Jump! Why Skipping is such an amazing exercise!

I often think about my many memories as a child of riding bikes, playing kickball, jumping on the trampoline, swimming and jumping rope!  It amazes me how we would ride bikes ALL afternoon and never get tired!  The energy we have as a child is simple intriguing!  But, think of all the endurance it took to do ALL those things everyday!  We were not only young and viral, but training ourselves by the nature of activity!  It was fun, we weren't doing it for any purpose other than Enjoyment!

That's one of the reasons that I love a HIIT workout!  It's quick, to the point, intense and you aren't stuck in a gym for a long period, but also, you can incorporate actions like jump roping!  It's not as easy as it was when you were a kid!  It takes practice!

Grab yourself an adjustable speed rope, smoothing simple will do! And start practicing!

Skipping is an amazing full body workout!
Fat burning, endurance, agility, quick footwork and coordination are all awesome benefits of skipping!  I mean who has to have more agility, quick response and endurance than boxers?  This is why you see them practicing skipping for 3-6 minute intervals! But did you know that this kind of jumping can also stimulate your lymphatic system and get it pumping?  Not to mention, it's not nearly as tough on your knees or joints as running, because typically both feet absorb the shock together rather than one leg at a time!

But what about your brain?  All exercises benefit your brain!  However, exercises that require sustained body & mind interaction, like the focus of skipping provide much more benefit because of cognitive functioning!  Anything that requires balance, rhythm, coordination and multiple parts of your body functioning in rhythm together to accomplish a task are brain boosting exercises!


It's cheap!  It burns tons of calories, an average of 10-16 per minute, even when you aren't at top speed!  It travels well, it can be done anywhere and can add a great high intensity cardio exercise to any workout!  No matter where you are, if you have a rope, you can add in intervals of squats, lunges, push-ups, burpees, jacks, and other body-weight exercises and have a challenging workout in a small space with no equipment other than a $5 jump rope! It works great for me as a Mom, because I can do this in the driveway with my kids and get a fabulous cardio workout, while I certainly can't go for a run and leave them behind!

I started by adding it as a 30 second interval between my weight training exercises.  So, I would set a timer 30 seconds work, 10 seconds rest, for however many rounds I had planned.  I would alternate, example:
30 seconds dead-lifts
10 seconds rest
30 seconds jump rope
10 seconds rest
30 seconds air squats
10 seconds rest
30 seconds jump rope
and so on...

This not only tests your ability to transition but keeps your heart rate up and adds a great cardio component while practicing.  Eventually, I went to 40 seconds work/10 seconds rest, then 50/10.  My goal for this Summer was to be able to integrate different jumping methods, master the double under and get my repetitions or turns to a max # in a 1 minute interval! Other skills are integrating a corkscrew jump, criss cross, 1 legged jump, even spinning the rope backwards instead of forwards.  I am definitely still not an expert, but I am learning and have come a long way since I started this skill!

 Give it a shot!  The kids are amazed!  They have ropes that count their turns and they LOVE that!  We also just got them a double dutch rope....which at the moment is more our toy than theirs, lol!!!!  #actlikeakidfeellikeakid #fiitnutrition