I hate cardio, I've just never been a fan of running, cycling, HIIT, interval I could go on. I’ve tried many things but ultimately failed. The only things I do enjoy are football which is less about the cardio more about the enjoyment of the sport and walking which is difficult to be consistent with the UK weather. Thanks weather.
A few months back I got a bit interested in boxing and the training they do because their cardio and conditioning is in a league of its own. I looked into jump rope and the reasons why boxers do it so much as well as the benefits of the exercise could have. Fast forward to today and its something I do 4/5 times a week and really enjoy it. UK weather still lets me down though.
Now with all exercises, suggestions, blog posts it is down to personal preference. Someone might read this and try jump rope for a bit but not enjoy it and ultimately not be consistent. That’s perfectly fine, I say quite often we’re all different and what works for someone won’t necessarily work for you. But I do think you should give jump rope a go because of what it has to offer, let me explain.
I’ve done a post on running and how bad it can be for your joints, especially your knees. Well jump rope is better for your joints, you aren’t exerting as much force through your body because the impacts are less (will increase the higher you jump). What you’re also doing is bouncing on your toes instead of absorbing the impact from your heel. Bouncing on your toes will then strengthen your calfs and muscles around your ankle decreasing the chance of injury. It’s often used by a lot of sports athletes not just for a cardio workout but because it improves coordination, you have to concentrate on your footwork every time the rope comes around. Something which is key in sports such as boxing and football as jump rope will improve your agility and footwork. If boxers which is regarded one of the most physically demanding sports, skip. Then surely its very beneficial for us all not just for Anthony Joshua.
I have talked about how jump rope is a cardio workout, however some strength training can be involved by increasing the weigh of the rope. Doing this will make your shoulders and upper body work harder to keep the rope moving meaning you have to work harder and therefore burn more calories (as well as improving your muscles). So in total it will target your: calves, quads, hamstrings, glutes, abs, shoulders and arms. Having the right form will also mean you pull your shoulders back and keep your body straight overtime will help improve your posture. Combined with the right rope your shoulder and back muscles will strengthen making sure your shoulders don’t become hunched over. There’s been a few studies done as well that’s seen jump rope to increase bone density which can protect you from any potential injuries (really helpful for me because I’ve broken a lot of bones).
There’s no need for a long session either a good 5/10mins is more than enough to get the benefits from jump rope. It’s easy to do and you can do it anywhere anytime. Cheaper than a lot of cardio alternatives, I started off with a speed rope and it only cost me £13. An interesting point as well it makes you smarter, hear me out. Skipping helps with the development with your brain enhancing spatial awareness, reading skills, memory and more mentally alert (who knew). Final point for me, it’s just fun (miles better than running). You learn new tricks, change the variety of your workout, add more weight etc. I admit it is personal preference but you don’t have to do the same thing over and over again.
Now you will get people saying that it burns more calories per minute than other forms of cardio. Which is true however, I don’t think that should be a primary reason for choosing jump rope. Let me explain why, a lot of time it depends on duration of the exercise you’re doing. Of course doing jump rope will burn more calories in a certain time than something less intense however you can do something like walking for a lot longer. A person might be able to run faster or put more effort into running than they can with jump rope because they’re less experienced and vice versa. Also a bit of cardio will only contribute a small amount of your daily calories burned and comparing two cardio exercises for calories to burn isn’t worth it. If you really want to increase daily calories burned look to just increase your NEAT (calories burned doing non exercise) as its far easier to do that e.g. increase steps for the day.
For me choosing what exercises to do should be based on:
The benefits it can offer
Are they better than the alternatives
Can you sustain and be consistent with it
Do you enjoy doing it.
If you don’t enjoy something you either have to be really determined or accept yes it maybe the best thing to do but you’ll end up falling off the wagon. Therefore it’s more beneficial to pick something that maybe might not be as good for you (still an improvement on before) but something you enjoy and can be consistent at.
I’m sure I’ve missed out some stuff and I hope its not come across as a list or a lot of marketing spiel. Thats all from today’s post, I hope you enjoyed it.
Enjoy the rest of your day & happy Monday!
Cameron