If you are looking for a workout that can be done anywhere, check out this list of the benefits of jumping rope. It’s one of the best full-body exercises out there, and it’s surprising that not more people incorporate it into their routines. Improve your cardio abilities, BMI, coordination, and more with this simple piece of workout gear.
Here are our top 11 jump rope benefits:
1) Effective for Weight Loss
Jumping Rope is one of the best exercises for burning calories. Studies have shown that jump roping routines significantly reduce BMI on individuals that are overweight. Body fat percentage decreases when utilizing this exercise, and it appears to work more effectively than jogging or other workouts, as you can burn more calories using the same time.
Pair a jump-roping routine with your regular workout and watch your caloric intake. You will lose weight with this plan.
2) Highly Portable
You can take a jump rope with you anywhere. Workout at home, on lunch break, or while on vacation. Perhaps one of the most portable pieces of workout equipment that exists, a jump rope travels with you for some exercise. Mix up your routine and get some motivation by taking your rope outside.
3) Jumping Rope Benefits – Will Improve Coordination
Jump roping takes some practice before most people get the hang of it because it takes coordination. While it seems easy, continuously spinning a rope and jumping without making a mistake takes concentration.
When you are using your mind to concentrate on this activity, you are essentially strengthening the brain’s ability to achieve coordination. Another facet is the rhythmic movement of jumping rope. Doing physical activity to a rhythm improves overall body coordination.
4) Lessen the Probability of Lower Body Injuries
Implementing a jump rope routine into your workout will lessen the chance of injuries in your lower body. Jump roping strengthens your calves and surrounding muscles with decreases your chance of foot and ankle injuries.
I personally enjoy playing tennis, but the movement from side to side is tough on the feet and ankles. This is when I learned of jump rope benefits and started jumping rope regularly. It certainly helped with tennis injuries!
5) Benefits of Jumping Rope – Improve Bone Health
This research study on exercise and bone mineral density found:
“In support for our hypotheses, we found that girls who took part in rope skipping activities regularly, compared to those who did not, had higher levels of BMD at the calcanei. This result support the notion that rope skipping may be an activity that is beneficial to students’ bone mineral levels at their lower extremities. This is unsurprising as previous studies have also showed that jumping or plyometric exercises may increase participants’ BMD.”
Jump rope benefits have been proven to extend to enhancing bone density. This leads to stronger bones and a reduced chance of breaking or injuring your bones.
6) Improve Cardiovascular Health
Your heart is certainly put to work while jumping rope. Adding this into your routine will improve your cardiovascular system because you are working it regularly. As mentioned, jump roping can be seen as a better option in comparison to jogging and other cardio workouts. This is because you can get more in the same amount of time. Implement 3-5 times a week to improve your heart and lung health.
7) Improve Oxygen/Breathing from Jump Rope Benefits
You will definitely get out of breath quickly if you are a beginner. But over time, you will see a big difference in your breathing ability when jump roping. You’ll notice yourself being able to do more and not getting as tired.
This study found that “Kim and Kim showed that a 12-week music jump rope exercise program resulted in significant differences in lung capacity, which is a cardiopulmonary function16). Park et al. reported that their subjects’ maximum oxygen uptake increased significantly after 12 weeks of aerobic training17). It contributed to the improvement of cardiopulmonary functions by injecting more oxygen into active muscles than respiratory muscles, thus increasing the ventilation and supplying the energy source.”
8) Helps you Stay Calm
It has been hypothesized that boxers who jump rope are calmer in the ring in comparison to those who do not. This can be attributed to the fact that jumping rope causes you to focus on coordination, working your brain and body simultaneously.
More people who don’t box, doing any type of physical activity on a regular basis is great for mental health. You will notice a decrease in anxiety and other mental discomforts when you start an exercise routine – hopefully, one that includes jumping rope.
9) Could Make you Smarter
Jumping rope increases balance, stability, and coordination, but it also appears to increase your cognitive abilities. This could be because you are working both sides of the brain when training with a jump rope.
This study found, “In the present research, motor coordination was examined by using the HCT, which evaluates the ability to coordinate quickly complex general motor tasks (e.g. climbing, hopping, running and turning) and cognitive capabilities (reaction time and spatial orientation) using the whole body (Chiodera et al., 2007). After 8 weeks of the training program, children who performed jumping rope exercises showed a significant decrease in the performance time on HCT.”
10) Benefits of Jumping Rope – Helps Posture
When using a jump rope, you are basically forced to pay attention to your posture and body positioning while performing the exercise. It helps posture in multiple ways, one simply being that you are more mindful of your back position and overall posture while jumping rope.
Another reason for enhanced posture is that you are working the back muscles that are important for standing/sitting upright. Stretching and improving these muscles and aligning your spine appears to be another awesome benefit of the rope.
11) You Will Have Fun
What exercise can you do that makes you imagine you’re in school again? I personally think of gym class in middle school when I’m jumping rope. We used to see how many jumps we could do in 60 seconds (I think over 90 was an A for the activity).
It’s just really fun to challenge yourself to beat your own score and continue to improve. Sure you can do this with any physical workout, but none of them are quite as unique as grabbing the jump rope.
Whether you are a beginner or have been jumping rope for years, it’s a great exercise for anyone. Grab one and get going! You can find inexpensive yet still effective jump ropes just about anywhere. Check out our guide of best jump ropes for beginners or see a great one below:
Good luck!