5 Surprising Benefits Of Skipping Rope For Fitness
Regular exercise is essential to living a long, healthy and happy life. Regardless of your age, gender or body shape, there are many ways to motivate yourself through the wonders and woes of physical movement. Skipping rope is a great way to reach your fitness goals, as this fun exercise offers a range of movements and transformative benefits.
The benefits of skipping rope are very real! It is an accessible and effective way to improve your physical health — from weight loss and muscle toning to balance and bone health. Skipping rope is also great for your mental health, as the simple repetitive movements associated with this exercise help promote deep breathing, mindfulness and relaxation.
Let's take a look at this simple and highly inspiring workout routine, along with five skipping rope fitness benefits.
How to use a skipping rope for fitness
There are many ways to use a skipping rope, with routines only limited by your imagination. Unlike many other forms of exercise, a skipping rope is small, inexpensive, easy to travel with and easy to use almost anywhere. Whether you jump rope to warm up, skip between another exercise or devote time to a dedicated routine, skipping rope for fitness is a great addition to any exercise routine.
- Warm-ups — Skipping rope is a great way to warm up before you run, cycle or hit the gym. While static stretching is also beneficial, skipping gets your heart pumping and your body moving.
- Circuits — Skipping rope is perfect in between other forms of exercise. Whether you're enjoying bodyweight routines, high-intensity circuits or other forms of resistance training, skipping is a great addition to any workout.
- Intensives — Dedicated jump rope sessions are a fantastic way to build cardio fitness and improve muscle tone. There are multiple skipping sequences possible and even 10 minutes is likely to be beneficial.
How skipping rope can enhance your life
When combined with healthy eating and lifestyle habits, skipping ropes offer the following five benefits:
1. Great for cardio and weight loss
Skipping rope is a powerful form of cardio, which makes it good for your heart and great for your waistline! This high-intensity exercise is very efficient when it comes to burning calories. Jumping rope involves most of your body, and it generates heat in your muscles in order to produce energy. You lose weight when you create a calorie deficit in your body, which can only occur when you burn more calories than you eat.
Skipping rope is about more than weight loss; it's also an effective tool to help reduce blood pressure and promote heart health. It gets your body warm and your heart pumping, which improves the health of your entire cardiovascular system. Due to the efficient nature of this exercise, just a few minutes a day can help to reduce your chances of stroke and heart attack.
2. Tones and shapes muscles
Skipping rope is a full-body exercise that involves moving most of the muscles in your body. Although this activity doesn't build muscle mass in the same way as free weights, it can be a great body sculpting tool. Skipping rope works your quads, calf muscles, hamstrings and glutes. It's also great for your core, fantastic for your abs and oblique muscles, and perfect for your forearms and biceps. While there is no best skipping rope for fitness, weighted variations can help you tone your muscles quicker.
When you skip, you are building strength in your lower body and legs, and engaging your core and upper body as you control the swing of the rope. Somewhat surprisingly, skipping rope even helps to tone your shoulders, back and pecs. When this fun activity is performed regularly and combined with a good diet and lifestyle habits, you can tone your entire body. Remember, the best skipping rope for fitness is simply the one that you use regularly!
3. Improves balance and coordination
In the fitness world, cardio and strength routines get most of the attention. These twin pillars are undeniably important, but fitness is not all about losing weight and building muscle. If you want to promote healthy and sustainable mobility as you get older, it's also important to focus on balance, coordination and movement.
Skipping is an ideal form of functional exercise, as it is based on equilibrium, rhythm and flow. When you jump rope on a regular basis, you will develop better flexibility and agility over time. With greater mobility, you are more likely to live an active lifestyle and less likely to experience accidents or injuries as you age.
4. Strengthens your bones
Skipping rope fitness benefits your muscles, bones and joints. In particular, jumping rope on a regular basis can help to improve your bone density, which is the measure of strength in your bones. Bones are made from calcium and other minerals, and an increased density leads to less fragility and fewer breaks as you age. Greater bone density also helps to reduce the risk of osteoporosis, which is a particular problem for women later in life.
Jumping rope builds bone density through impact training, which can also be beneficial for your muscles and joints. While care needs to be taken to minimise certain types of impacts, stressing the bones, joints and muscles can be very helpful when it's controlled in sustainable intervals.
Despite the benefits of skipping rope, this activity can lead to injuries, so it's important to speak with your doctor before you start a jump rope regime.
5. Supports positive mental health
Skipping is a great exercise for your emotional and cognitive well-being. While all exercise can be beneficial to mental health outcomes, skipping offers a unique combination of deep breathing, rhythmic movement and intense blood-pumping activity. If you want to combine the benefits of high-intensity training with the mindfulness of meditation and yoga, this fun activity may be your best solution.
Jumping rope also benefits your breathing. The repeated body movement leads to deep and rhythmical airflow around your entire body. This helps to promote inner calmness, which can inspire a sense of mindfulness and relaxation. You can even enjoy a gentle, relaxed skipping session. Remember, how you use a skipping rope for fitness is completely up to you.
When you start skipping rope, you need to be 100% focused on the job at hand to avoid making a mistake. As you get better, however, much of your movement and breathing will become subconscious as you get into the 'zone' and reap the rewards of deep contemplation.
Get your own skipping rope at at Gym and Fitness today
While regular exercise can be a challenge for anyone, it's much easier when you have access to functional fitness equipment. Skipping rope is a simple, effective and accessible way to integrate fitness into your daily routine. If you want to benefit from this amazing fitness activity, purchase a skipping rope today or contact Gym and Fitness to learn more about our products.
