Here’s a 12-minute circuit to get you started
Introducing your new, calorie-torching ally: the jump rope.
If you want to get fit fast, forget about jogging or swimming—grab a jump rope and start skipping. A study showed that skipping for 10 minutes a day can make your heart as healthy as jogging for 30 minutes a day. And that’s not all—skipping also torches more calories and works more muscles than other cardio exercises while being gentle on your joints. So what are you waiting for? Hop to it and see the benefits of this simple and fun workout.
“There are so many health benefits from jumping rope,” Jeremiah Maestre, boxer and trainer at Rumble Boxing in New York City, says. “You get increased cardiovascular levels, flexibility, rhythm, muscle tone, shoulders, arms, and legs.”
The Best Total-Body Workout is the most impressive part of a jump rope workout. “It’s certainly good for the heart,” Peter Schulman, MD, says on WebMD. “It strengthens the upper and lower body and burns many calories briefly.”
Depending on your jump style, you can target almost any body part. “Jumping rope benefits your full body,” Maestre explains. “From your lower body to upper body and core—depending on what jump rope drills you choose, you may feel it more so in your shoulder and calves. And your cardio will feel heightened as well.”
“Keep it simple to start,” Maestre says. “Two feet at once, alternate your feet, bounce on one foot, try some high knees, then graduate to double-under. You can crisscross and get creative. Try to mix the different formations. And remember that anytime you mess up your rhythm, keep bouncing on the toes with the rope in hand still.”
Getting a good rope workout doesn’t take too much skill, money, or space. Whether it’s your garage, a hotel, a park, or the office’s back room, you can almost guarantee that if you want to, you can make a good skipping session happen anywhere. Just carve out fifteen minutes and try Maestre’s go-to jump rope circuit.
Jump Rope Circuit
A traditional boxing round is three minutes of work with a one-minute break in between each round. Choose however many rounds you want to do on the rope first (a minimum) of three and attempt to keep jumping rope through the one-minute breaks. Alternate high knees, single-leg jumps, regular skipping, two-foot jumps, side-to-side jumps, crisscross, and double-under. Switch it up, get creative, and try not to stop.
Total-Body Workout time: 12 minutes
For the last thirty minutes of each round, push the intensity/speed with double-under, high knees, and crisscross formations. And if you mess up, keep going!
“Of course, I am not perfect, but anytime I mess up on the rope, I keep bouncing on my toes with the rope in hand only to ease back into the flow,” Maestre says.
Source: Men’s Health BY LAUREN STEELE
