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A world wide fitness fantasy for many, has long been to look as cool as Sylvester Stallone in the Rocky 4 training montage. The man is a wizard with a jump rope, and he’s not the only one. All across social media, jump ropers are showing us their skills with the rope and giving us something to aspire to. Even if we never manage to make skipping look like an effortless dance, beginner jump rope is an incredible cardiovascular workout.
Benefits Of Jumping Rope
The top of this list is the amazing improvement to your cardiovascular health. Skipping really gets your heart pumping and can actually be more efficient at burning calories than jogging. Not to mention it’s lower impact than running on roads and friendlier on joints.
Stay Fit Anywhere
Aside from these amazing health benefits, jumping rope is one of the cheapest and most convenient ways to stay in shape. All you need is a rope and a space to skip in. Adding just a few minutes of skipping to your workout is a great way to start burning more calories and get healthy.
What Do I Need?
You need a jump rope. Pretty simple, but there are some caveats. Some ropes are better than others. You’ll want a rope that’s an appropriate length for your height. A lot of ropes allow you to pretty easily adjust this length, but some don’t. Aside from this everything else is personal preference but there are some extras you might like to use to improve your workout. Skipping on floor guards for instance will protect your rope and further reduce impact on your joints. You might also like to challenge yourself more with ankle and wrist weights.
How To Jump Rope
Now that you have everything you need, let’s talk about form and technique. There are heaps of tricks you can do to spice up your routine, but for now we’re focusing on the basics. It’s pretty simple, but might take some getting used to at first. Start with the rope behind your legs. Swing it over your head and jump over it. Jumping through the balls of your feet will make things a lot easier as you start to get the hang of it. The motion of the rope should come from micro movements in the wrists and hands. It’s not a big movement through the whole arm. Most importantly, keep it simple.
More Advanced Skills
At some point you might feel like moving on to more difficult techniques. That’s great. You shouldn’t be afraid to try anything when you jump rope. Crossovers are a fun way to spice up your workout. Cross your arms to the other side of your body when the rope is at the top of its arc. Double unders are another great way to increase the intensity of your workout. Whip the rope around fast enough to send it under your legs twice in one jump. The key to this skill is small movements. Don’t over do it.
Jump Rope Workout
I personally like to incorporate the jump rope into my existing workout as a way to break up sets. Start your set by skipping for a minute then put down the rope and do some pushups, burpees, walking lunges, or any other exercise that’s already a part of your routine. It’s a great way to increase your heart rate and burn more calories each workout. My minute of skipping usually looks like 10 regular skips, 10 crossovers, then as many double unders as I can do before I lose momentum. Then repeat until the end of the minute.
Jump In
The jump rope is quite possibly the easiest cardio exercise you can add to your workout and the cheapest. You don’t have to go anywhere special or have any fancy equipment so it’s incredibly simple to incorporate it into an existing workout. Add to this the fantastic health benefits, and the prospect of looking super cool and having fun, and there’s no reason not to pick up a jump rope.
