Fact Check: Can Jumping Jacks Help You Lose Weight?

Jumping jacks can help you lose weight. (Image via Pexels/Photo by Ketut Subiyanto)

If you’re wondering if jumping jacks can help you lose weight, you’ve come to the right place.

Now, the answer to that is both yes and no. That's because jumping jacks, by themselves, cannot help you lose weight unless you’re willing to do continuous jumping jacks for a prolonged period of time.

So let's have a look at how jumping jacks can help you lose weight.

How Jumping Jacks Help you Lose Weight?

Jumping jacks are a form of cardio exercise. They require the body to burn calories to generate the energy required to exercise.

Moreover, jumping jacks are an exercise that use your upper body and lower body, which helps in activating all the muscles.

However, if you want to lose weight just by doing jumping jacks, you’ll probably have to do continuous jumping jacks for 25 minutes to half an hour. That's not appealing, and no one will want to do that.

However, if you pair jumping jacks with other cardio exercises such as high knees, quick feet, bodyweight exercises, jump ropes and others, you’ll be able to burn more calories and lose weight efficiently.

When you add variations to your workout routine, it helps with effectively working all the muscles. It also helps prevent the body from entering a monotonous cardio routine.

As jumping jacks are more of a cardio-based exercise, you can mix them with resistance exercises as well. That'll optimise fat loss and strength gain, as you’re adding both to your workout routine.

Benefits of Doing Jumping Jacks

Here are some benefits you should know if you’re considering adding jumping jacks to your workout routine:

Improve bone health.
Exercise the whole body.
Work as a stress reducer.
Boost heart health.
Improve strength.

Bottom Line

Jumping jacks can help you lose weight if combined with resistance exercises. You don't have to do jumping jacks every day to lose weight. You can use this exercise as a warm-up before moving to weight training. As it activates all the muscles, it’s a good way to get the blood flowing.

You have to pair jumping jacks and other cardio or resistance movements with a good diet and proper sleep, which play a significant role in weight loss or strength training. It won’t matter how many jumping jacks you’re doing in a day if you’re not following the diet that suits your goals.

The idea is to be in a calorie deficit if you want to lose weight and calorie surplus if you want to add muscle mass. Sometimes both are possible during a calorie deficit, but at times, you’ll have to hit a surplus for muscle mass.