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No matter what fitness trends come and go, there’s one piece of workout gear you can always count on: the jump rope.
From playgrounds to prizefighting gyms, it’s an exercise staple that helps you get fit by increasing coordination, balance, timing, speed, agility, and power. The best part? Jumps can help you burn fat faster than most workouts.
If you find your current cardio routine repetitive and boring, jump rope can be an excellent way to challenge yourself and get some good exercise.
How to Do Jump Rope with Proper Form?
Here's how you do this exercise:
- Get into a standing position, and hold one end of the jump rope in each hand with the rope behind you. (If you don't have a jump rope, pretend as if you're jumping with an imaginary rope.)
- Keep your elbows close to your sides, and swing the rope with your wrists up over your head, allowing it to fall toward your feet.
- As soon as you jump up with both feet before the rope hits them, repeat.
Benefits of Jump Rope
Here are some benefits:
1) Effective for weight loss: Jumping rope is one of the most effective exercises out there. It's a full body workout that improves coordination, agility, and speed. If you weigh 150 pounds, jumping rope for 20 minutes will burn about 180 calories.
2) Simple and Convenient: You don’t need much space or equipment to get started, and you can do it anywhere. Just toss your jump rope in your travel bag, and turn any park, backyard, or hotel room into your personal cardio studio.
3) Easily adaptable: Assuming you’re comfortable jumping a quarter-inch with each step, jumping rope can be as easy—or as challenging—as you want.
Start with a slow jog to warm up, speed up for a few minutes for a high-intensity workout, and go back to your usual pace for a moderate cardio session. Mix it up by speeding up for short bursts during your mid-level runs.
4) Fun way to get moving: You will get a great workout and have fun at the same time.
Because you can customize your jump rope routine by adding different moves and incorporating aspects like speed work and crossovers, it's a great cardio workout for anyone who wants to do something impressive and learn something new.
Tips to Improve Your Jump Rope Skills
Here are some ways to improve your jumping rope skills:
- If you already have a rope and want to know if it's the right size, cut the rope in half with one foot.
- Hold each end with your hands close to your chest so that there's an equal amount of rope on both sides.
- If you're new to skipping rope, start with a heavy rope rather than a light one.
- However, don't start with a resistance or weighted rope, which is for advanced jumpers.
- Begin with an 8-ounce rope, and move up or down in weight as you feel comfortable.
- If you're jumping rope, make sure you have your hands in the right place.
- Your hands should be at the center of your body and stay there as you jump. With each rotation of the rope, the cord should be just above your head and below your feet.
Best Jump Rope Variations to Try
Here’s a quick workout that can build your coordination and jumping stamina. If you miss while jumping rope, just keep going; don’t restart the clock. Here're some jump rope variations to try:
1) Single Hop
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding the ends of a jump rope in each hand. Lean back, and swing the rope over your head, allowing it to hang behind you. As the rope approaches your toes, jump forward over the rope with both feet.
2) Double Hop
Like in the previous exercise, add in a small hop on both feet at the same time as the rope goes overhead. You will do two hops per revolution of the rope — one hop over the rope and the other as it goes overhead.)
3) High Knee Skip
High knee skips are a challenging exercise to improve speed and stamina. The movement of the legs mimics that of the jumping rope, but skipping movements require more speed and motor control than marching drills.
4) Crossover Jump
The crossover adds a challenge to skipping rope by requiring you to also use your shoulders, biceps, and forearms. In addition to burning fat, skipping rope serves as a body-loosening warm-up for full body workouts, such as weightlifting.
Takeaway
Regardless of your proficiency with jumping rope, now you know what to do to get started. Just keep in mind that whatever your fitness or body type is, losing weight is still a matter of consuming fewer calories than you burn.
Jumping rope helps with that as a secondary means of exercise. If you want to lose weight, you have to watch what you eat, and make sure you're getting up and moving throughout the day.
