In today’s sedentary lifestyle, it is important to keep your body healthy. The stressful environment at work, guilty work habits, and lack of exercise can cause several health problems. Can’t muster the motivation to make it to the gym? Skip it then! Jumping rope workouts can burn more than 10 calories a minute while strengthening your legs, butt, shoulders, and arms. And it doesn’t take long to reap major rewards. You can burn more than 200 calories in two 10-minute sessions each day.

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Benefits of jump rope workouts

• Jump rope workouts are high-intensity exercises that burn calories faster and help you build your bone strength, improve cardiovascular fitness , increase balance, agility and overall body coordination.
• Jump rope workouts aid in the development of brain activity improving memory, auditory, alertness, and better concentration.
• You can carry a jump rope anywhere, making it a great go-to fitness gear so that you don’t have to miss out on your workout even while you’re traveling.

Learn the basics

• For starters, you need to select a proper-sized jump rope and a suitable space and surface for jumping. Measure the rope by holding it down with a foot and check if the handles reach your armpits. Also, choose a firm and flat surface and avoid sand, rough cement, dirt, grass or even artificially created turf.
• Hold your arms out straight to a 45 degree, with your elbows tucked in close to your sides. Move your wrists and shoulders. Keep your back straight and your butt tucked during these jump rope workouts.
• Wear sneakers or comfortable sports shoes, which are made of soft material.
• Use a timer while beginning your jump rope workouts. In addition, take short breaks in between your jump rope workouts and start slow.

Four effective jump rope workouts for you to try

Here are some jump rope workouts which, will help you lose weight. Just remember to begin slowly; start with the jump rope workouts twice a week. Once your body has adjusted, you can pick up the pace. Before you start, you must know two terms – reps and sets. Reps, or repetition, is when you perform one complete motion of a workout/exercise, while a set is a group of reps, performed consecutively.

• Timed jump
  During these jump rope workouts, you start skipping at high intensity for 30 seconds. In other words, skip as fast as possible with a rest interval of 30 to 90 seconds. You start with 30 seconds of skipping, then rest for 60 or 90 seconds, and repeat the process about 5 to 10 times. For example, start with 50 reps in 30 seconds, rest for 30 seconds, and repeat. Maintain a high heart rate and keep your abs tucked in.
• Sliding scale
  A great way to reduce the burn-out is by creating a sliding scale jump rope, where you start out with a high number of jumps and reduce each rep by 50. For instance, if you start with 500 reps, and reduce by 50, you get to jump 450 reps. Keep going until you reach 50 reps and take a break. Don’t forget to rest every 60 to 90 seconds!
• Pick-a-number
  With these types of jump rope workouts, you pick a number of reps you want to do in one set. For example, if you choose 100, it means you do 100 reps at a fairly fast pace and then rest until you can catch your breath, and go again. So if you complete 5 sets of 100 reps, you’ll have burned 500 calories.
• Jump rope interval workout
  In this jump rope workout, you should do 100 jump ropes, followed by 10 sit-ups, then 100 jump ropes and 20 squats, finally end the work out with 100 jump ropes, 10 pushups, and then rest. Repeat for a minimum of 5 sets.

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So jump up your fitness with jumping rope!

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