talk) 01:09, 22 November 2015 (UTC)

Matthew Graul or Ashrita Furman
The "vartiation" section says "Matthew Graul set the Guinness World Record for number of star jumps..." but the name is linked to Ashrita Furman. Which one is it then? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.175.37.10 (talk) 20:04, 20 February 2017 (UTC)

Video
If there's any article that's crying out to be illustrated with a video rather than a still, and one where a freely licensed video could easily be obtained or created, it's this one. Daniel Case (talk) 21:20, 14 October 2019 (UTC)

Happy
Ji 110.227.38.126 (talk) 05:40, 25 January 2022 (UTC)