Jumping rope exercise benefits

The benefits of jumping rope are many. The ancient Greeks invented the jump rope as a tool for exercise and war training. The Romans picked up on it. Soldiers used it to stay fit while away from home, prevent battle fatigue, increase their stamina, endurance and reaction time to dodge swords during battles. Here are jumping rope exercise benefits.

Builds endurance

Jumping rope trains you to stay on your toes longer and increases your aerobic capacity. The more endurance you have, you burn more calories (and store less fat)! 4 minutes of jump roping is equivalent to running 1 mile. That's substantial time savings for this otherwise little workout.

It doesn't take long

It may not seem like it when you first try, but jumping rope is very time efficient! Choose a mixture of different jumps with different speeds so that you can skip at a leisurely pace for one minute, then medium, then fast... etc., until you get tired or bored! The mix-up in paces will engage different muscles and keep them strong enough to continuously challenge throughout your workout session, which will make it feel like you spent hours at the gym.

Boosts coordination (and more!)

Since you're using your entire body for this workout, it's safe to say that you'll boost your mind-body coordination! Not only does moving your brain and body together feel fantastic, but it also helps improve agility and balance! And because of the skipping motion, you might find yourself becoming stronger on one leg than you realized was possible - so there's another reason to jump rope...leg strength! Though jumping rope can be done anywhere by anyone with a bit of motivation, go on and give it a try.

Prevents injury

Jumping on one foot or both feet is a great way to strengthen and protect your leg muscles and keeps them long and lean. It also keeps you balanced, so if you ever make a slip on the ice or lose your footing at work/home/school, you'll recover quickly.

Burns fat

More cardiovascular means more calories burned, which means more fat lost! Although it's not as intense as running (so use that for cardio too!), jumping rope is a great calorie burner because of its efficiency - even if it's just 30 minutes a day of jump roping every day, you will burn over 100+ calories. Not bad for such an easy exercise! Plus, we all know how hard it is to make time for the gym and form new habits (especially if you're busy), so it's an excellent way to get exercise into your life that fits with your schedule.

Jumps are fun

Most people try jumping rope for the first time and say, "this is hard!" But once you learn how to do it, doing tricks can help you improve coordination, balance and even engage muscles in your body not usually used during a simple jump! Take hurdles, for example...jump on one leg over them as you continue your jump rope session. Try crossing the ropes under or over each other - or any number of different tricks you find all over YouTube! This helps keep things new and exciting so that you don't get frustrated trying something new.

Using jumping rope exercise to burn calories

Jumping rope is a great cardiovascular exercise that helps you to lose weight and tone your body. It is considered one of the best forms of cardio workout that can help you burn calories without hurting or stressing your joints. Jumping rope for just 15 minutes at regular intervals every day provides lots of health benefits such as reducing blood pressure, improving bone density, reducing excess abdominal fat, and strengthening your legs and core muscles effectively.

Different types of jumping rope

Basic jumping

This exercise needs no equipment but a well-padded surface or a carpeted floor, a wall or a chair for support to maintain good posture during the workout. Try to keep both feet together with arms slightly bent, knees slightly bent, and waist height while jumping. Lift feet off the ground using leg muscles and not hip flexors to get into the air (you can hold on to the wall for support if needed). Jump with both feet together, keeping them 6-10 inches off the ground. The best thing about this exercise is that it works your whole body, including legs, abs, arms, shoulders etc.

Cross jacks

This is one of the most straightforward jump rope exercises, which involves double jumps in one direction followed by a single jump in another order; you need not turn around or spin for this; hence any space will do. You can use double under jumps too for this but make sure when you are using double unders, and their speed should be faster than a jump rope. To add more difficulty, you can add some twists such as jumping on one foot and then the other, standing on your right leg and then left or whatever feels comfortable.

Credit: Lindy Health

Alternating single under jumps

For this exercise, a hanging rope is required to find a sturdy rafter in your home, a beam in a garage near a ceiling fan or somewhere which has a good height from where you can tie your jump rope without having to bend too much, alternatively you can wear slip-on shoes with rubber soles for more excellent grip. Hold the jump rope at both ends with arms extended downwards towards the floor or just below waist height while palms face away from the body and do the same number of jumps forward as backward in a single jump. Try to keep the rope in motion while jumping; however, use the hanging rope as support if you need a break.

Skier jumps

This is an excellent exercise for your core and shoulders, and it helps improve coordination and balance, too, so no wonder this simple jumping exercise is loved by all beginners. Stand on one leg with arms straight out at chest height while the other leg rests on top of a chair or table, do not let your knee bend while resting one foot on top of another and also do not allow the foot which is lifted to touch the ground until count 10 (you can hold onto something steady or sit down). This exercise not only burns fat faster but also improves stamina and strength.

Boot camp-style jumps

In this exercise, both arms and legs move simultaneously, which is a great way to burn calories with fast jump rope exercises. Stand in the middle of a room or a space with enough room in front and behind you, then lift feet off the ground and swing them in a small circle while rotating your body in each direction, keep going till count 20 without taking any break (you can stop when tired but try to push yourself). This exercise may look simple, but it works more than just leg muscles, so do not underestimate its effectiveness.

Boxer jabs

For this workout, stand on left foot with right leg bent slightly at hip height, the arm should be bent slightly forward from shoulders at chest level with palms facing the ground and then rapidly bring left arm back to shoulder height while pushing right leg forward (or vice versa), this should be completed in one jump. Repeat another 20 times on each side and keep alternating shoulders to get fast results.

When you're jumping rope, you're working for two important muscle groups in your body. The first is the big muscle group in the legs for increased cardiovascular activity, while the second is the arm muscles used to swing the jump rope. An average, healthy person weighing 150 pounds will burn approximately 262 calories per hour of jumping rope.