If you haven’t used a jump rope since elementary school, then you may be missing out on a super effective and fun training tool. Popular within CrossFit, boxing, wrestling, and other sports, jumping rope offers a huge range of benefits that even the everyday athlete can enjoy.
5 Benefits of Jumping Rope
1. It’s an efficient way to burn calories.
In as little as 10 minutes, you can burn about 100 calories by jumping rope, making it a great movement to tack on to the end of your session or even do as a stand-alone exercise if you’re pressed for time.
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2. It’s a great way to work on your agility and coordination.
Doing movements that challenge your coordination, proprioception, and agility is good for your body and brain. To this end, jumping rope is a powerful way to stimulate your central nervous system and help you move more efficiently and safely in your day-to-day life.
3. It’s great for building your cardio “engine.”
Jumping rope for about 10 minutes is equivalent to running a mile in about 8 minutes. In fact, regular jump rope use can help increase your endurance, aerobic capacity, and cardiovascular fitness while also giving you a full body workout (with particular emphasis on your arms, legs, lungs, and core).
4. It teaches you how to improve your breathing efficiency and technique.
Being forced to perform a physical task while also breathing heavily can be extremely demanding—but by mastering your breath, you can significantly increase your tolerance to challenging exercise (not to mention improve your mood). The repetitive nature of skipping rope makes it a highly effective tool for focusing on your breathing pattern, which can translate to everything from yoga to sitting in traffic.
5. It’s likely new and different (read: not boring).
Let’s face it: doing cardio can get pretty boring pretty easily. By adding in a jump rope session every now and then, you’ll avoid the tedium of cardio while also enjoying all the other benefits of this total body workout.
Interested? Grab a jump rope and give it a go, then let us know what you think!
