Fact checked by A jumping rope is among the most basic yet effective pieces of equipment for your workout routine. It is a great cardio exercise that elevates your heart rate and warms you for a further workout. Overall, a jumping rope can quickly burn away fat, make you more resilient, stronger, and even smarter!
I bet you loved skipping the rope in your childhood. Then, it was a fun and a bit competitive play. But a jumping rope is actually so much more than childish fun. A rope is among the favorite fitness equipment of professional athletes. You’ll see them using it as a warm-up exercise or to build strength in their lower body. Such a basic piece of equipment that most forget after their PE class comes with numerous advantage that would be a shame to neglect! The following are the health benefits of jumping rope.
Calorie burn
A jumping rope is a perfect tool for burning calories in the quickest way possible. Skipping the rope burns 25% more calories than running.
According to research, you can burn around 14-16 calories per minute depending on such factors on speed and jumping technique. Thus, in only 15 minutes of this fun workout, you can burn those 200 to 250 calories that may be in the way of your jump rope weight loss journey.
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Another bonus part of jumping ropes is burning fat. As you reduce the overall number of calories, your body burns that extra layer of fat that it’s been hoarding “for a rainy day.”
Brain Training
When it comes to working out and fitness exercises, a few people think about the benefits some of them have for the brain.
Skipping rope is one of those exercises that utilize your brain the most. A workout that engages both physical and cognitive functions is a more demanding and effective way to stimulate your brain. Overall, exercising is good for the brain. However, the best kind of workout is the one that involves coordination, rhythm, and stamina. Skipping a rope meets all the requirements, especially when you adopt more challenging jumping techniques.
Portable and Small
A jumping rope is tiny compared to other cardio machines like a treadmill, a bicycle, an elliptical, or a rower. But it is just as effective.
A jumping rope can be taken to your workout site in any bag. Hell, even in a pocket! There are no limits to where you can start the skipping exercises. Do it anywhere, anytime!
Besides, a jumping rope is incredibly cheap. Of course, you can find some trendy rope promoted by a pro athlete, with a countdown and high-quality handles, but the regular one used in your PE classes is just as effective!
Improves Coordination
It may seem like it, but a jumping rope puts your brain to hard work to coordinate all your movements with the movement of the rope. Just as it trains your overall cognitive functions, your brain becomes better at keeping you up with the variety of different skipping patterns and switching between them. And so, you train your balance and coordination over time. This is a passive skill that requires regular honing. In time, your perfect moves become a part of muscle memory, but as you add a new hand movement, your brain has to adapt once more!
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Strengthens Your Feet
Among the most important benefits of jumping rope – it strengthens your feet in several ways.
The obvious one is building muscles. Regular workouts strengthen your feet, ankles, and lower leg muscles. All of them are tricky to improve when it comes to regular gym exercises. The rope moves you to the balls of your feet instead of the usually-engaged heels. You engage your leg muscles in a new way and target lower legs with low injury risk as you are lighter on your feet.
The second way it strengthens your legs is actually by increasing bone density. Dr. Daniel W. Barry from the University of Colorad0 has studied the bones for years. Among the participants for both the elderly with weak bones and athletes. As a result, Barry highlights that the best exercise for bone health is jumping up and down, which precisely what skipping rope involves!
Cardio for Heart Health
Every aerobic exercise, when done in moderation, has a positive impact on cardiovascular health. As the jumping rope is a strenuous exercise, it elevates heart rate in no time. When done regularly, a 15-minute skipping workout makes your heart stronger in pumping the necessary blood and oxygen to your muscles! Overall, rope training is an effective and fun form of cardio workout.
A strong heart is a key to longevity.
Improves Stamina
As you practice rope jumping, your coordination improves, and you can easily increase the overall time of this workout.
Runners use skipping rope training as a part of their workout as it increases the overall running endurance by putting as much pressure on the joints as actual running ropes. Besides, fast footwork when skipping improves the overall performance of cross-country runners.
In addition to prolonged skipping as a means of improving stamina, short and intense interval skipping helps in increasing the anaerobic threshold.
Stress-Relief
What is jump rope good for? Stress and anxiety relief. Studies have shown that when a person uses a jumping rope, their brain produces two very important chemicals, serotonin and endocannabinoids. Both of them are perfect for stress-relief purposes.
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Serotonin brings you the feeling of happiness and joy. Endocannabinoids are responsible for the calming effects. Despite the dynamic exercise, you relax. Studies have even shown that boxers who regularly jump rope are calmer overall. The Jump Rope Institute, founded by a pro U.S. wrestler and conditioning coach, Buddy Lee, mentions the positive effects of this “composite movement combining a circular motion with an angular momentum.”
When to Include Jumping Ropes?
It is easy to add jumping rope exercises to any routine. You can add a simple 10 to 15-minute jumping cardio either before your weightlifting exercises or after them.
If you begin your training with jump rope, it works as an effective warm-up and prevents a decline in muscle strength further in the session.
If you decide to include it after weightlifting, you increase endurance and push your body to perform better even when tired.
For an additional dose of the stress-relieving jump rope workout benefits and a neurochemical release, you can jump in small sessions both before and after the rest of the workout.
