Why You Need to Give Jumping Rope a Try

Why You Need to Give Jumping Rope a TryIf you’re looking for a fun way to boost your cardio and get your heart beating, look no further than jump roping! This exercise, known as play in our childhood, is wildly overlooked as an amazing form of fitness. And, adding jump rope into your fitness routine will cost you less than $20!

So what are you waiting for? It’s time to jump in!

Choosing the Right Jump Rope

Here are a few tips to select the jump rope that’s right for you:

  • Novice jump roper? Aim for a rope that is slightly heavier, like a beaded rope.
  • Avid jump roper? Pick a coated rope with light-weight handles.
  • For extra upper body resistance, select a rope with weighted handles.
  • Stand on the rope and make sure the handles reach all the way to your under arms. This ensures the rope is long enough for you to jump comfortably with.

3 Awesome Benefits of Jumping Rope

1. A Workout for Arms, Legs, and Your Upper Body

Jumping rope tones and tightens both your arms and legs, andtThe circular motion your arms go through the entire time you are jumping is great for your upper body.

2. Burns a Lot of Calories in a Short Amount of Time

Jumping rope is an aerobic workout that burns a ton of calories in a short amount of time.It’s unlikely you will be able to jump rope for longer than 15 minutes. As a general understanding, jumping rope for 5 minutes straight can be the equivalent of running over 3 miles, which is fantastic as it’s unlikely you’d be able to jump for more than 15 minutes.

3. Perfect for Travelling

A jump rope is perfect for travelling! It’s lightweight, can fit into any luggage compartment, and you can find somewhere to jump almost anywhere.

2 Different Jump Rope Styles to Try

There are a lot of other ways to jazz up your jump rope routine. Here are a two of my favourite ways to jump rope:

The Normal Way1. The “Normal” Way

This way is exactly what you think of when jumping rope comes to mind. You stay in one place, feet together, jumping up and down. Some people prefer to interchange their legs instead of jumping with their feet together.

In the beginning, you’ll notice your heart rate will skyrocket as you jump. As your body gets used to the movement, you’ll notice that your heart rate won’t spike as high and will fall back to normal quicker during rest periods.

Jumping and Moving2. Jumping and Moving

Who says that you need to stay in one spot while jumping rope? A fun way to spice things up is to move forward while jumping. Start in one spot, then with interchanging feet instead of jumping up – jump forward! You can move 5–10 hops forward on the same foot, then turn around and hop back on the opposite foot.

You can also try variations of hops like side-to-side hops and front-to-back hops.

Monitoring Your Heart Rate

As noted above, jumping rope is a highly aerobic exercise. As such, it’s a good idea to keep track of your heart rate during this exercise. Here’s how:

Take 220 minus your age to determine your maximum heart rate. Take your pulse for 6 seconds and tack on a “0”. That is a general guideline for your heart rate at that moment. For example, if you take your pulse after jumping rope for 1 minute and it is 18, adding on a zero would be 180.

For more information on your heart rate and general age guidelines, HealthLinkBC has a great interactive tool.