Jumping rope is not just for school kids! It has great benefits, and it is an incredibly versatile piece of equipment. You can carry it around in your bag and it can be the greatest tool for your travel workouts. Not to mention how fun it is! Fun and efficient.
We recommend this exercise for summer, especially for when you want a quick workout outside the gym. We also recommend it because boxers do it and they know better! They have immense strength and extremely agile moves.
Jump Ropes are cheap, you can easily get one and when you do, make sure you measure it to your body by standing in the middle of the rope. You need to make sure that the handles extend to your armpits, and you’re ready to skip. Also, make sure you wear athletic fitted shoes for this, as it will help your joints when jumping and the hitting impact with the contact zone.
Let’s take a look at why skipping rope is great for your health and workouts!
1. Calorie Burner
Nothing burns calories quite like skipping rope does. Even at a moderate rate you burn 10 to 16 calories per minute. It’s quite possibly the most entertaining form of cardio, and one that is popular with children exactly because of that. Not only does it burn calories like crazy, but it strengthens your entire body and works on every major muscle at the same time
2. Speed and Balance
Because you are using your entire body weight to jump, your brain focuses on your feet for consistent periods of time. Make this a constant exercise in your routine and your body-mind connection will create ‘neuro-muscular adjustments’ to keep you balanced. This also serves as an agility engine as it increases your motor reactions.
3. Rhythm
Skipping rope is extremely useful in constantly helping to develop your cognitive functions. This happens because when you jump rope, you create a natural rhythm that your body follows. And brains like rhythm for a number of reasons. With time, if you’re not already a natural at that, you will be able to internally generate your rhythm and with this also develop strategy and coordination for high-performance workouts.
4. Better than Running
Not only you burn almost the same calories when you jump rope for 10 minutes, as you would burn if you were to run for 8-minute-miles. But when you jump and land on the balls of your feet, the impact of contact is absorbed by both feet, thus it makes it way easier on the joints, as opposed to what running does to them. And this also makes it a great exercise for maintaining and increasing bone density.
5. Customizing
This must be the coolest part about jumping rope. You can create your own workouts and styles and perfect them. Did you see kids experiment with different moves when they jump rope? You should remember how and why you did the same, or at least learn from them.
Athletic jump ropes come in a variety of colors and with the option to adjust them to your height, just to add a little bit of an accessory to your workout. This makes it easier for you to perfect certain moves too.
You can start by jumping rope conventionally with the proper form and jumping and landing on both your feet. But keeping the same form, you can start altering your moves by jumping from side to side, switching legs, crossing your arms, and the list can go on – this is only limited by your own imagination.
One of the most effective ways to jump rope for both body and mind is to freestyle. I am not talking about rapping while you jump! Zen Dude Fitness convinced us that anyone can become a ‘jump rope ninja’. Freestyle jumping balances you physically, relaxes you mentally, increases your core & strength and gives you the cardio of your life. You can use a freestyle as a leisure workout and also as a pre-workout exercise.
For someone who is focused on building muscle, this is a great shaping exercise. It does not simply shape your muscles, but it also strengthens them greatly. Most importantly, it solidifies your balance, which is required in any sort of training, especially weight training and calisthenics. It is also very easy on your joints and helps increase bone density for an improved performance output.
Just try it! Keep proper form, always land on the balls of your feet, make sure that the jump rope is perfectly adjusted to your height, and start experimenting with easier tricks like side swings, crossovers, shuffles and full twists. Enjoy!
