I’m a skippin’ fool and I want to make you one too. Here are five reasons you need to add jump rope to your workout routine:
Here I am doing double unders for Craig Ballantyne’s follow along videos.
1. More effective for fat loss – burn up to 19 calories a minute
2. Easier on joints than running – My knees are instantly irritated when I run but I can jump rope pain free (try two foot jumps to lessen impact)
3. Higher intensity means shorter workouts – who needs hour long workouts? Not me.
4. Gets the right hormones going: with shorter workouts, you body will release LESS of the FAT STORING hormone (cortisol) and pump out more of the FAT BURNING hormone GH
5. You’ll never run out of variety with various jump rope steps and super setting your jump rope sets in with your strength sets for a fun fat burning workout.
It’s not surprising that the better you get at jump rope, the more you’ll enjoy it and the more you’ll get from you workouts. It does take some practice but it’s well worth it. You’ll ease jump rope frustration and increase workout intensity when you become a more efficient skipper, even though as an ‘inefficient’ jump roper you may burn more calories with higher jumps and more arm action. In the end, you’ll stumble more and take more time untangling yourself. Inefficient high jump skipping can aggravate impact issues in the lower body and back.
How high should you jump when jumping rope? You should be jumping only enough to let the rope skim under your toes. Your heels should never touch the ground, so, yes, your calves will be feeling the jump rope. If you jump too high, it’s difficult to get into a rhythm and again you’ll be fumbling with the rope more. Lessen the impact on the joints by doing a two foot jump, you can increase intensity by moving to a running skip, high knees or fun stuff like double unders.
It’s important to stretch out the calf muscles after your jump roping session. Stand on a stair and drop your heels to the lower stair, do this with a straight leg and also do it with a bent leg so you will stretch both the gastrocnemius and the soleus.
The best news is that you’ll never run out of variety with the jump rope and you’ll increase balance and coordination as your feet pick up more complicated steps than just a simple bounce step. Take your jump rope and literally train anywhere, I have, I can be found in airports and hotels all over the place with my trusty jump rope.
My jump rope is an Everlast, plastic job with nice firm handles. It’s packed in my back pack with me always. I suggest you fall in love with a jump rope too.
Check out my Challenge Jump Rope program. This is a steal for 31 workouts and more…
Here’s a video summary of the above tips…
Here are the winners of the preview copy: Sue T, JoLynn, Rebecca and Jamie (I emailed everyone their preview copy of Challenge Jump Rope). Thanks for your comments on this post.